DreamWorks Animation to Acquire HE-MAN, CASPER and VOLTRON

DreamWorks Animation is very close to owning several big name character properties that include He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Voltron, Archie, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Waldo of "Where's Waldo?," the VeggieTales characters, Lassie and the Lone Ranger.

The studio is currently in talks over Voltron with Classic Media to acquire these properties for more than $150 million dollars. This would be an interesting deal as the film and TV rights aren't included in the purchase. Variety reports, "Classic Media's characters are exploited mostly through consumer products and licensing deals, primarily because it doesn't own other elements like film or TV rights to all the characters. That could pose a problem for DWA down the line, but the privately owned company generated $376 million last year through licensing."

DreamWorks must have a plan if they're going to spend that kind of money on these properties, I just have no idea what that plan is. Maybe they'll just ride the wave of success when the other movie studios start releasing movies that are based on the characters that they'll own the licensing to.