Free at last!
We mentioned a few months ago that Steven Spielberg was trying to raise a billion dollars to fund DreamWorks’ freedom from Paramount and that an Indian business mogul was willing to pony up $500 million of the bounty so he could partner with the famed director.
The DreamWorks bunch were reportedly very unhappy with their Paramount partnership and were desperate to find a way out of it.
Well, on Friday the Indian mogul agreed to give Mr. Spielberg about $1.2 billion for his freedom, according to reports.
Dayum!
Banks and shiz are closing on Wall Street, but Speilberg scored $1.2 billion!
The power of Hollywoodland!
DreamWorks was sold to Paramount’s parent company Viacom for $1.6 billion in 2006. At the time, many analysts thought that Viacom overpaid for DreamWorks.
Paramount issued the following statement about Dream Works’ Indian deal:
“We congratulate Steven, David and Stacey, and wish them well as they start their newest venture. Steven is one of the world’s great story-tellers and a legend in the motion picture business. It has been an honor working closely with him and the DreamWorks team over the last three years, and we expect to continue our successful collaboration with Steven in the future.”
Hollywood insiders say don’t be fooled by the statement’s congenial message.
As in most divorces, working out the separation details (especially when millions of dollars could be on the line) gets messy and ugly.
[Image via WENN.]
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