Paramount to launch big-budget animation unit



July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, maker of the "Transformers" action films, will create an animation unit that will release its first title in 2014.

Paramount Animation will focus on family oriented films, spending as much as $100 million per movie, Paramount Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brad Grey said today in a statement. Initially, the unit will make one movie a year.