Shrek

A decade after winning an Oscar for the animated film “Shrek,” Glendale’s DreamWorks Animation is preparing to bring the heroic green ogre to the Los Angeles stage. On Monday, DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, key members of the crew and the actor who will play Shrek on stage offered a behind-the-scenes look at “Shrek: The Musical,” which comes to Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre for a three-week run starting July 12. “Welcome to the house that ‘Shrek’ built,” Katzenberg told journalists gathered at a screening room on the studio’s Flower Street campus.

Alex Coolman GLENDALE -- Conrad Vernon has come up with a very simple way to determine what's funny. When Vernon, a story artist with DreamWorks in Glendale, pitches an idea for a scene or a character to his colleagues, he acts it out as completely as he can. If that means dancing around the room and doing a lot of funny voices, so be it. Then he watches the reactions. "When you gets laughs from someone, it stays in," he said. If people don't get it, the material gets cut. That was the procedure Vernon and his fellow artists followed while working on "Shrek," the computer-animated DreamWorks fairy tale that opens in theaters today.

Myles Grene, 12, of Burbank, is a seventh-grader at Luther Burbank Middle School. Shrek and all his buddies are back again in "Shrek 2" with more adventure, more fun and more laughs. Everyone will be glad to rejoin their favorites from the first movie. Shrek and Fiona are now newlyweds and, as always, Donkey is there to back them up. Plus, now there is another character for you to adore -- Puss In Boots. But for every new good guy, there are even more bad guys to go along with them.

GLENDALE — Riding on the back of its giant green ogre, Shrek, Glendale-based DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. more than quadrupled its income in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, the company reported Tuesday. For the three-month quarter ending on June 30, the animation giant posted $222.5 million in total revenue and net income of $61.8 million, or $0.60 per share, said Lew Coleman, DreamWorks chief financial officer, in a conference call with investors and media.

For Glendale resident Douglas Rogers, life took an animated turn in 1998 when he was hired as art director for "Shrek. " "I had come to Los Angeles to do 'Othello' at the Shakespeare Festival. Jeffrey Katzenburg (producer of 'Shrek' and DreamWorks chief executive) was looking for someone who thought outside the box because at that time only 'Toy Story' had been made. I went over to DreamWorks and they showed me this 22-second test," Rogers said. "I realized what they were showing me was a new medium.

DreamWorks Animation is seeing the future in 3-D. In announcing its quarterly earnings Tuesday afternoon, the Glendale-based company's chief executive made it clear that movies produced for 3-D, such as DreamWorks' successful "Shrek Forever After," will be a focus going forward. "We're seeing a fresh, vibrant new marketplace," said Jeffrey Katzenberg at a Tuesday afternoon conference with investors. Showings of "Shrek Forever After" in 3-D led the company in reporting total revenue of $158 million and net income of $24 million for the quarter.

Teaches about love, friendship Geoff Nuanes of Tujunga is a sophomore at Providence High School in Burbank. Shrek! What does the word mean? Well, up until this weekend, most people had no idea, but suddenly, out of nowhere, the meaning of that one word became known. The animated film "Shrek" teaches lessons of love, friendship and self-discovery to a wide variety of audiences, ranging from children to parents to grandparents. Personally, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the film.

In a Monday news conference, DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg discussed his company's just-completed distribution deal with Twentieth Century Fox , and praised Fox chairmen Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman for building a “world-class distribution team” and singled out Fox's strong relationships with large retailers that are critical to selling movie merchandise. “I'm confident that Fox's world-class experience and global resources will allow our films to reach the fullest potential over the next five years,” Katzenberg said.

DreamWorks Animation has ruled out working with Paramount Pictures after next year. The independent studio behind the "Shrek" and "Kung Fu Panda" movies officially informed Paramount Pictures that it was rejecting an offer to continue their distribution agreement on the same financial terms for one additional year, confirmed a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.  COMPANY TOWN

Shrek and Po have found a new home. DreamWorks Animation, the Glendale studio behind such hit animated franchises as "Shrek," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Madagascar," has signed a five-year deal with 20th Century Fox , which will distribute its movies beginning next year. Fox replaces Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks' partner since 2006. The two companies' relationship began souring in 2011 as DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg sought to pay a lower fee and Paramount Chairman Brad Grey formed a competitive animation unit at his studio.

