Friday, September 20, 2013

Disney/Bruckheimer Split

After a decades long partnership, Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are parting ways.

In an official statement, the studio has announced that the Mouse House and Bruckheimer have decided not to renew their current deal which gives Disney first-look rights to the producer's films.

The pair will continue working together on the projects that are already in the works, including a fifth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series called Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales--due for release in 2016.


The statement suggests that a third "National Treasure" film may also be in the works.

Bruckheimer is:"looking to produce more mature films outside the scope of the Disney brand."

The pact, which began in the 1990s, has yielded over two dozen films including major hits like "Crimson Tide," "Dangerous Minds," "The Rock," "Con Air," "Gone in 60 Seconds," "Remember the Titans," "Armageddon," "Enemy of the State," "Pearl Harbor," "National Treasure," "Deja Vu," "G-Force" and the four "Pirates" films. There were a few duds "Bad Company," "Kangaroo Jack" and "King Arthur" that broke a near perfect track record from 1995 to 2007.

In recent years though, Bruckheimer's films are no longer the guaranteed hits like they once were, adding to that is the budgets for his films have only sky rocketed. Flops like "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," "G-Force," and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and most recently "The Lone Ranger" have taken their toll.

The studio is also moving away from non-Disney owned related live-action films. The ownership of Marvel, Lucasfilm and  Pixar Animation Studios has given it guaranteed box-office revenue generators every year, and so the Bruckheimer deal is no longer required.

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