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Whoooosh! That moving object! Screaming across the Saturday morning sky! Headed west, toward the Orient! Speaking French! Raining spinoffs! Making money!
What manner of cartoon creator is this, that soared so fast through the cliquish air of the Los Angeles animation world, rocketing past less aggressive producers in its relentless drive for the top?
It's DIC Enterprises, of course, as anyone in the animation business will tell you. In just three years this Studio City company has leaped- boing!-from the kitchen table of the president's mother in Westwood to fame, fortune, syndication and merchandising, which is where the money is in animation, anyway.
Andy Heyward, the company's 36-year-old president, and Jean Chalopin, 34, who runs the DIC Group worldwide, have turned their American cartoon business into one of the industry's giants, a company ranked with the likes of Marvel Productions in Van Nuys, Hanna-Barbera Productions in Hollywood and Filmation Studios in Reseda.
By some measures, DIC (rhymes with eek) is already Mr. Big, No. 1, Top Banana. This fall, in the Saturday morning television slots that are prime time for children's programming, it will have three shows on CBS, one or possibly two on NBC and one on ABC.
With four syndicated shows running five days a week on local stations nationwide, DIC could have as many as 351 half-hours (the standard program length) on the air during the season. DIC is also doing five half-hours of specials and is starting a live-production unit.
$60 Million in Revenue
The company will not disclose profits-its parent company, DIC Group, is part of Radio-Television Luxembourg, a privately held entertainment conglomerate-but says revenue this year should exceed $60 million based on bookings in hand, compared to between $20 million and $25 million in 1984. Marvel, perhaps DIC's biggest rival for leadership in the little-studied industry, claims revenue exceeding $50 million for 1985 based on current bookings. Filmation, another key rival, would not disclose figures.
DIC, which has 300 employees in three offices in Studio City, says it has made itself the picture of success by dint of superior quality and hustle. Others say the quality is nothing special, but no one doubts its business savvy.
Industry insiders say it succeeds through innovative programming, an aggressive agent and...