a.k.a. DiC AUDIOVISUEL, DiC ENTERPRISES, INC., DiC
ENTERTAINMENT, DiC ANIMATION CITY, DiC PRODUCTIONS, THE INCREDIBLE WORLD OF DiC
(1971-2008)
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| DiC's Burbank offices and the bank that would eventually take them over. |
Key People: Jean Chalopin (founder),
Andy Heyward (American branch founder, producer), Bruno Bianchi (director),
Bernard Deyries (director), Tetsuo Katayama (producer), Robby London
(producer), Michael Maliani (producer),
Jeffrey Edell (President, COO)
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| Bruno Bianchi, Andy Heyward and Jean Chalopin. |
Diffusion Information Communications (DiC) was formed in France by Jean Chalopin in 1971 as the production division of Radio Television Luxembourg. In 1982, Andy Heyward partnered with Chalopin to open an American division to translate DiC’s productions into English and produce animated series for both network and syndication markets. Within the industry, “DiC” came to mean “Do it Cheap” as DiC outsourced all its animation work overseas, was anti-union, and hired staff on a per-program basis in order to keep their production costs low and underbid the competition for projects. In 1983, Heyward would introduce the company’s most successful creation: Inspector Gadget. That, combined with The Littles for ABC, made the company extremely profitable. DiC would partner with various toy makers and greeting card companies to make characters and product lines that could be turned into shows, such as The Get Along Gang and Care Bears. In 1985, DiC opened their own Japan-based animation facility, and in 1986 launched their own syndicated programming block with LBS Communications and Mattel called Kideo TV. Heyward partnered with investors Bear Stearns & Co. and Prudential Insurance Co. to buy out Chalopin and RTL’s majority ownership in DiC, making the American branch the main base of operations for the company and renamed the parent company DiC Animation City. Chalopin left to form a new animation studio, along with directors Bernard Deyries and Bruno Bianchi and producer Tetsuo Katayama. They were replaced by Robby London and Michael Maliani. The buyout left DiC heavily in debt and the foreign rights to their library were sold to Saban Productions, founded by long-time DiC composers Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, who in turn sold it to Chalopin’s studio. This led to a lawsuit that ended in a settlement and strained DiC’s relationship with Saban. By 1987, DiC expanded into the toy market with the development of the Old MacDonald talking toyline and had shows on all three major networks. By 1989, they were providing 30% of the networks’ Saturday morning schedule and launched the 26-hours-a-week Funtown programming block on CBN Family Channel. The company attempted to merge with Computer Memories Inc., a former computer parts manufacturer-turned-public shell company, but one of their shareholders killed the deal. Their debt, increased competition and rising costs in Japanese animation had DiC move production of their shows to Canada, Korea and Taiwan. In the early 90s, DiC entered into partnerships with Italian studio Reteitalia, S.p.A. and Spanish network Telecinco to co-produce programs, started their own educational unit, and a multimedia unit called DiC Interactive. In 1993, DiC and Capital Cities/ABC joined to form DiC Entertainment, LP and launched a live-action unit the following year as well as two more programming blocks in China: Dragon Club and Panda Club. In 1995, they partnered with Hamster Productions in France to open animation studio Les Studios Tex, named after both the legendary animator and the titular character of their first production, The Wacky World of Tex Avery. In 1996, they became a subsidiary of Disney when Disney purchased ABC and penned a first-look deal with the company when DiC launched their feature-film unit. Disney’s Buena Vista Home Entertainment distributed all the productions that came out of DiC’s newly-established direct-to-video division, beginning with 1999’s Madeline: Lost in Paris. They also provided another programming block, Freddy’s Firehouse, to Pax TV. In 2000, Heyward secured financing to buy back DiC from Disney. He returned to the home video market the following year with DiC Home Entertainment after eventually securing distribution through Lionsgate Home Entertainment. Over the next several years, DiC made aggressive purchases and partnerships: they bought the Mommy & Me pre-school label, the international rights to their shows still held by Disney, and Copyright Promotions Licensing Group, and teamed-up with Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment, KOL (AOL’s Kids Online), CBS Corporation, Nelvana, NBC Universal Global Networks, and Dam Company (the maker of the Troll doll, which ended up in a lawsuit over broken agreements). Heyward also managed to purchase Bain Capital’s interest in DiC in order to take the company public in the United Kingdom Alternative Investment Market. In 2008, DiC merged with Cookie Jar Group and became a subsidiary of Cookie Jar Entertainment. Shortly after, DiC was absorbed into the company and ceased to exist. In 2012, Cookie Jar was acquired by DHX Media (now WildBrain) who are the current rights holders to the DiC library.
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| Heyward and Chalopin with Inspector Gadget and his voice actor, Don Adams. |
Saturday Credits:
Inspector Gadget (1983)
The Littles
The Get Along Gang
Wolf Rock TV
Kidd Video
Pole Position
Heathcliff (1984)
Care Bears
Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling
Kissyfur
Dennis the Menace (1986)
The Real Ghostbusters
ALF: The Animated Series
Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater
Little Clowns of Happytown
The New Archies
The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil
ALF Tales
The Chipmunks
Hey Vern, It’s Ernest!
The Karate Kid
Camp Candy
Captain N: The Game Master
The Wizard of Oz (1990)
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
New Kids on the Block
Swamp Thing
Chip & Pepper’s Cartoon Madness
Hammerman
Super Mario World
Where’s Waldo?
Wish Kid
ProStars
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures
Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire
Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa
All-New Dennis the Menace
Sonic the Hedgehog (1993)
Madeline
Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?
Bump in the Night
Ultraforce
Gadget Boy & Heather
What-A-Mess
Gadget Boy’s Adventures in History
The Wacky World of Tex Avery
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century
Archie’s Weird Mysteries
Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!
Alienators: Evolution Continues
Stargate Infinity
Gadget & the Gadgetinis
Sushi Pack
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