Report: Hasbro to Buy Dreamworks

[P-89 Scorpion]

Well, color me surprised that Film's don't actually make Disney a lot more money then 1.55 Billion dollars. And Merchandise is even lower? I highly doubt that.

Still, I guess it'd make sense why Dreamworks would even take the offer, if Films only make so much money. It'd also explain why Dreamworks also releases 3 to 4 films a year as opposed to Disney Animation releasing only 1 a year.

Remember Disney doesn't make it's merchandise it licenses it out to 3rd party's and the terms are done way before the films are released just think how much the company's that licensed the rights to Lone Ranger lost.

 

[Something Amyss]

I sure hopes so. I'd go see it. It's not like Michael Bay could do much worse.

Hmm. Who annoys me more. The guy who made comedy boring, or the guy who made big stompy robots fighting boring.

This is the sort of thing that should be settled in an Epic Rap Battle.

My god, it's full of ponies.

Dreamworks Luna FTW!

Maybe we can get that MLP/Transformers crossover.

And Rainbow Dash can finally whoop Starscream.

So we finally get some decent Dungeons & Dragons movies. And all but inevitable Magic the Gathering, "How to Train Your Dragon" crossovers.

I wonder how they get out of that MTG movie with Fox....

 

[jdogtwodolla]

Dreamworks-Hasbro? AwesomenessTV?

Who's making these lame names?

 

[Spider RedNight]

Because fans haven't turned Toothless into a terrible pony-dragon amalgamation yet.

Dreamworks have been making some great movies lately (I mean... Kung Fu Panda 2 and Dragons between less than great movies like Peabody) but I'm not entirely piqued by the fact that Dreamworks might be turned into yet ANOTHER pony-centric sinkhole.

I AM excited for the aspect of a good D&D movie actually being released though really all you'd need to do is add classes to Dragons and boom, you're done.

Nnnnot looking forward to even more ponies, though.

 

[Entitled]

As a brony, I'm primarily just concerned that pretty much any change could be disastrous to the series.

It was a one-off thing, that needed the right producr, the right creative team, a sufficiently permissive corporate attitude (or at least a lack of any overt meddling in the first few years), and the right audience that was just carving for some post-ironic cuteness and idealism.

Even Equestia Girls didn't work out all that well, what are the odds that a 3D animated movie, or a step into G5 spearheaded by a new CEO, would be taken well?

 

[Ukomba]

My god, it's full of ponies.

Dreamworks Luna FTW!

Maybe we can get that MLP/Transformers crossover.

And Rainbow Dash can finally whoop Starscream.

Naw, she needs a better challenge, If Shia Labeouf can kill Starscream it's not much of an achievement.

 

[Something Amyss]

Naw, she needs a better challenge, If Shia Labeouf can kill Starscream it's not much of an achievement.

I was just making a reference to the Death Battle between them.


While I'm not particularly a fan of the original TF cartoon or Rainbow, I thought this was pretty hilarious. Also, Jim Sterling was involved. So yeah.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

This is just getting more and more confusing. "DreamWorks Animation SKG", run by Katzenburg, is already no longer affiliated with "DreamWorks SKG", run by Spielberg and Geffen, despite still having the same name and logo and both bearing the initials of all three founders. The latter was owned by Viacom for a while, while the former is currently under distribution contract with 20th Century Fox even though they already have their own dang animation studio, Blue Sky (the creators of Ice Age and Rio, among other things). Exactly why these things keep happening when either studio is clearly successful enough to make it on their own, I have no idea.

And Hasbro having enough money to buy DreamWorks Animation? Surely you jest. They couldn't even keep a single TV network alive or afford the clout to move it to basic cable so it could actually get some viewership. The theory that it's the other way around has more merit, frankly.

 

[Cyberstrike_v1legacy]

Didn't Dreamworks Animation buy Classic Media a company that owns the rights to a ton of old properties including stuff like {i]Mr. Peabody[/i] and comic book characters like Turok, Dr. Solar, Magnus: Robot Fighter, and others?

 

[vxicepickxv]

This is just getting more and more confusing. "DreamWorks Animation SKG", run by Katzenburg, is already no longer affiliated with "DreamWorks SKG", run by Spielberg and Geffen, despite still having the same name and logo and both bearing the initials of all three founders. The latter was owned by Viacom for a while, while the former is currently under distribution contract with 20th Century Fox even though they already have their own dang animation studio, Blue Sky (the creators of Ice Age and Rio, among other things). Exactly why these things keep happening when either studio is clearly successful enough to make it on their own, I have no idea.

