“Spielberg’s DreamWorks finally lands movie funds”
Man, this took a long time:
Nearly a year after embarking on plans to relaunch DreamWorks as an independent studio, Steven Spielberg finally has the financial means to greenlight his own movies.
Today, DreamWorks said it had finalized the first phase of a long-in-the-works funding deal that paves the way for the production studio to be fully operational.
The funds, which will enable DreamWorks to make 18 to 20 fims over the next three years, include $325 million in bank debt and a matching equity investment of $325 million from Spielberg’s 50% partner, India’s Reliance Big Entertainment. Additionally, as part of DreamWorks’ recent distribution deal with Walt Disney Co., the Burbank studio agreed to lend DreamWorks up to $175 million to bankroll movies.
We started posting on this in October, 2008. The fact that Steven Spielberg had this much difficulty raising funds says a helluva lot about how tight money is out there.
Although the $825 millon falls far short of the $1.25 billion the director had originally sought, DreamWorks was able to achieve what many in Hollywood have been unable to do: secure new sources of film funding in financially trecherous times.
But independence comes at a steep cost: Spielberg, to raise the money, had to sell a half interest in his new company to Indian investors who want to get a toehold in Hollywood.
I wonder if 5–10 years from now, whether the ‘real’ newsmaker in this deal is this last point: Indian investment in Hwood.
Re DreamWorks’ plans:
The funds, which will enable DreamWorks to make 18 to 20 films over the next three years, include $325 million in bank debt and a matching equity investment of $325 million from Spielberg’s 50% partner, India’s Reliance Big Entertainment. Additionally, as part of DreamWorks’ recent distribution deal with Walt Disney Co., the Burbank studio agreed to lend DreamWorks up to $175 million to bankroll movies.
Although the $825 millon falls far short of the $1.25 billion the director had originally sought, DreamWorks was able to achieve what many in Hollywood have been unable to do: secure new sources of film funding in financially trecherous times.
But independence comes at a steep cost: Spielberg, to raise the money, had to sell a half interest in his new company to Indian investors who want to get a toehold in Hollywood.
This deals shouldn’t have much of an impact on the spec script market as DreamWorks took with them over 20 projects in development when they split from Paramount, and they’ve added some since then. Their first production out of the chute:
DreamWorks plans to be in production on its first movie this fall. In October, cameras will roll on “Dinner With Schmucks,” a $75-million-budgeted comedy directed by Jay Roach and starring Steve Carrell in which DreamWorks is a partner with Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment.
$75M comedy. That’s the north end of budgets for comedies (by way of reference, The Hangover cost $32M). Schmucks will probably have to do $125–150M at the box office, do well overseas, and with DVD sales to reach profitability.
Comment Archive