Spielberg Leaving Dreamworks

[wakeboredb]

I found this article off the Drudge Report. I can't vouch for the reliability of the website, so hopefully someone else can, or maybe an insider can come along and confirm the entire article.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusive...dreamworks.php

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! SpielbergSteven Spielberg is leaving the studio he helped found 13 years ago, say sources deep inside Viacom.
"He's gone, and he's not going to be missed," one knowledgeable insider tells Radar. Word is, Viacom chief Sumner Redstone—who made headlines in 2006 for canning Tom Cruise after his off-screen antics became a liability—has struck again.

So, is the ornery octogenarian billionaire, who also controls CBS, Paramount Pictures, and MTV Networks, trying to prove that he's still the big swinging dick of the entertainment business? Looks that way.

Spielberg and fellow moguls David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg sold their studio to Paramount in 2005, but the trio have reportedly grown increasingly unhappy about their arrangement in the years since. This fall, Geffen launched a pissing match in the press, lashing out at his corporate overlords in a Vanity Fair interview. From there, things quickly got nasty. Viacom announced it would not renew DreamWorks' contract when it expires next November. Geffen shopped the studio "all over town," and last month the partners entered into talks with NBC Universal.

If Geffen was so mouthy, why would Spielberg be the one to get the axe? Spielberg, remember, was right behind Cruise in pocketing profits from War of the Worlds, while the studio sucked wind. And in September, Viacom CEO Phillippe Dauman said that losing Spielberg would "completely immaterial" to Paramount's bottom line. But as recently as December 3, he'd seemed to change his tune, hailing the director as "one of the great filmmakers of our time and all time." So which is it? Stay tuned. We have a feeling the shit storm's just beginning.

[CptGreedle]

looks like more twisted information to make headlines.
he even contradicts himself in the end....
makes no sense.

i would not take it seriously unless a big company reports it.. like CNN.

[ikbradley]

Between all the layers of misinformation in that article, there is probably some truth.

Spielberg is unhappy with the arrangement (reported numerous times); so is Katzenberg.

Viacom has made numerous off-hand comments and then backpedaled.

Chances are that if the contract is set to expire, NBC/Universal will pick up Dreamworks.

I doubt that Spielberg was fired.

[Jokerboy649]

Umm I didn't read the article but knowing Spielberg and being a big fan of him he has been talking about leaving Paramount not his own company Dreamworks. But because his contract is ending soon he plans to leave Paramount and go to his "home" at Universal and bring Dreamworks there.

[groovyone]

Does anyone take the Drudge seriously??

[Klaus]

Originally Posted by groovyone

Does anyone take the Drudge seriously??

His site is links to other news articles.......so yeah usually you can take it seriously.

[roachxp]

He'll leaving but the movies are staying with Parmount, he only is taking the Dreamworks name since he has the patent on it.

[ottscay]

Originally Posted by roachxp

He'll leaving but the movies are staying with Parmount, he only is taking the Dreamworks name since he has the patent on it.

Trademark, but yes, he'll get that and not the movies.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Klaus

His site is links to other news articles.......so yeah usually you can take it seriously.

Exactly.

[jason_grumpy]

Originally Posted by groovyone

Does anyone take the Drudge seriously??

Drudge is usually right on the money, although he is not perfect. I've seen him bring major breaking stories to his website, long before other news outlets even catch wind of it. However, he does find news from highly questionable sources.

Generally he doesn't write his own material, only during truly major events. If something is going on in the world, his site is usually the first I check for the links.

[Living Near Shamu]

Ugh, if DW goes to Universal, that means still no blu-movies for us

[Dalese]

Debunked?...

Still More Inaccurate Info Re DreamWorks

That Radar item this morning about Sumner Redstone supposedly forcing Steven Spielberg out of DreamWorks (picked up by the Drudge Report) is total nonsense. Really, what are those Radar people smoking? Here’s a fact: Steven can't be fired. And even if he could be fired, the DreamWorks toppers would love nothing more than to be fired. What's more laughable is Radar's claim that "Viacom announced it would not renew DreamWorks' contract when it expires next November." Absolutely untrue. Not to mention the fact that Phillippe Dauman, Redstone's No. 2, was recently sucking up to Spielberg in remarks at last week's UBS conference. Such meathead journalism demonstrating total ignorance about Hollywood would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. "The only thing I can verify is that everyone’s names are spelled correctly," a pissed-off DreamWorks source told me.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.co...eads-at-radar/

[Zaphod]

This has been topic of discussion for the last couple months now...it's got to be difficult leaving a company you co-founded...

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Check the UPDATE at the bottom of the article! It is apparently INCORRECT.

[SBrooks1]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

Check the UPDATE at the bottom of the article! It is apparently INCORRECT.

Yup...

UPDATE: Marvin Levy, spokesman for Spielberg returned Radar's call this morning and later got back to us to say: "This story is incorrect. Everybody who knows the DreamWorks deal and the Spielberg deal at Viacom knows that he is fireproof."

[CptGreedle]

Originally Posted by SBrooks1

Yup...

Heh heh.

Even if he can take Dreamworks to Universal again, we might get that on Blu IF Uni is listening to the latest rumors and sales numbers...
Penton said some interesting things that make me wonder if Universal is pondering what I am pondering... Blu-ray will take over the world!

[Klitschko]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

Heh heh.

Even if he can take Dreamworks to Universal again, we might get that on Blu IF Uni is listening to the latest rumors and sales numbers...
Penton said some interesting things that make me wonder if Universal is pondering what I am pondering... Blu-ray will take over the world!

Not likely at all. Have u ever heard of the Bourne Trilogy. You talk like this is a good thing for blue. Universal is fully behind HD-DVD and Dreamworks going to Universal only makes the HD-DVD foundation stronger.

[Jokerboy649]

http://www.spielbergfilms.com/general/1588

[Blubaru]

Originally Posted by groovyone

Does anyone take the Drudge seriously??

Drudge is the Shiznit!!

[Neo65]

Even though Paramount does 'own' Dreamworks, it is owned from a contract basis. I wonder if Viacom can really walk into Dreamworks and demand Spielberg to vacate the premises. More likely, Spielberg along with Geffen would take Dreamworks along with them on their way out.

Hollywood is such an interesting place.

Pissing off Spielberg for a studio would be like a publishing house telling Stephen King to go **** himself while still planning to publish more horror books.

Spielberg, Bruckheimmer, Bay, Lucas, these are the people who direct/produce the movies, not the studios, not software behemoths with deep pockets, and if you enjoy watching movies, it is completely ridiculous to trash the people who are responsible in giving us these movies.