On Friday, Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc. (NASDAQ:DWA) announced plans to expand into an untapped market: China. In a joint venture with Chinese media companies, the company will build a production studio in Shanghai and expand the brand in a very Disneyesque fashion.

Called Oriental Dreamworks, Dreamworks Animation will partner with China Media Capital, Shanghai Media Group and Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd and S. tour. They will have about 55 percent ownership of the new studio with Dreamworks Animation owning about 45 percent. The initial funding will come from $330 million in cash and intellectual property said the companies.

The new studio will make Chinese animated and live-action content for China and global distribution, live entertainment, theme parks, mobile, online, interactive games and consumer products, similar to Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) reported Reuters. Toward the end of 2012, the studio will begin operations in Shanghai; the inaugural animated feature film is scheduled for 2016.

Dreamworks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg  said of the company, “Our goal is, for five or 10 years from now, to have the leading family-branded entertainment company in China.” He added, ”It’s a pretty significant opportunity for us” with the wide Chinese entertainment market.

Katzenberg added that the studio will look to release one animated feature each year from 2016 to 2018, with a goal of doubling this annually. Within the next two  years, a live-action movie film could open. And in the near future–possibly in 2012–consumer products and live entertainment may provide “short-term revenue opportunities” said Katzenberg.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was in Los Angeles when the announcement was made. In honor of the venture, Dreamworks created a  new logo, a panda with a fishing pole on top of a red crescent moon; this is instead of the United State’s logo that uses a boy and a white moon.

This isn’t Dreamworks Animation first foray into China. In 2011, it found success with “Kung Fu Panda 2,” which became China’s highest-grossing animated film from $100 million in ticket sales.

To contact the reporter on this story: Debbie Baratz at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com

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