Netflix's animation offerings continues to expand. On Monday, the video streaming service announced that characters from popular DreamWorks Animation movies — such as Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda — will inspire original Netflix shows.
The multi-year agreement with DreamWorks comes just months after Netflix inked new licensing deals with Turner Broadcasting and Warner Bros. to stream previous seasons of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim shows. Netflix also struck a deal with Disney at the end of last year to start offering new, first-run Disney films in 2016.
"This [Dreamworks] deal represents a major expansion of what's already a phenomenal relationship, allowing us to bring beloved DreamWorks characters to the 40 countries where Netflix operates and setting the stage for us to innovate together as we expand into new markets," Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, said in a statement.
Dubbed as the "largest deal for original first-run content in Netflix history," the new deal includes more than 300 hours of new programming inspired by DreamWorks characters as well as some of the DreamWorks-acquired Classic Media characters. No specifics were provided, but the shows will include familiar faces from the Classic Media library such as Archie, Dudley Do-Right, Felix the Cat and Mr. Magoo, and titles like Where's Waldo? and Voltron.
The first original series is expected to be available for streaming un 2014. For users in the United States and Latin America, Netflix will begin streaming DreamWorks' feature films in 2014, starting with The Croods.
In February, Netflix and DreamWorks announced their first Netflix original series for kids based the animated movie Turbo (pictured above), which hits theaters July 17. The series, Turbo F.A.S.T., will continue the film's plot in December.
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