LOS ANGELES — Roughly a year and a half after ending an unsuccessful search for a buyer in Hollywood, DreamWorks Animation has ended up with a surprise suitor: SoftBank Corporation, the Japanese telecommunications and Internet giant.

The acquisition offer, confirmed by a person with knowledge of the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to preserve relationships, was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, a trade magazine. It said that SoftBank had offered $32 a share for the boutique studio DreamWorks Animation, a 45 percent premium over the share price. That would value it at $3.4 billion.

A DreamWorks Animation spokeswoman, Allison Rawlings, on Saturday night said, “We don’t comment on rumor and speculation.”

DreamWorks Animation is Hollywood’s smallest movie studio, delivering only two or three films a year. The company casts a large shadow, however, because it is run by one of the entertainment industry’s best-known figures, Jeffrey Katzenberg. Its hits have included “Shrek,” “Kung-Fu Panda” and “Madagascar.”