DW Animation Betrothed to Fox

Now with yummy Add On.

DreamWorks Animation has partnered with its next distributor, as the Nikkster tells us:

... Jeffrey Katzenberg promised Wall Street analysts that DreamWorks Animation would have a new distribution deal by Labor Day — and he does. Sony had been in the running down to these very last weeks. But when it didn’t close, DWA turned to Twentieth Century Fox. which now becomes an animation powerhouse. ...

The question now is (and I guess it's been thrashed out in detailed negotiations) who gets the prime Numero Uno release slots? Fox's in-house animation division Blue Sky? Or Jeffrey's shop?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Add On: Per BusinessWeek, DWA gets a (somewhat) better deal with Rupert's minions:

DreamWorks Animation’s distribution deal with Twentieth Century Fox achieved Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Katzenberg’s goal of slicing costs while furthering plans to find new revenue as DVD sales shrink. ...

Altogether, the Fox agreement amounts to about a 1 percent fee reduction for DreamWorks Animation, Barton Crockett, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets in New York, wrote in a research note. Lazard had expected a larger reduction of about 1.5 percent in DreamWorks’ costs, he said.

“The main advantage is that DreamWorks has a solid partner in Fox,” he wrote.