Animation production — and more — is again moving to the forefront by the ambitious expansion of Dreamation, owned by partners Brooke English and Lee Litas, to produce animated films, launch a proposed worldwide animation network and continue with a successful animation film festival.
Early next month Dreamation will move to a 60,000 sq. ft. Buffalo Grove facility and grow its staff to 100 from its present 15. A major Hollywood studio is behind Dreamation’s first feature, “IF” — for “imaginary friends” — that will involve 300 proprietary characters. It’s scheduled for a mid-2006 release.
The partners are also working on creating IAN, the first global animation and digital media network, scheduled to bow around February 2005. Backed by private investors, estimated cost to launch is anywhere from $60-$100 million. When Rev. John Minogue’s tenure as DePaul University president ends June 30, he will join Dreamation and help raise venture capital for the network.
A minority stockholder in the studio is non-profit Illinois Ventures for Community Action, which made a working capital loan to the studio.
English and Litas also produce Cineme, the international animation festival whose debut last fall was a huge success. Films that came from all over the world were seen by an audience of 14,000 during its weeklong run. The second annual Cineme is scheduled for next September.
Producer/director English and writer/filmmaker Litas first worked together on English’s indie film “Between Us” in 1997. They moved to L.A. in 1997 and returned to Chicago to be closer to family and friends after Sept. 11.
