Variety Editor-In Chief Peter Bart:
Though Paramount's acquisition of DreamWorks has often been termed a major dealmaking coup, there are signals their relationship may be unraveling.
Unless wounds are healed, there's a possibility that David Geffen and Steven Spielberg may walk in 15 months, according to sources. If a schism occurred, Geffen and Spielberg could retain the DreamWorks name but would lose ownership of their negatives, development deals and nearly all their staff.
While acknowledging that Geffen and Spielberg receive no salaries and have non-exclusive deals, one key Paramount executive disputed their contractual right to walk away from their studio relationship.
Sumner Redstone, the chairman of Viacom, has knowingly or unknowingly emerged as a lightning rod in the relationship, DreamWorks sources alleged. Redstone himself insists his relations with Spielberg are friendly, but sources said both the filmmaker and Geffen feel the Viacom chairman has cold-shouldered them, thus aggravating earlier perceived snubs and credit-grabs by the studio.
Geffen himself, calling from his yacht, insisted Friday that "Steven and I are very happy with the performance of Paramount's marketing and distribution teams in handling our films." He cited Rob Moore and Jim Tharp, among others, as contributing to the success of such DreamWorks-Paramount releases as "Transformers" and "Disturbia."
DreamWorks Animation, headed by Jeffrey Katzenberg, also has had a successful summer thanks to the success of "Shrek the Third."
Katzenberg maintains voting control of DreamWorks Animation and has long reiterated his insistence on maintaining his autonomy and not becoming an integral part of the Paramount operation.
DreamWorks sources acknowledge the efforts of Brad Grey, Par's chairman-CEO to heal the tensions between the two entities...
Click here for the rest of the story.
Wow! If all of this chatter turns out to be true--That was fast! Of course Geffen's going to deny that there's any sign of problems, even if there are a few cracks, why should he tip his hand--if the split's not happening right away?
I would think that both sides would be thrilled that films like Transformers, Shrek the Third, and that spring surprise, Disturbia (due out on DVD August 7th) have done so well this year--As Geffen himself pointed out. 18 months is not very long time in the life of a deal like this...
Besides, if the parties did say so long, where would Dreamworks go exactly?
No comments:
Post a Comment