Paramount to reduce film releases after Spielberg exit: Report

- Planet Bollywood Special Correspondant           Let us know what you think about this story

Spielberg left Paramount in September and would take his DreamWorks brand and staff to his new venture, backed by Indian billionaire Anil Ambani-led Reliance Big Entertainment.

Quoting Paramount, the report said Speilberg's team's departure would result in substantial overhead savings.

"We estimate we're going to save 50 million dollars a year by not having these duplicative functions," vice-chairman of Paramount Rob Moore was quoted as saying.

Under the revised release plan, Paramount will produce 12 films a year under its own-brand labels, which include MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies, the report published online today said.

Financial Times said Paramount would distribute up to four films each year from DreamWorks Animation, which is unconnected to Spielberg, and Marvel Studios, which produced the recent hit Iron Man. A further four films will come from Paramounts specialty label, Paramount Vantage.

"We're mindful of what's happening [in the economy], like everyone else... But we've been looking at a post-DreamWorks long-range plan for some time," Paramounts chairman Brad Grey was quoted as saying.

"We wanted to reduce the overhead as much as we could and in this economic climate, that strategy looks even more sound," the report quoted Grey as saying.

More News ...