Friday, August 10, 2012

Distribution Wrestling Match

Or as it's sometimes known: "Negotiations."

With just three weeks to go until a self-imposed Labor Day deadline, DreamWorks Animation is coming down to the wire in talks for a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox or Sony Pictures.

Those two studios are now the top candidates to replace Paramount Pictures as the distributor of DreamWorks movies beginning next year, according to knowledgeable people not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. ...

[One] sticking point is that DreamWorks is seeking to hold on to all deal-making rights and revenue for its movies on television and digital platforms ...

Funny thing. Seventy-five years ago, Disney walked away from a distribution contract with United Artists because of a "sticking point" over television rights (even though in 1936-37, there was no television.)

Back then, Disney waltzed over to RKO for distribution, and so that company got a dandy windfall getting a piece of the big action for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which turned out to be the highest grossing film* to that point in time.

Be interesting to see which dancing partner DWA ends up with.

* Not counting "Birth of a Nation," which was probably the highest grossing American film then, except nobody will ever know because of the lousy record-keeping that happened in 1915.

0 comments:

Site Meter