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)
 |
| Bruno Bianchi, Andy Heyward and Jean Chalopin. |
Diffiusion, 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 non-creative 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, along with directors Bernard Deyries and Bruno
Bianchi and producer Tetsuo Katayama. They were replaced by Robby London and Michael Maliani. Chalopin would go on to form a new animation
studio: Creativity & Development. 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 C&D. 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 Dennis the Menace to
a Canadian animation firm for grants and tax breaks from the Canadian
government and began moving other work to 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 with both of them, 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. 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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