Studio Shuffle: Robert Zemeckis Moves ImageMovers; DreamWorks Animation Parts With Paramount
Look at the box office receipts for even a moderately successful animated film and you know animation studios are becoming Hollywood mega powers. Even five years ago when Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 billion, it was pretty evident that if your company made quality animation, you had a a pretty steady job. Today’s news shines a light on both ends of that equation.
First there’sDreamWorks Animation, the people behind theShrekandKung Fu Panda movies, who have just made the bold move to tell their distribution partnerParamountthey would not be working together after next year. Then there’sRobert Zemeckis’ImageMovers, a company thatall but died after the flopMars Needs Moms(above), which might have found a new home at Universal. Read more about each story after the jump.
Paramount has been distributing DreamWorks Animated films for several years but their current contact is up in 2012. With the current deal, Paramount gets 8% of the grosses on the films but apparently that’s too much for DreamWorks. On Monday, according toThe Hollywood Reporter, they rejected Paramount’s proposal to extend the deal through 2013. Paramount saw this coming and, a few weeks ago, announcedthey would starttheir own animation company but this means any films that DreamWorks animation has planned past 2012 (which is a lot based onthis previously released schedule) are currently without a home.
Where does that leave a film likeHow To Train Your Dragon 2? All of the other major studios have their own animation divisions and, according toan LA Times article, the only one that doesn’t – Warner Bros. – isn’t interested. That means they’d basically either have to hammer something out with Paramount or self-distribute. Either way, it’s a gutsy decision to basically sever ties with your distributor and could easily be described as anything from extreme confidence to calculated scare tactic.
On to the other production house. ImageMovers, a company co-run by Robert Zemeckis that producedMonster House, The Polar ExpressandBeowulf, was closed earlier this year after the costly filmMars Needs Momsbombed horribly. Not only did it shut down the company,it stopped productionon films like Zemeckis’Yellow Submarineand, ever since, has left the Oscar-winning director floating around without a project (though he’s been attached to several.)
The latest news states that the company may relaunch in a deal with Universal, a place Zemeckis experienced much success with theBack to the Futurefilms. It would be a first-look deal, meaning Universal gets the first crack to distribute anything ImageMovers creates. Unfortunately, the terms are reportedly not be anywhere near as lucrative as the one the company previously had with Disney. Either way, this move could be the spark that puts several productions such asYellow Submarine, back on track.
Which move is more interesting to you? DreamWorks breaking off on their own or ImageMovers coming back from the dead?
