DreamWorks Studios, the film boutique founded four years ago by Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider, got a new lease on life as Reliance Entertainment agreed in principle to continue financing the company.
According to a report by The New York Times [1], DreamWorks will make fewer movies under the arrangement than in the past. The company originally intended to make up to six movies a year, but will now aim to make three to five films annually.
Since earlier this year, DreamWorks executives and representatives had been seeking to augment an initial round of financing under which Reliance, an Indian media company, contributed $325 million in equity, while banks led by J. P. Morgan Securities provided a matching amount in loans.
While Reliance has firmly committed to the new funding, J. P. Morgan and other lenders remain in place and may eventually be asked to extend or revise their own arrangements.
Two DreamWorks movies will make it to theaters this year: People Like Us, a drama scheduled for release on June 29, and Lincoln, a December awards entry directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Beyond that is the July 2013 release of another Spielberg film, the sci-fi thriller Robopocalypse.
Links:
[1] http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/a-slimmer-dreamworks-gets-a-new-financing-deal/