| Former type | LLC |
|---|---|
| Industry | Animation, Production children's |
| Fate | Merged into Cookie Jar Group |
| Successor | Cookie Jar Entertainment[1] |
| Founded | 1971 |
| Founder(s) | Jean Chalopin[2] |
| Defunct | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Burbank, California, United States |
| Key people | Chairman & CEO: Andy Heyward[3][4] |
| Products | Children's television shows |
| Parent | Radio-Television Luxembourg (1971-1986) Independent (1986-1993, 2000-2008) Capitol Cites Communications, Inc. (1993-1995) The Walt Disney Company(1995-2000) Cookie Jar Entertainment (2008-present) |
DIC Entertainment (pronounced "deek", rendered "DiC") was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated (and occasionally live-action) television shows such as Ulysses 31 (1981), Inspector Gadget (1983–1986), The Littles (1983), The Real Ghostbusters (1986–1991), Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990-1993), and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of Sailor Moon (1995–1998), DIC produced live-action feature films while under Disney, including 1998's Meet the Deedles and 1999's Inspector Gadget.
It was founded in 1971 as DIC Audiovisuel by Frenchman Jean Chalopin in Paris, as a subsidiary of Radio-Television Luxembourg (RTL). "DIC" was originally an acronym for Diffusion, Information et Communication. They later had a US office in Burbank. Andy Heyward then bought the business and DiC became an American company. The company was also known as The Incredible World of DiC, DiC. Audiovisuel, DiC Enterprises, DIC Animation City and DIC Productions. In 2008, the studio closed its doors, and was reallocated to Cookie Jar Entertainment.[5]
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DIC Entertainment's American arm was founded in 1982 as DIC Enterprises, headed by Andy Heyward, Jean Chalopin and Bruno Bianchi, in Burbank, California.
In 1986, Heyward and other investors bought the company, thus making the US headquarters the main base of operations.[6] Chalopin and Bianchi left around this time, so did formal producer Tetsuo Katayama, in favor of Robby London and Michael Maliani.
After the buyout, the company was in heavy debt and the foreign rights to the DIC library were sold to Saban Productions, who then sold the rights back to Chalopin.[2] At the time, Heyward considered Chalopin an enemy. DIC sued Saban for damages; in 1991, both companies reached a settlement.[7]
In 1989, the company's name changed to DiC Animation City.
In 1993, DIC Animation City and Capital Cities/ABC formed a joint venture called DIC Entertainment LP[8] and in 1995 it became a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.[6]
In 2000, with an investment by Bain Capital, Heyward re-purchased DIC Enterprises.[6][9] He purchased Bain Capital's interest in 2004 and took the company public the following year.
The same year, they produced a scene parodying Strawberry Shortcake for the Fairly OddParents television special Channel Chasers.
In 2003 DIC launched a syndicated children's programming block called DiC Kids Network.[10][11]
In early 2006, DIC Entertainment and CBS Corporation signed a multi-year deal to unveil a new 3-hour long programming block for Saturday mornings on CBS. The resulting KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS was launched the following fall.[12] On September 15, 2007, a new programming block: KEWLopolis premiered, a joint venture between DIC, CBS, and American Greetings.
In April 2007, DIC Entertainment, Corus Entertainment's Nelvana and NBC Universal Global Networks announced plans to launch KidsCo, a new international children's entertainment network.
On June 20, 2008, it was announced that DIC Entertainment and Cookie Jar Entertainment were merging.[13] On July 23, 2008, both studios completed their merger,[5] and the company was completely folded into Cookie Jar Entertainment.
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