Netflix to Make Shows Based on DreamWorks Characters, Cement Their Dominance Over the World’s Children

Netflix-less parents, be prepared to buy a Netflix account so you can get your kids to shut up about wanting to see the new How to Train Your Dragon TV show. That’s how parenting works, right? You can tell I’d be such a quality mother.

I would kind of like to see a How to Train Your Dragon show, though.

An agreement between Netflix and DreamWorks Animation means that the latter will create over 300 hours of original programming “inspired by” DreamWorks characters. There’s no official word on which characters will get their own shows, but the official press release mentions Shrek, Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon, and Kung Fu Panda, and those have been pretty massive hits for the company, so characters from those aren’t a bad bet.

*coughAstridcough* Also, not that it’ll happen, but DreamWorks animation is the company that made The Road to El Dorado. What sort of satanic magic do I have to perform to make that show happen? Also probably not getting a TV show: Bee Movie. Sorry, Tumblr.

Netflix and DreamWorks have already worked together for the upcoming show Turbo F.A.S.T., based on this summer’s Turbo, which is about a super-fast garden snail. That show’s coming out this December; for the others, whatever they are, you can expect to start seeing ads for them whenever you log into Netflix starting in 2014.

Interestingly, the press release notes that the new shows will also pull from DreamWorks’ recently purchased Classic Media library, which “includes some of the most popular animated characters in history.” Wikipedia tells me that those include Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing-Boing, VeggieTales, and, oh yeah, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power.

I’m not saying this means Netflix will reboot He-Man and She-Ra. I’m saying that, barring some misunderstanding of the legalese on my part (which is entirely possible—I know at least some of the characters they only own licensing rights to), they could if they wanted to. Nostalgic late 20-, early 30-somethings: This might be your day.

(via: Deadline)

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