'Monsters' vs 'Avatars'?
From hollywoodreporter.com
According to Hollywoodreporter.com, ?Backing off from a showdown in the 3-D corral, DreamWorks Animation is moving Paramount's 2009 release date for the 3-D animated feature Monsters vs. Aliens to March 27, 2009.? The date, once conflicting with James Cameron?s Avatar from Fox would have had the films fighting over the nation?s digital 3-D screens, but now the date has successfully been rescheduled avoiding a head on collision!
Hollywoodreporter.com continues, The DreamWorks movie, the company's first film produced entirely in 3-D, had been scheduled for release May 15, 2009, just a week ahead of Avatar, which is due May 22, 2009.
DWA CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg unveiled the move Wednesday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference in New York, where he also took issue with Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman's very public diss of Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, who co-founded DreamWorks with Katzenberg.
DreamWorks spun off DWA in a public offering in 2004, and Viacom's Paramount unit acquired the live-action-oriented DreamWorks in late 2005, with Spielberg and Geffen signing contracts with Paramount that run through the end of 2008.
Recent media reports have suggested that Spielberg and Geffen could decide to exit Paramount, taking some of the DreamWorks execs with them.
"Steven and his team have the right to leave if they choose at the end of next year," Dauman said. "We're planning for that." He added, "The financial impact to Paramount first and especially to Viacom overall would be completely immaterial."
Said Katzenberg in response: "Spielberg is nothing short of a national treasure. To suggest not having Spielberg is 'completely immaterial' is ill-advised. I think calmer heads need to prevail."