DreamWorks Animation is placing another bet in China . The Glendale studio is partnering with one of Asia's largest resort operators to bring its characters to  Macao . Dreamworks has signed a deal with Sands China, a subsidiary of the company that owns the Venetian and the Palazzo hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, to license its characters for a "DreamWorks Experience" at the Cotai Strip Resorts in Macao. The deal will give resort patrons various opportunities to see and mingle with Po, Shrek, Alex the lion, Hiccup and other characters from DreamWorks Animation movies.

In a Monday news conference, DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg discussed his company's just-completed distribution deal with Twentieth Century Fox , and praised Fox chairmen Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman for building a “world-class distribution team” and singled out Fox's strong relationships with large retailers that are critical to selling movie merchandise. “I'm confident that Fox's world-class experience and global resources will allow our films to reach the fullest potential over the next five years,” Katzenberg said.

Shrek and Po have found a new home. DreamWorks Animation, the Glendale studio behind such hit animated franchises as "Shrek," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Madagascar," has signed a five-year deal with 20th Century Fox , which will distribute its movies beginning next year. Fox replaces Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks' partner since 2006. The two companies' relationship began souring in 2011 as DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg sought to pay a lower fee and Paramount Chairman Brad Grey formed a competitive animation unit at his studio.

DreamWorks Animation, the Glendale studio behind the " Shrek " and " Madagascar " movies, reported lower-than-expected financial results for the second quarter. For the quarter ended June 30, the company reported net income of $12.8 milion, or 15 cents per share, down 62% from a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter also fell sharply, declining 25% to $162.8 million. Analysts had forecast net income of 25 cents per share. Continue reading > > -- Richard Verrier  

Director Peter Ramsey is sitting in his office on the DreamWorks Animation campus in Glendale and recalling a vivid childhood memory. “I remember being in my pajamas in the back of my parents' car at an Inglewood drive-in watching Disney's “Snow White” and being mesmerized,” he says. “We didn't get to go to movies a lot when I was a kid, so when we did, it was such an emotional overwhelming experience. That's where I really got that reverence for movies.” For an African American inner-city kid from Crenshaw, the dream of making it big in Hollywood seemed almost as fantastical as the movies he watched.

DreamWorks Animation has decided not to distribute its own films after its longtime deal with Paramount Pictures expires this fall, and it may strike a new pact with Sony Pictures , according to people close to the negotiations not authorized to speak publicly. The Glendale-based studio behind the “ Shrek ” and “ Kung Fu Panda ” movies must find a new distribution partner quickly. Its last film under the Paramount deal, “Rise of the Guardians," hits theaters on Nov. 12. The publicly held DreamWorks does not yet have a distributor for “The Croods,” set to come out in March, and for "Turbo," scheduled for next July.

DreamWorks Animation, the Glendale studio behind the "Shrek" and"Kung Fu Panda" movies, saw its revenues jump 26% to $136.1 million in the first quarter. The company said it earned a profit of $9.1 million, or 11 cents a share, the first quarter of the year, a 3% increase over last year, reflecting international ticket sales from the Shrek spinoff,"Puss in Boots. "The movie grossed $554 million worldwide since its release last October. The results exceeded the consensus estimate among analysts, who had forecast a profit of 9 cents per share and revenues of $134 million.

DreamWorks Animation has ruled out working with Paramount Pictures after next year. The independent studio behind the "Shrek" and "Kung Fu Panda" movies officially informed Paramount Pictures that it was rejecting an offer to continue their distribution agreement on the same financial terms for one additional year, confirmed a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.  COMPANY TOWN

Fiona and Shrek, played by Haven Burton and Eric Petersen, perform for a good-sized crowd at the Shrek the Musical preview at the Americana at Brand in Glendale on Tuesday, July 19, 2011. The cast from Shrek the Musical put on a free taste of what is in the show at the Pantages Theatre until July 31.