Dreamworks Animation Inc

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. said Tuesday that its first-quarter profit surged 69% on solid DVD sales for "Bee Movie," "Shrek the Third" and its earlier films. The Glendale company, best known for the "Shrek" franchise, reported net income of $26.1 million, or 28 cents a share, versus $15.4 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier. Analysts had predicted profit of 22 cents a share on average, according to Thomson Financial. DreamWorks shares slid 49 cents to $25.

A slovenly panda gave DreamWorks Animation SKG better-than-expected third-quarter results Tuesday, but couldn't overcome the monstrous revenue delivered a year earlier by a green ogre. Driven by the worldwide box office of "Kung Fu Panda," DreamWorks Animation reported net income of $37.4 million, or 41 cents a share, down 21% from the same quarter a year earlier, when it released "Shrek the Third." Revenue fell 6% to $151.5 million.

DreamWorks Animation SKG is launching its franchise characters into new lines of business, giving the Glendale studio a chance to grow steadily and consistently even during a recession that already is slowing its DVD sales. In their first investor conference since 2005, studio executives Thursday outlined a series of new business ventures to lessen DreamWorks' dependence on production of only two animated movies a year, which often has led to big swings in its earnings and stock price.

Anne Globe, a longtime DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. executive, has been named head of worldwide marketing and consumer products at the studio. Globe replaces industry veteran Terry Press, who is leaving DreamWorks Animation to launch her own company. Globe has been instrumental in creating partnerships with such companies as McDonald's Corp., Activision Inc. and Kellogg Co. Lorenza Munoz

Battered by the box-office failure of "Flushed Away," DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. said Tuesday that it had formally severed ties with the movie's British maker, Aardman Animations. The Glendale studio had been expected to end its relationship after the film flopped, resulting in a pending write-down that some analysts said would be as much as $105 million to $115 million.

The animated dud "Flushed Away" sent $109 million down the drain for DreamWorks Animation in the form of a write-down. Now, the Glendale animation studio is looking to its reliable green ogre to put the company solidly back in the black. It also moved to shore up its shares with a $150-million stock buyback. On Tuesday, the company disclosed the exact financial toll "Flushed Away" took on the company, which resulted in a fourth-quarter loss of $21.

Printer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. said Wednesday that it was developing technologies with DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. to improve the color consistency between print and digital images. DreamColor has been added to some printers, and the companies are working to find ways to maintain tones when transferring images among cameras, computers, scanners and phones. The technology will be unveiled with a new printer, cameras and retail photo labs at a Photo Marketing Assn.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. said Tuesday it would produce all its films using three-dimensional technology to appeal to audiences. Jim Mainard and Jason Clark will lead a new 3-D production team, Glendale-based DreamWorks said. Its first 3-D feature, "Monsters vs. Aliens," is scheduled for release in 2009. Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg is betting that interest in 3-D films will help the company establish a franchise beyond "Shrek."

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. paid Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg $1 in total compensation in 2006 after he waived a stock grant that was to have been valued at $5 million, according to a regulatory filing. Katzenberg waived his stock award in 2006 and for the next two years to accommodate the salary and equity compensation of the company's president and chief financial officer, Lew Coleman, who was hired in 2005. The animation studio paid Coleman total compensation of $7.

Movie theaters typically love having two big-budget movies butting heads on a holiday weekend because that will keep cash registers whirring at cinema complexes. But an abundance of riches has put theaters in a bind for Memorial Day 2009. Both 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. have chosen that date to release what each hopes will be its first 3-D blockbuster. DreamWorks' "Monsters vs.