Disney and DreamWorks sign distribution deal

Well, it's official. Last week, we were hearing about talks between Walt Disney Studios and Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG for a distributing deal. This afternoon, according to CNBC, the two inked a deal for Disney, under the Touchstone brand, to market and distribute six DreamWorks films a year, beginning in 2010.

DreamWorks had attempted to negotiate a deal with Universal, but those talks fell through.

Note, that this deal does not involve DreamWorks Animation, which is a separate business unit.

As I mentioned in last week's post, I wonder what effect this will have on Universal Orlando, as DreamWorks was one of the major sources of new theme content for the park. What impact with this have on Walt Disney World? Will we see some Spielberg characters coming to the parks? Could this be the impetus to re-do the Great Movie Ride with more DreamWorks characters (since the MGM deal died out last year).

Who knows?