Boxoffice-January.2000

REEL
DEALS
mmmm
Parks at Sony
Mom and Dad Deal with Disney
Gets oft Scott Free
anticipation of their summer
In
2000 release "Chicken Run,"
DreamWorks and award-winning
Aardman Animation have
announced a four-picture deal.
Aardman, which has taken home
three Oscars for animated shorts
such as the Wallace and Cromit
films "The Wrong Trousers" and "A
Close Shave," will be making features
exclusively for DreamWorks,
which will own worldwide rights
to the films. The toon house will,
however, produce animated
shorts, commercials (such as the
Chevron ads with talking cars) and
television projects independently.
DreamWorks principal Jeffrey
Katzenberg, who was instrumental
in making the deal, says, "I
have long been a fan of
Aardman's extraordinary talent
and ingenuity. Working with
them on 'Chicken Run,' my
respect and admiration for their
entire team has grown exponentially.
I could
not be more thrilled
about this new creative partnership
and am very excited about
exploring the many storytelling
possibilities of this unique art
form with a company that is quite
simply the best in the business."
The pact has been pegged at
being worth $240 million. It has no
time limit, but a claymation movie
typically takes up to three years to
finish. After "Chicken Run," the first
project to go into development will
likely be "The Tortoise and the
Hare," based on Aesop's fable.
Nearly a year after ankling the
studio, former Universal Pictures
chairman and CEO Casey Silver
has finally hung his production
shingle, Gone Fishin' Prods., on
the Universal lot. Taking some
time off— perhaps to go fishin'
Silver has segued into a lucrative
multi-year production deal under
which the studio will cover the
production company's multi-million
dollar overhead and discretionary
fund, all to be replenished
annually. "I'm excited by
probably seeking additional financ-
I
ing now that they have a major distributor,
this opportunity," Silver says.
"Gone Fishin's ambition is to
but Universal will deter-
make movies that are artistically mine which films it will release.
Additionally, TSG will be supplying
and commercially successful.
can't wait to get started." The
Universal's new specialty
executive-cum-producer
division (see Hollywood Updates,
will
make movies with a range of
from event
December 1999) with about four
year, budgeted at about
budgets, varying big films a
films to smaller niche pictures. $10 million each. The arrangement
replaces TSG's previous pact
After four years at Universal,
Penny Marshall is moving her
production banner, Parkway
Prods., to the Sony lot. The threeyear,
first-look deal includes
"Riding in Cars with Boys," a pic
starring Drew Barrymore already
set up at Columbia. Marshall will
take with her three other development
projects that had been
put into turnaround at Universal:
CNN correspondents left behind as well as write and possibly
in the Gulf, and "Wild Oats," a executive produce other films and
rock n' roll buddy movie.
television shows. Mosier will also
Meanwhile, Parkway is likely work independently of Smith.
to pact with AList Pictures to coproduce
eight films with price
tags of $25 million a piece. Under
the deal, AList would provide
$200 million in bank-sourced
financing and may negotiate with
a foreign distribution partner. The
move indicates that Parkway, like
studio-based Mandalay and
Spyglass, is looking for more independence
from the studios.
Disney has pacted with
"Rugrats" creators |oe Ansolabehere
and Paul Germain, offering
them mid-to-high seven figures for
a three-year exclusive deal to produce
live-action television and
film projects. The move reflects
president Peter Schneider's interest
in hiring creators gifted with animation
skills, but contrasts with the
studio's current inclination to slash
onsite production deals.
Director-producers Ridley and
Tony Scott have struck a deal for
their Scott Free Prods, with
Bruckheimer Films, lerry
Bruckheimer's shingle on the
Disney lot. Details remain
unclear, but the Scotts will be free
to bring projects either to direct or
produce to Bruckheimer or his
non-action arm Technical Black
under the two-year, first-look
arrangement. Bruckheimer currently
has a five-year deal with
Disney and will fund Scott Free's
overhead from the studio's wallet.
Middle Fork Productions
("Anaconda") and The Shooting
Gallery ("Sling Blade") have pacted
with Universal Pictures in a threeyear
multi-picture deal to co-produce
and develop big budget feature
films for the studio to distribute
domestically. TSG will
handle foreign
territories. The two production
companies will co-finance the pics,
with Artisan Entertainment, which
expired at the end of last year.
On the heels of the success of
his controversial "Dogma,"
writer-director Kevin Smith and
his producing partner Scott
Mosier have extended their relationship
with Miramax, signing a
new three-year agreement that
encompasses all of the duo's
"Big Baby," a comedy about professional
wrestling, "Live From Smith will write and direct his
activities in television and film.
Baghdad," a war drama about own projects produced by Mosier
"By this point, Scott and I feel
like Harvey and Bob are like our
parents," Smith says of the
Miramax toppers, "and this deal
is the equivalent of mom and dad
letting us convert the attic into
our own sweet 'Johnny
Bravo'-
like pad. We have nothing but
love for our non-biological
mother and father, the brothers
Weinstein, and hope they never
kick us out or tell
us to get a job."
Patricia Rozema, writer and
director of Miramax's "Mansfield
Park," will also extend her relationship
with the company under
a first-look, two-picture deal.
Rozema's 1987 film "I've Heard
the Mermaids Singing" was one
of the minimajor's first
releases.
Supplementing his first-look
arrangement with New Line
Cinema, Ice Cube has made a
two-year, second-look pact with
Artisan Entertainment. The producer-director-actor
and his production
company Cube Vision
will develop and produce $3 million-or-less
pics for the indie distributor,
aiming for a niche market
and hoping to capitalize on the
soundtrack potential of the films.
Robert Nelson Jacobs, scribe
of Disney's upcoming animated
picture "Dinosaur," has inked a
multi-picture deal with the studio's
specialty offshoot Miramax.
Jacobs' first two films will be
"House of Angels," an adaptation
of the Swedish film
"Anglagard" with producer
Cathy Konrad attached, and
"Solomon Grundy," based on
Dan Gooch's novel with Richard
Gladstein to produce. Jacobs
began his relationship with the
minimajor when he wrote
"Chocolat," which will be directed
by Lasse Hallstrom sometime
this year (see Hollywood
Updates, December 1999).
Producer Laura Bickford
("Playing God") has inked a firstlook
deal with Lawrence Bender
Prods., joining John Baldecchi as
the second producer at the company
who will develop projects. The
Bender banner has a first-look deal
with Miramax and a second-look
deal with Fox, and released "Anna
and the King" over the holidays.
Acquiring North American
rights to first-time helmer Kevin
Jordan's "Goat on Fin' and Smiling
Fish,"
Stratosphere Entertainment
has offered him and his stars,
brothers Derick and Steve Martini,
a first-look deal with the company.
The trio will write, produce, direct
and act in their next films for the
indie distributor.
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