DreamWorks Animation plans to release 'Over the Hedge' next year.
Spielberg
Geffen
While Paramount execs are still high-fiving each other for last-minute dealmaking heroics in snatching up DreamWorks, it remains to be seen precisely what it is they're acquiring.
Under Par's new regime of Brad Grey and Gail Berman, the studio has been hungry for pics. DreamWorks is the latest solution to fill the 2006 and 2007 sked.
Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, both of whom have inked three-year employment agreements with Paramount, have been tasked with bulking up the slate, but what their day-to-day role at Par's DreamWorks will be is still somewhat vague. In the deal, both have sold their financial interest in the company.
Spielberg has not set his next project following "Munich," which was co-financed by Universal and DreamWorks, and he remains free to work with whatever studio he wants as both a helmer and producer, though Paramount will own half of any projects he undertakes.
Par's other big trophy in the deal is distrib rights to DreamWorks Animation product. The toon studio was spun off as an independent entity last year, and U handled foreign and homevid distribution.
Paramount won't own the toons, but having distrib rights is a boost as it builds its own foreign theatrical distrib arm. DreamWorks' animated product has performed well offshore, with "Madagascar" taking in $332 million of its $525 million worldwide total in foreign markets.
As for the films currently in the pipeline at DreamWorks, the slate is fairly thin. The two biggest titles are Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers," a Warner Bros. co-production that tells the story of the WWII battle for Iwo Jima, and the Broadway tuner "Dreamgirls," already set to be a co-production with Par, which has Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles and Eddie Murphy set to star.
Other pics on the 2006 slate include Zach Braff laffer "The Last Kiss" and soccer-themed romantic comedy "She's the Man," starring Amanda Bynes.
Adam Goodman runs production at DreamWorks, but there is wide speculation that another player may be added to the production team to replace Rick Sands, who will not make the move.
Starting next year, Paramount says it expects DreamWorks to contribute four to six pics to its target slate of 14-16 films. Assuming they stick to that framework, the result will reduce the number of pics Par proper produces to around 10 rather than the 14 or so it has released in recent years.
Many of its recent pics were, in fact, co-productions with DreamWorks, including this year's "War of the Worlds," last year's "The Stepford Wives" and "Lemony Snicket," as well as past titles such as "Saving Private Ryan," "Deep Impact" and "Paycheck."
Par distrib and marketing prexy Rob Moore, though, says the studio ultimately aims to increase film production and notes that with prolific producer Scott Rudin departing for Disney, the DreamWorks deal was crucial to keep up output.
He also noted the 14-16 pic range does not include DreamWorks Animation titles, films produced under John Lesher through Par's specialty labels or distrib pickups like "Sahara," which was financed by Phil Anschutz's Bristol Bay Prods.
"Our total slate that we'll be releasing will be 18-20 with acquisitions and DreamWorks Animation," Moore said.
Par is also expecting DreamWorks production pacts to stay in place through the acquisition, including those of Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald's shingle, Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers, helmer Sam Mendes, Ivan Reitman's Montecito Pictures, Eddie Murphy's banner and Ben Stiller's Red Hour.
One of the highest development priorities at DreamWorks has been prepping "Transformers" as a tentpole release for July 4, 2007. Michael Bay is aboard to helm, and the studio has already been touting the pic at confabs such as Comic-Con, but the script is still being touched up and no start date has been set.
Other DreamWorks pics nearing the starting gate include the following:
- "The Kite Runner," a drama set in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, with Marc Forster directing and Parkes and MacDonald exec producing. Parkes and MacDonald are also prepping an Abraham Lincoln biopic, which is one of the projects Steven Spielberg is eyeing as his next film.
- "Blades of Glory," starring Will Ferrell and Will Arnett, with Ben Stiller producing
- Eddie Murphy's romantic comedy "Norbit"
- "Old School 2," to be helmed by the original's Todd Phillips and produced by Reitman
- Farrelly brothers romantic comedy "The Heartbreak Kid."
DreamWorks is also in late stages of production on two low-budget pics, Japanese sci-fier "Casshern" and "Perfume," both of which had been intended for release through specialty label Go Fish.
The addition of DreamWorks to the Paramount stable has made some of the producers on the Par lot nervous.
"It's very disquieting because (Par) now has a ton of deals for not a lot of slots. Clearly, a lot of their spending is going to go to DreamWorks," said one producer.
It was the sense that Paramount was a place where producers could easily get projects up and running that attracted many of the new arrivals to the lot, but the addition of DreamWorks has raised some worries in Grey's new flock.
"Before, Paramount seemed like the most frenzied studio in town because it seemed like they didn't have any films," said another producer. "So maybe that incredible thirst for acquisitions will be quenched."
DreamWorks' production department is expected to weather the acquisition relatively unscathed, but the fate of its marketing and distrib arms remains undetermined. Paramount has indicated units will be merged into Par, but the possibility of redundancies has made execs on both sides of the corporate marriage wary about job security.
DreamWorks' TV sales operation is expected to survive intact because Par's previous unit that handled feature tube sales was moved to CBS in Viacom's split-up. International marketing and distrib staff at DreamWorks will also be absorbed into Par's new foreign operation.
"The two areas of explicit overlap are domestic theatrical distribution and marketing," Moore said. "DreamWorks had a much smaller staff, and as we ramp up, there will be a reasonable number of people who will be coming in to supplement our organization."
While DreamWorks Animation is now independent, there's no question the toon producer was a key part of the deal. With its history of hits such as "Shrek" and "Madagascar" and plans to produce two big-budget toons per year, it gives Paramount immediate stature in the family entertainment biz. It plans to release a third "Shrek" film in 2007. Next year's titles include "Over the Hedge" and "Flushed Away."
As part of the deal, Par is committed to release DWA pics on the annual May and October sked the company has presented to its shareholders.
"We laid out our release schedule pretty far out, and (Paramount) is comfortable with that and (has) given us the kind of release protection we had with DreamWorks Studio," topper Jeffrey Katzenberg explained.
Under the terms of its deal with DreamWorks Studio, DWA was not obligated to choose Paramount as its distribution partner. But with Katzenberg, chief exec of DWA and a co-founder and shareholder in DreamWorks, involved in the talks, there was never any question the two could come as a package.
With Disney, Fox and Sony producing their own toons and U souring relations following its failed acquisition bid, Warner Bros. was the only other possible partner.
The inclusion of DreamWorks at Par is likely to have effects beyond the movie studio. As part of the distrib arrangement with DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon is now committed to produce at least one series every two years using DWA characters. With the agreement extending through 2012, that means at least three DreamWorks Animation skeins are on the horizon.
That makes at least one "Shrek"-related series almost a certainty, with "Madagascar," "Shark Tale" and future films also possibilities for TV spinoffs.
Promotional tie-ins with Nick and other Viacom-owned cable properties are also a certainty for future DWA releases.
(Ben Fritz, Nicole LaPorte and Dave McNary contributed to this report.)
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