Film Production
Q1-16-Televison, Consumer Products, New Media drive up DreamWorks Animation numbers
BENGALURU: DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., (DWA) reported 14.4 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) growth in revenue for the quarter ended 31 March 2016 (Q-16, current quarter) The company reported revenue of $190.44 million in Q1-16 as compared to $106.17 million in the corresponding year ago quarter. Further, it reported net income attributable to DWA of $13.84 million in the current quarter as compared to a loss of $54.78 million in Q1-15. The growth in revenue was driven by performance in the Television Series and Specials, Consumer Products and New Media segments.
“I am happy to report another strong quarter of financial results, which I believe reflect continued execution on our strategy of transitioning DreamWorks Animation into a global family entertainment company,” said DWA CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, “I’m excited to be passing the baton to Comcast, as I know they will continue to build on the foundation we’ve established over the past 22 years.”
On April 28, 2016 NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast Corporation, announced the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2016, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals in the U.S. and abroad, as well as the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. Following the completion of the transaction, DreamWorks Animation CEO and co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg will become chairman of DreamWorks New Media, which will be comprised of the company’s ownership interests in Awesomeness TV and NOVA. Katzenberg will also serve as a consultant to NBCUniversal.
Note: Beginning in the quarter ended 31 March 2016, DWA says that it has changed the method by which intellectual property costs are charged to the Consumer Products segment to provide better comparability to peers and to be similar to the method used in the Television Series and Specials segment while minimizing segment volatility. As a result, the Consumer Products segment no longer bears amortization of capitalized production costs for the use of Film and TV segment intellectual property. Instead, the Consumer Products segment is charged a royalty fee which will compensate the originating segment for the use of intellectual property. There is no change to DWA’s consolidated financials, as DWA’s ultimate revenues and the amortization of capitalized production costs remain unchanged. This methodology impacts segment reporting only. All prior-year period figures have been updated to reflect this new methodology, says the compny.
Segment numbers
Feature Films segment
Feature Films segment’s revenues for Q1-16 declined 26.7 percent to $94.3 million, compared to $128.7 million in Q1-15. Revenues in the current quarter were favourably impacted by the worldwide pay television distribution of How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Mr. Peabody and Sherman, higher home entertainment sales and recoveries of $6.3 million from previously established home entertainment reserves related to sales through DWA’s former primary theatrical distributor. Segment gross profit for Q1-16 of $26.1 million was 31.5 percent lower compared to $38.1 million in the prior-year period.
Television Series and Specials segment
Revenues for Q1-16 from the Television Series and Specials segment more than tripled (3.14 times) to $57.0 million, compared to $18.1 million during the corresponding prior-year period. DWA says that the increase in revenues was attributable to a significantly higher number of episodes delivered under its episodic content licensing arrangements. Segment gross profit in the current quarter increased six-fold to $21.1 million from $3.5 million in Q1-15. The increase was primarily driven by higher revenues and lower marketing expenses, says DWA.
Consumer Products segment
Revenues from DWA’s Consumer Products segment increased 50 percent y-o-y in Q1-16 to $21.4 million, compared to $14.3 million in the same period last year. DWA says that the increase was primarily due to revenues earned from location-based entertainment initiatives during the current quarter. Revenue for both the current and prior year quarters also included contributions from merchandise licensing arrangements. Segment gross profit increased 60 percent y-o-y to $15.0 million in the current quarter from $9.4 million in the prior-year period.
New Media segment
Revenues from DWA’s New Media segment more than tripled (3.3 times) in Q1-16 to $15.2 million compared to $4.6 million during Q1-15. This increase was primarily attributable to revenue generated from licensing and distribution of content and to a lesser extent, brand sponsorship and talent management arrangements says DWA. Segment gross profit for Q1-16 also more than tripled (3.1 times) to $6.5 million from $2.1 million in the prior-year period, primarily due to higher revenues.
Film Production
Disney to cut 1,000 jobs under new chief executive
The entertainment giant’s freshly installed boss inherits a restructuring already in motion, with marketing and corporate roles bearing the brunt
CALIFORNIA: Walt Disney is preparing to slash up to 1,000 jobs in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the entertainment giant’s freshly installed chief executive moves swiftly to trim fat and tighten the ship.
The cuts, less than 1 per cent of Disney’s global workforce of 231,000, will fall hardest on marketing and corporate roles. The planning, notably, began before D’Amaro formally took the top job in March, suggesting the new boss inherited a restructuring already in motion rather than one of his own making.
Driving the push is Asad Ayaz, Disney’s newly appointed chief marketing officer, who in January assumed command of a unified, company-wide marketing operation spanning film, television and streaming. His consolidation drive has been given a suitably cinematic internal name: Project Imagine.
The move is modest by Disney’s recent standards. Between 2023 and 2025, under former chief executive Bob Iger, the company eliminated roughly 8,000 positions across several brutal rounds of cuts, saving $7.5 billion, comfortably exceeding its own targets. As recently as June 2025, several hundred more jobs were axed across Disney Entertainment, hitting film and television marketing, publicity, casting, development and corporate finance.
Disney’s structural headaches are well-documented: shrinking streaming margins, a weakened box office, and fierce competition from Amazon and YouTube gnawing at its flanks. The company is merging its Disney+ and Hulu teams into a single app, has brought in consultants from Bain & Co to guide its broader cost strategy, and is betting heavily on digital growth.
The wider entertainment industry offers little comfort. Sony Pictures, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have all taken the knife to their workforces in recent years, and further cuts loom if Paramount’s acquisition of Warner goes through.
For D’Amaro, the message is clear: there will be no honeymoon period. The magic kingdom still has some cost-cutting spells left to cast.
