Paramount and DreamWorks To Split?

For about a year now there have been off and on rumors that Steven Spielberg has been displeased with the joining of DreamWorks and Paramount, which would lead to him leaving the company. Now the rumors are changing that DreamWorks is leaving Paramount. This is relevant because Transformers and its sequel (exec produced by Spielberg) are currently being financed under a joint Paramount/DreamWorks partnership.

According to the NY Times, the problem is apparently the power that Steven Spielberg wields in the company. Any project that he is attached to, no matter how small, gives him complete control on how the projects are used. This gives Spielberg "enormous leverage in any negotiation over taking the projects elsewhere." Considering that "elsewhere" is usually just another Viacom owned property, it is really a pissing contest.

Basically Viacom and Paramount executives wants to be able to tell Spielberg how high to jump and currently they can't. If there is anything that is more important to business executives then money, it’s the chain of command (i.e. chain of who kisses my ass and inflates my ego) and Spielberg disrupts that chain.

The split remains in the rumor stage and already DreamWorks has proven vital to Paramount's bottom line having brought several successful projects to the table. More then likely Viacom will try to work out the kinks rather then risk DreamWorks moving to a competitor and taking future potential future franchises with it.

How this impacts Transformers II is it simply doesn't. Its property is too important and too good a source of revenue to allow studio issues to rock its boat. Because the contracts have already been signed and pre-production started with the budget set (whatever it is, guessing $200 million), even if the split happens tomorrow TFII will remain a joint project between Paramount and DreamWorks.