Sony launches animation unit for feature films

LOS ANGELES -- Hoping to cash in on blockbusters like "Monsters, Inc." and "Shrek," Sony Pictures Entertainment has launched its own animation unit to develop computer-generated feature films.

Penney Finkelman Cox and Sandra Rabins, who started DreamWorks SKG's animation department, have been hired to head the unit, the studio said Wednesday.

Yair Landau, president of Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, called the new division a "big step forward."

"Tokyo really loves the idea of us creating original characters digitally," he said. "It's a fulfillment of what they believe the company can become."

While Sony Animation will have its own annual operating budget to cover development, its sister division, Columbia Pictures, will finance the productions and handle marketing and distribution.

The unit will be required to develop at least one animated film every 18 months.

The new division is expected to work closely with Sony's in-house visual effects and digital character animation unit, Imageworks, which has worked on Columbia's recent blockbuster "Spider-Man."