And Hasbro having enough money to buy DreamWorks Animation? Surely you jest. They couldn't even keep a single TV network alive or afford the clout to move it to basic cable so it could actually get some viewership. The theory that it's the other way around has more merit, frankly.

Magic the gathering alone generally pulls in around 150 million dollars a quarter for Hasbro. Some of the execs were upset when it missed projections one quarter, and only pulled in 115 million. Remember, we're not talking about Hasbro's biggest moneymaker, which is somehow still Monopoly.

 

[Ishal]

Neither one of these companies strike me as needing to buy the other. They both seem to be doing pretty well for themselves financially.

Regardless (that didn't stop Disney from buying Marvel)

The name "Dreamworks-Hasbro" and the Dreamworks CEO taking over, makes me think it's Dreamworks buying Hasbro, not the other way around. Which makes sense I suppose, Dreamworks loves toys for HTTYD, I'm sure Hasbro would love to oblige them. Meanwhile the HUB and MLP get Dreamworks backing.

It's likely not going to happen.

Dreamworks isn't actually doing all that well. Three of their past five films have been flops. How to Train your Dragon 2 did well, and got ~ 600 million wordwide, but it's opening weekend apparently disappointed investors.

It doesn't make sense for Hasbro to pay a large percent of their current market capital for a studio that isn't doing well.

I do think DW is looking for a buyer. I just don't see why Hasbro would do it.

 

[ntfwc]

Still just a rumor, but I could see it. Hasbro has been having some good success, at least financially, with movies as of late. So it makes sense that they might want to own their own major animation studio. And Dreamworks did work on their first two Micheal Bay directed Transformers movies. I wonder if the re-branding "Dreamworks-Hasbro" would apply just to the studio, or to their whole company.

Meanwhile the HUB and MLP get Dreamworks backing.

Actually the Hub has ceased to exist, and its employees have been laid off. The channel has become Discovery Family: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Family

It could, perhaps, indicate a shift in focus.

 

[Dalisclock]

Good, good...

I'm not sure how to feel about this. OTOH, there's a fairly good chance a MLP Dreamworks film will be good(EQ is a thing. I'm not sure what it is, but it is a thing...that exists).

 

[faefrost]

Hasbro to buy Dreamworks? Wow... I didn't know a Toy Company in the 21st Century (Even one with a Surprisingly powerful IP as My Little Pony under it's belt) could make enough money to buy one of the biggest powerhouses in Film Animation, but I guess it's possible. Although this is all still rumors, it might not be true.

Funny how Disney buys studios while Dreamworks get's bought by other studios.

Neither company is on the upswing currently. Hasbro has fallen to third place among toy companies. Dreamworks is bleeding badly. Both have been rumored as ripe for acquisition. So a merger might allow them to grow and stave off takeover by direct competitors.

But there are some makor flaws to this plan, at least in the short term. Hasbro's biggest cash cow is it's action figure lines. Populated primarily by G I Joe, Transformers, Marvel Superhero's and Star Wars. Two of those are now owned outright by Disney, Dreamwork's principal direct competitor (at least in Dreamworks eyes). So this move puts the value of their primary license contracts at major risk. Heck there was word that following the Disney purchase of Lucasfilms Hasbro might make a play for Lego's highly lucrative Star Wars building set license, given Hasbro's long relationship with Lucasfilms. Yeah, that ain't happening now.

The weird thing is this makes sense if they are looking to maximize their in house IP's. Transformers and G I Joe. It might give Hasbro enough leverage to own the full production process front to back the way Disney does with Marvel and Nikolodean does with TMNT. At least I suspect that that is what they are going for with the move. It still strikes me as a very very bad fit. I would not be surprised if within 2 years someone like Lego buys Hasbro and sells off Dreamworks to Warner Bros or Disney.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Breaking News! [http://edit.hollywoodreporter.com/news/dreamworks-animation-hasbro-end-merger-749215]

The Merger is off. Hasbro stocks fell as a result. No comment as to why given.

Well, we don't have to think about this anymore. Carry on.

 

[Svarr]

I... I suddenly got a chill down my spine, i don't know why.