Burton near pact with WB
The maneuvering has involved million-dollar gambits.
In April, Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg seemed to have grabbed the advantage when he purchased "Ed Wood" in turnaround from Columbia Pictures and greenlighted the commercially defiant black-and-white film (Daily Variety, April 22).
But just seven months later, it appears Katzenberg has pushed his pawns, and is destined to watch WB collect the spoils of a long-term deal with the 34 -year-old director.
Touchstone Pictures president David Hoberman has a longstanding relationship with the director. One source said Hober-man is far from bitter about the outcome, though "he had reason to believe on several occasions that a deal was done."
If it's any consolation, however, "The Warners deal looks like it will be non-exclusive, which means the guy could always go over and do a movie there," said one agent. "And Disney won't have to cover his overhead."
In creative circles, Burton's decision to spurn Disney's advances was viewed as a case of the quirky filmmaker getting the better of Disney's cool and polished studio executives.
After all, Burton got Disney to produce two of his pet projects, the stop-motion animation project "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and the quirky $ 18 million movie about B-movie director Ed Wood. And now, he is navigating his return to the studio that produced his commercial hits "Batman,""Beetlejuice" and "Pee-wee's Big Adventure."
Burton's move may fire up the competition for animators in Hollywood. In the wake of published reports Thursday that he was near to signing a WB deal, there was speculation that Burton could use his contacts to lead a raid on Disney's animation department as he attempts to put into production either a stop-motion or full-length animated feature.
WB is attempting to turn its television animation department into a group capable of rivaling Disney. A few key signings would help turn the trick.
Another carrot dangled by Warner Bros. is theme parks, which have long been on Burton's agenda. Just over a year ago, Creative Artists Agency wooed Burton from the William Morris Agency with promises of a theme park deal -- as well as art gallery showings -- for the director. In the current scenario, WB is said to be ready to give him access to the development of a movie that would also lead to a Six Flags theme park attraction.
Through his publicist, Harry Clein, Burton declined to be interviewed for this story. CAA would not comment on the negotiations with WB.
Ironically, Disney may have more to do with Burton's decision to lean toward Warners than does WB.
CAA's Michael Ovitz, Jack Rapke and Jay Moloney had twice negotiated deals for Burton with Disney, but he backed out of both at the last minute, sources said.
Burton is said to view Warner chairman Bob Daly and president Terry Semel as the least likely Hollywood executives to meddle in his work. After all, the duo is already busy assuaging an A-list talent stable, including Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner.
But Warner will have to pony up some big bucks to get Burton in tow. The filmmaker is planning to move, at least temporarily, to New York City, which would force the studio to double its office expenses for him.
Also, the CalArts graduate is known for peopling his development and production offices with large numbers of bright, young hipsters -- another factor that pushes up the cost of doing business with the filmmaker. "They are definitely the party group," said one exec who has dealt with Burton's entourage.
At the start of the year, neither Disney nor Warner appeared to be the most likely companies to land Burton: Sony Pictures Entertainment seemed to have the filmmaker in tow.
Columbia Pictures chairman Mark Canton was inches away from greenlighting "Ed Wood," and sister studio TriStar Pictures was developing the big-budget "Mary Reilly" for the director.
Columbia was so anxious to make Burton movies, it inked a deal with his former producing partner Denise Di Novi, and broke an uneasy detente with TriStar to briefly control the rights to "Mary Reilly."
Sources close to Burton said the filmmaker was devastated by Canton's decision to put "Ed Wood" in turnaround. To make matters more tenuous for SPE, "Mary Reilly" went to director Stephen Frears and got a commercial boost when Julia Roberts agreed to play the title role.
Many in Hollywood were philosophical about the skirmish for Burton. One chairman said movie studios have historically been willing to fight for bragging rights to a particular talent, even when the commercial upside is limited.
"This is about two companies that want to flex their muscles at one another," he said. "You might as well look at it as two peacocks wanting to prance around and display their feathers at each other. But make no mistake, Tim Burton has very little to do with it."
