• Wall Street Journal, Friday, March 19, 2010 10:48 AM

The DreamWorks animation studio and Wal-Mart have forged an unprecedented merchandising partnership in which the retailer will carry more than 100 "Dragon" products and be the exclusive U.S. retailer of nearly all licensed products, excluding the DVD release, among other items.

The retailer is setting up elaborate merchandise displays in 2,500 stores -- including 20-foot Viking ships -- for the movie's launch next week. It is also co-financing an ad campaign depicting a dragon swooping into Wal-Mart. "It is a different business model for both of us, and we're both going to be evaluating how it works," says Wal-Mart CMO Stephen Quinn.

Wal-Mart has appointed Chris Nagelson as its point man for finding future merchandising partners. He should not have to look far. "When you have the world's largest retailer creating a blockbuster event at this scale," says DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, "you just get down on your knees and thank the movie and toy gods."

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