DreamWorks Animation/Hasbro merger in negotiations

[KremlingWhatnot]

Yes, this is seriously happening, while it would be nice, I feel this is kind of a monopoly (and no, I'm not talking about the actual game, this is the real deal) but if does happen, this would have to be the most properties I have seen a company buy since Turner bought out Hanna Barbera.
https://deadline.com/2014/11/dreamworks-animation-hasbro-merger-negotiations-in-works-1201282751/

 

[mr3urious]

Dreamworks Animation has been hurting recently with under-performing (to them) films ever since Rise of the Guardians, but Hasbro seems healthy with the big success of Transformers and My Little Pony, so I'd say the former has more to gain from this merger. It would also be interesting to see future Hasbro properties co-produced by DWA.

And hey, at least it isn't Disney buying out Hasbro. They own enough as it is.

 

[Drtooth]

That's my concern too. Is Hasbro acquiring Dreamworks or is Dreamworks acquiring Hasbro? The partnership/distribution with Fox kinda wasn't that great. The botched marketing of HTTYD2 was all on them... like "Hey! Let's reveal the big surprise that Hiccup's mother is alive and trains dragons in the trailers instead of making it more mysterious!" Really?!?! While Dragon was successful overseas, their only big success with Fox has been The Croods. That said, an obscure book series, a 60 year old cartoon series that isn't even broadcast anymore, and an insane high concept about snails weren't exactly things to win audiences with.

As long as both properties can stay the heck away from each other's business, I'm weary, but optimistic. As long as Hasbro can keep making Disney properties like Marvel and Star Wars, and Dreamworks just distributes cartoons and movies based on Hasbro, it's fine. If all it amounts to is Hasbro releases of Shrek, Madagascar, and stuff like that I'm okay with it.

But what's really discouraging is that Dreamworks has been struggling and they've been looking for someone to buy them for the last year. Something tells me it's more to Hasbro's advantage. But it would really be something if both of them could go back, buy back their shares in The Hub, and use Dreamworks' leverage to get it on more basic, easily accessible cable packages.

 

[mr3urious]

That's my concern too. Is Hasbro acquiring Dreamworks or is Dreamworks acquiring Hasbro?

I'm guessing the former, as Hasbro seems to be in good standing as a business.

As long as both properties can stay the heck away from each other's business, I'm weary, but optimistic. As long as Hasbro can keep making Disney properties like Marvel and Star Wars, and Dreamworks just distributes cartoons and movies based on Hasbro, it's fine. If all it amounts to is Hasbro releases of Shrek, Madagascar, and stuff like that I'm okay with it.

If there's one thing Disney's good at, it's letting the companies they acquire call the shots. They've been hands-off with Marvel, Lucasfilm, and especially Pixar to the point that the latter even has some power over them. I hope Hasbro or Dreamworks has the same hands-off attitude as they do.

But what's really discouraging is that Dreamworks has been struggling and they've been looking for someone to buy them for the last year. Something tells me it's more to Hasbro's advantage.

DW is also putting a lot of its eggs into the Netflix basket, which is a growing outlet for original programming.

But it would really be something if both of them could go back, buy back their shares in The Hub, and use Dreamworks' leverage to get it on more basic, easily accessible cable packages.

I'm glad that Hasbro still has some of its programming on Discovery Family, but what's the point to showing the other shows that can be found on Discovery's other networks (even on basic cable) other than being major cheapskates?

 

[Drtooth]

DW is also putting a lot of its eggs into the Netflix basket, which is a growing outlet for original programming.

Turbo, Veggitales, and King Julien shows. All look good, Turbo being surprisingly great as a cartoon when it was decent at best as a movie. They found a better angle with the series, keeping the races on the small animal and insect level. I hope this means more DW properties past and present can find a home on Netflix. Toonsylvania specifically. Rumor has it that it was available on the Latin American feed for a while. Don't see what they have to gain by sitting on it.

I'm glad that Hasbro still has some of its programming on Discovery Family, but what's the point to showing the other shows that can be found on Discovery's other networks (even on basic cable) other than being major cheapskates?

That's been my main complaint. What was the point of putting on the same boring engineering shows no one watched before anyway? It's not going to get any more viewership, and Happy Days and ALF reruns can't possibly be that expensive. They still run Hasbro shows, they still run movies time to time... what was the point? I'm sure it has something to do with future network plans, but even without memorable classic rerun programming, MLP and Transformers (albeit now just Rescue Bots) the only draw your network continues to have. I mean, that's the reason Robots in Disguise has to be shoved on CN, the network that said "Hey, let's put the highly anticipated Sonic Boom early in the morning with absolutely no promotion of any kind, so we can air yet another 2 hour block of Teen Titans Go!"

 

[Drtooth]

Eh, you know what? Nevermind!

Yep. Hasbro backed out because it was making their stock price slide.

 

[mr3urious]

Oh, those silly Hasbro shareholders. They're almost as fair-weather as Nintendo's.

 

[Drtooth]

But it speaks volumes of how in dire straights Dreamworks is that a toy company (one that's been in the entertainment business for years, though) would take a bath on purchasing it.

And frankly, I feel bad for Dreamworks. Sure, they're not Pixar and they did unleash SharkTale passive aggressively upon the world (it actually isn't that bad a movie, just not a very good one), but they're the second biggest producer of CGI animated movies (and have released more than Pixar does), and they have far more quality pictures than not. Even some of their worst ones are at least enjoyable. There are far worse studios that crank out righteously awful pieces and make DTV sequels to them. It's a shame that some of their last movies didn't get the audience they were looking for. Especially Guardians, which was far better than the weirdness of the concept suggests. They need to step up some of their marketing presence, and something tells me that Fox has been a bad fit for them. Especially since Fox already employs Blue Sky, and that just makes Rio and Ice Age sequels.

 

[mr3urious]

Yeah, I feel bad for them, too. They've long moved on from pop culture fart fests, and some of their films have had more of an epic feel to them like their older hand-drawn works. Also, I really hope Me & My Shadow (that 2D/3D hybrid film stuck in development Tartarus) gets a release date soon.

 

[Drtooth]

I kinda blame the success of Maleficent on HTTYD2 not making what it should have domestically. But it was a huge success overseas. In fact it was one of the highest earning movies of the year. I never understood the domestic Box office being more important, except when it isn't bit.

I also think Nickelodeon screwed them over with Monsters VS Aliens getting canned after one season. At least they showed all the episodes. Kung Fu Panda got the boot too, but it at least had 3 seasons and supposedly another movie soon. That was the only second chance MVA had.

Still, none of their movies were huge money losers. They all made back over their budget internationally.