For months, DreamWorks Animation has been working on a prototype for a product it hopes will change how the world’s children meet Santa each Christmas. Code name: DreamHouse.
At shopping malls that buy in — and two national operators already have, Forest City and General Growth Properties — Santa Claus will sit inside a 2,000-square-foot “cottage” with walls that are essentially giant video screens. Children will go on a virtual sleigh ride with Shrek before meeting Santa. No more waiting in line; appointments will be made by app.
“It’s an amazing, beautiful, big theatrical statement that represents our efforts to diversify into new areas,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation’s chief executive. “We’ve made bets, and now it’s about execution.”
Diversification has been Mr. Katzenberg’s mantra for at least two years, ever since an effort to sell his small studio ended without success. The need to become part of a larger company or expand into other businesses reflects a reality Hollywood is loath to admit: Movies by themselves are a slow- to no-growth business. A lasting film enterprise, at least in today’s marketplace, must have other engines.
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