Shaderhacker
12-10-2005, 12:34 AM
"Paramount Pictures has agreed to buy the live-action unit of DreamWorks SKG in an estimated $1.5 billion deal, people familiar with the deal said today.
The agreement between DreamWorks and Paramount, a division of New York-based Viacom Inc., comes months after on again, off again negotiations with Paramount, as well as NBC Universal. Viacom will lead a group of investors in the purchase of DreamWorks and the assumption of its debt.
The acquisition does not include DreamWorks' animation division.
DreamWorks was founded 11 years ago by David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg.
A sale would further dismantle a company founded with grand ambitions that once included movies, TV, new media and music.
DreamWorks reaped two best picture Oscars, for "American Beauty" in 2000 and "Gladiator" in 2001, and released such critically acclaimed hits as Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan." However, the studio also released such disappointments as "The Terminal."
Also, Dreamworks has a relatively modest library of less than 50 films, many of which are co-owned by other studios.
The business has become difficult for stand-alone movie companies like DreamWorks to survive. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. was recently sold to an investment group led by Sony Corp.
When Spielberg, Geffen and Katzenberg announced the creation of DreamWorks in 1994, they hailed it as an entertainment conglomerate for the digital future, cutting across music, movies and television.
But since then, DreamWorks has sold its lackluster music label, closed its TV unit, shed its Internet aspirations and abandoned plans for a sprawling studio lot in the new Playa Vista development on the Westside. Last year, the company spun off its animation division into a separate, publicly traded company.
As a result, all that essentially remained of the original vision was the company's live-action studio.
Times staff writer James Bates contributed to this story."
http://www.latimes.com/business/custom/cotown/la-fi-dreamworks10dec10,0,817822.story?coll=la-news-alert&track=morenews
-M
The agreement between DreamWorks and Paramount, a division of New York-based Viacom Inc., comes months after on again, off again negotiations with Paramount, as well as NBC Universal. Viacom will lead a group of investors in the purchase of DreamWorks and the assumption of its debt.
The acquisition does not include DreamWorks' animation division.
DreamWorks was founded 11 years ago by David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg.
A sale would further dismantle a company founded with grand ambitions that once included movies, TV, new media and music.
DreamWorks reaped two best picture Oscars, for "American Beauty" in 2000 and "Gladiator" in 2001, and released such critically acclaimed hits as Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan." However, the studio also released such disappointments as "The Terminal."
Also, Dreamworks has a relatively modest library of less than 50 films, many of which are co-owned by other studios.
The business has become difficult for stand-alone movie companies like DreamWorks to survive. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. was recently sold to an investment group led by Sony Corp.
When Spielberg, Geffen and Katzenberg announced the creation of DreamWorks in 1994, they hailed it as an entertainment conglomerate for the digital future, cutting across music, movies and television.
But since then, DreamWorks has sold its lackluster music label, closed its TV unit, shed its Internet aspirations and abandoned plans for a sprawling studio lot in the new Playa Vista development on the Westside. Last year, the company spun off its animation division into a separate, publicly traded company.
As a result, all that essentially remained of the original vision was the company's live-action studio.
Times staff writer James Bates contributed to this story."
http://www.latimes.com/business/custom/cotown/la-fi-dreamworks10dec10,0,817822.story?coll=la-news-alert&track=morenews
-M