Spielberg not leaving DreamWorks
2007-12-12 12:15
Los Angeles - Iconic Hollywood
director Steven Spielberg is not leaving DreamWorks, his
spokesperson said on Tuesday, denying a report on the online
edition of celebrity magazine Radar.
"Radar's radar kind of bounced off an incorrect source,"
the spokesperson said.
Spielberg's relationship with DreamWorks' parent Paramount,
a unit of Viacom Inc, has been the subject of intense
speculation in recent months.
DreamWorks was acquired by Paramount Pictures in 2005 for
$1.6bn.
Under the deal, Spielberg and partner David
Geffen agreed to stay on with Viacom through the end of 2008.
But there has been persistent speculation the two principals
are unhappy and may choose to leave Paramount at the end of
2008.
DreamWorks Animation, a separate publicly held studio run
by Jeffrey Katzenberg, has its own deal to have its movies
distributed by Paramount through 2012.
Negotiations
Last week, NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker said
at a UBS investor conference that the company would consider
buying Dreamworks from Viacom if the movie studio was ever put
up for sale. NBC is majority owned by General Electric.
The New York Times reported last month that Geffen and
Spielberg have been negotiating to move their studio to NBC
Universal from Viacom's Paramount Pictures.
In September, Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman caused
a stir when he told investors at Goldman Sachs' Communacopia
media conference in New York that if Spielberg chose to leave,
the impact would be "immaterial" to the company.
But speaking at the same UBS conference as NBC Universal's
Zucker last week, Dauman said his company "will continue to
have a very long relationship with Steven in one form or
another."
"Our plan is to proceed with mutual respect," Dauman said.
"We're going to proceed with calm, deliberateness and to make
sure he's happy doing what he's doing."