February 4, 2004

Life in rumor central is never boring…

Tuesday night, the other shoe dropped on Mike DeLuca’s unhappy tenure at DreamWorks, as DeLuca’s exit into life as a producer was unofficially confirmed to anyone who was asking. His saw-it-coming decision was all but sealed when Spyglass exited DreamWorks for Sony before the paint had time to dry on their new offices. (The odds are that DeLuca will land at Columbia with a studio-supported producing shingle.)

How did the break on the Adam Goodman for Prez story, which inevitably led to the DeLuca exit, happen yesterday? It probably was just a matter of one person getting it and word spreading. But it could be a counter to a heated rumor that Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are planning their exit strategy as well. That rumor, combined with the basic understanding that there was no way in hell that Parkes was leaving and DeLuca was staying, led to revived rumors about the whether DreamWorks is looking to de-studio-ize.

Meanwhile, the well-liked Chris McGurk somehow talked the L.A. Times business section to run a suck-up piece extraordinaire, proclaiming Barbershop II as some sort of breakthrough in the sequel world when, in fact, the film cost double the original. Yes, it is great to have low budget movies making big bucks. But how could they have spent more than double the costs of the original on this sequel? I guess they could have CGed the Barbership into ancient Rome and hired Brad Pitt to appear in black face, but outside of that, it is pretty much a nod to the rumors about MGM living in a coma until someone comes along and buys the studio/library.

Then there are the rumors about the fate of UA, which currently consists of a place to put horror sequels. Will they “go Dimension?” Will they sell of the franchise name? Will they build a slot machine in Vegas that will award the entire thing to one person who gets a Charlie, a Mary and a Douglas in a row?

Meanwhile, over at Paramount, the parade of stories about the studio’s inability to find a replacement for Arthur Cohen who will actually take the job should be starting any minute now. It seems that Sherry Lansing is trying to interview every indie-oriented female marketing mind in town and that she just can’t find one who actually wants to bail water on a ship that’s looking pretty leaky. While lovely Laura Kim still hasn’t sold her first film at Warner Indie, who knows, maybe she’ll be interviewing next. But it looks like Sherry is just a couple of turndown Terrys away from having to hire a candidate with a penis.

The wartime atmosphere at Disney is being left to the big boys, as Roy Disney seems anxious to destroy what Michael Eisner has built. Everyone who is happily lining up to bash Mad Mike should make sure to pretend that Roy’s “traditional Disney” wasn’t going out of business before Eisner & Katzenberg arrived, without a major TV network, major cable nets, major TV production company, successful TV production side, with a slowly failing parks business. Disney before Eisner wouldn’t have to worry about losing Pixar or Miramax, since neither company would have relationships with Disney under the pre-Eisner regime.

This is not to say that Michael Eisner is a golden god whose actions do not deserve scrutiny or criticism. Eisner’s refusal to create a reasonable leadership infrastructure on the highest levels of the company is a very serious problem. And he has made his share of mistakes.

That said, Roy Disney’s campaign is a classic example of why entrepreneurs usually get left behind when their companies grow into publicly held companies, much less behemoths. Arguing that a company that size should be focused on its traditional roots (which by the way, were loaded with racism, sexism and anti-Semitism) just doesn’t deal with reality. Does Roy Disney want to sell off ABC and ESPN, avoid R-rated films and cut merchandising to the bone? Nah. It’s a lot more personal than that.

Could Roy Disney have really engineered the Pixar “these talks are over” position, as he continues to assault Michael Eisner, promising Steve Jobs to clear the decks for a better Pixar deal? How far is Roy willing to go in the singular pursuit of unseating Eisner? Is he willing to do damage that will not easily be undone?

How will Michael Lynton and Joe Roth get along? What will the texture of a post-Rings New Line be? What will the final budget of Van Helsing be at Universal? Will Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow kill off Sherry Lansing? Which hot young actress will hit someone with a car next? How bad will Catwoman suck? If Miramax leaves Disney, what distributor will want to go down that road? Can Troy actually make money? Is Lions Gate finally going to become “the new Miramax?” And just who the hell needs a 36-hour erection?

Of course, I should reaffirm yet again that these are rumors and should not be taken at face value… unless you know something…

E Me: If you do.