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AwesomenessTV, Google to Produce Feature Films

DreamWorks Animation’s AwesomenessTV online teen network is getting into the feature film business with YouTube, the companies announced on Tuesday. The first film from AwesomenessTV, in Los Angeles, and YouTube, a Google Inc. subsidiary in San Bruno, is expected for release in the fall and be followed by several others over the next two years. “The films will all premiere globally on YouTube before they become available elsewhere, setting what we believe will become a new distribution paradigm for years to come,” YouTube said in a blog posting at its site. The films will be produced by Brian Robbins, co-founder and chief executive at AwesomenessTV. “We think the platform is really ready for long form, so now we will make movies that will star YouTubers and premiere on YouTube,” Robbins said in a prepared statement. “We will turn YouTube stars into movie stars.” The Glendale animation studio acquired AwesomenessTV in 2013 for $33 million. It sold off a 25 percent stake to Hearst Corp. last year for $81 million as part of a deal that gave it access to Seventeen magazine content. Earlier this month, AwesomenessTV announced it was creating a second online network, AwestruckTV, with scripted and unscripted original content aimed at millennial-aged mothers for viewing on YouTube, Facebook video and a new video streaming service from Verizon Wireless. DreamWorks shares closed down 48 cents, or nearly 2 percent, to $25.33 on the Nasdaq.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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