Deal sealed: Spielberg's DreamWorks and Anil Ambani's Reliance join hands
Finally, after a speculation of almost three months, Spielberg's DreamWorks and Anil Ambani's Reliance ADAG have done it. Anil Ambani Group will invest $550 million into Steven Spielberg's Hollywood venture DreamWorks to start a new studio, breaking away from Viacom's Paramount Pictures. The reports say the Ambani's ADAG will invest the money as equity, while another $750 million will come as debt from leading investment banker JP Morgan Chase, in what will result in a unique Hollywood-Bollywood partnership.
Reliance ADAG
The Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is among India’s top three private sector business houses on all major financial parameters, with a market capitalisation of Rs.325,000 crores (US$ 81 billion), net assets in excess of Rs.115,000 crores (US$ 29 billion), and net worth to the tune of Rs.55,000 crores (US$ 14 billion), according to the group.
DreamWorks
DreamWorks was founded by legendary film director Steven Spielberg and his partners in 1994. It was 'the news' of that year. In 2006, after an uneven run, DreamWorks was sold to Viacom for $1.6 billion. But it was a rocky relationship.
What they say
Press agency Reuters reporting from Los Angeles says: The principals of the DreamWorks SKG studio have signed a long-expected deal with Reliance ADA Group of India to set up a new $1.2 billion film company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The deal between Mumbai-based Reliance and director Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks team caps two years of speculation and feuding between Spielberg and his DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen with the brass of Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures, and gives them the leverage to leave Paramount, the Journal reported.
The Variety reports: In a surprise move, Paramount waived its right to keep any DreamWorks execs or DreamWorks-based producers in its fold. But the studio is playing hardball and is laying claim to DreamWorks' entire development slate, including such Spielberg passion projects as "Lincoln," "The Trial of the Chicago 7" and "The 39 Clues."
The next step for DreamWorks, writes The Variety, is to land a major studio distributor. DreamWorks can now commence official talks on a distribution deal. Universal - a previous DreamWorks distribution partner for a decade -- remains the most likely candidate, but according to Uni sources, no talks have begun. Even before the Reliance deal closed, Paramount had already removed itself from the running. Paramount sources said the studio wasn't interested in inking a distribution pact with the new company and is high on its upcoming slate, which includes J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek," "G.I. Joe," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and a Marvel "Iron Man"
Sources at DreamWorks say that any distribution deal is at least weeks away.
On May 19, 2008, India-EU Film Initiative reported:
Cannes - India's Reliance Entertainment is on its biggest ever spending spree. After reserving US$ 1billion for making movies, mostly with Indian filmmakers, it has now gone a step further as it announced Sunday it had signed deals with the production houses of top Hollywood stars such as Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks and George Clooney to make films worth about a billion dollars.
The media group has signed separate deals with the production firms of Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Brad Pitt and filmmakers Chris Columbus and Jay Roach, Reliance Entertainment said in a statement.
"With this deal, we hope to develop up to 30 scripts, of which hopefully, 10 will go into production," Reliance Big Entertainment's chairman Amit Khanna told AFP by phone from Cannes in France, where the firm made the announcement.
"The value of this slate of films will be worth a billion dollars," Khanna said. The films will be made in the next two years under different genres and will have a range of budgets, Khanna said.
"We will be dealing directly with top talent," he said, adding the agreements would take India to the forefront of global entertainment.
The company said in a statement: "They are part of (our) long-term strategy for media investments in Hollywood... to build a fully integrated movie company with substantial holdings in production, distribution and exhibition."
Just two days ago, Reliance Entertainment made it known in Cannes, Friday, that it was going to own India's biggest and most ambitious Entertainment company. The company executives confirmed in front of world media that Reliance Big Entertainment Limited would spend a whopping US$ 1 billion on making movies, including some with Hollywood's top stars.
"India is uniquely positioned in the global economic order. We believe this is the right time to make this commitment of $1 billion for the film entertainment business," said Amit Khanna, chairman of Reliance Entertainment.
Last Friday, it announced 69 films in nine languages, with budgets ranging from $1 million to $40 million, would be ready for distribution over the next 18 months. Over a dozen films will be released this year.
What's Reliance ADA Group?
The Reliance ADA group comprises Reliance Capital Limited, Reliance Communications Limited, Reliance Energy Limited, Reliance Health, Reliance Entertainment and Reliance Power.
Reliance Entertainment comprises of seven entities: Zapak (casual gaming portal), Big Adda (social networking site), recently in the news for Actor Amitabh Bachchan's blog, Big Flicks (Movie streaming and rental), Jump Games (Mobile gaming), Anirights (Animation), BIG Music, and BIG Movies.
