Following the long awaited financial deal between Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG)-owned Reliance Entertainment and DreamWorks – the movie production division of coveted international director Steven Spielberg, FE has learnt that DreamWorks will not be rebranded and rechristened.
The Reliance ADAG will not be added to the company?s name. DreamWorks SKG was founded in 1994 by Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Katzenberg left the venture to become chief executive of DreamWorks Animation SKG, the publicly traded animation company that made Shrek , Kung Fu Panda and others. Geffen, a billionaire who founded Geffen Records in 1980, is also expected to leave the venture, while Spielberg and DreamWorks chief executive officer Stacey Snider are expected to be partners of Reliance ADAG.
A senior official in Reliance ADAG who didn?t want to be named, said, ?The division will be operational by January 2009 and it will only work on international projects.? However, whether the company will source Indian talent will depend upon the future course of action. On the other hand, Big Pictures, the film production division of Reliance Entertainment will invest in cross-border and international films as well, besides in home productions.
International media had said that Reliance will invest $500 million and provide another $700 million in debt through JP Morgan Chase & Co. The venture is slated to produce about six movies a year.
The deal will give DreamWorks its independence from Viacom Inc. subsidiary Paramount Pictures, which bought the production house for $1.6 billion in 2006, and save Paramount overhead costs by cutting loose the high-priced director. Philippe Dauman, chief executive officer, Viacom said in July that DreamWorks? possible departure would result in ?savings in our overhead as well as our marketing, distribution and development spend.?
However, international reports suggest Paramount could still be involved in distributing films made by the DreamWorks group, including jointly produced movies such as the upcoming sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen . And Spielberg is expected to continue to direct Indiana Jones sequels with Paramount and Lucasfilm as production companies.
On the other hand, Reliance ADAG had announced in May this year that it would provide development funds to Hollywood production houses including Nicolas Cage?s Saturn Productions, Jim Carrey?s JC Entertainment, George Clooney?s Smokehouse Productions, Chris Columbus? 1492 Pictures, Tom Hanks? Playtone Production, Brad Pitt?s Plan B Entertainment, and Jay Roach?s Everyman Pictures.