Thursday, July 28, 2005
thursday thunder - or going out with a whimper... for the dream is over
When even the combined efforts (and moolah) of E.T.'s daddy, a Disney executive and a music billionaire fail to make a dream come true (really, REALLY come true that is... because, obviously, they could get the wheels rolling on just about any project of theirs - but success is never guaranteed.) - what hope is there for the rest of us?!? DreamWorks SKG never saw its, er, dream (!) of officially entering the same league as a Warner Bros or Paramount Pictures really pan out - and now, they could simply be bought out by NBC Universal. The three rich amigos will not suffer too much from this mini-debacle (E.T.'s daddy though should be seriously wondering if he has indeed lost his "magic touch" - everything he touches does not turn to gold anymore and has not, in fact, for a long time now...). However, the smaller people involved - the creative artisans who worked for DreamWorks SKG and strived to make it a huge success (and, for a fleeting moment or two or three, found it too - with Shrek, American Beauty and Gladiator) - surely they will be affected by having to, basically, start over somewhere else; and all that building work being, sensibly, for naught. Such are the ephemeral triumphs of Tinseltown - only in the sports world are you worse off, and "only as good as your latest hit"... or goal, or basket... or touchdown...!
Hope can be routinely crushed, of course, but it still springs eternal - somehow...! No one had more disappointments than Napoléon - and yet "No obstacles fell in his way that seemed to him insurmountable. He might be defeated, as he sometimes was, but he shrank from no hardship through impatience, he fled from no danger through cowardice." (J.P. Morgan writing about Napoléon Bonaparte - yes, THAT J.P. Morgan; another rich boy...! Another pattern emerges, I know...!). Imagine how one can indeed avoid "being crushed" after a momentous disappointment - through faith! No matter what you do - with God, hopes and dreams do come true!
And you don't have to bother with wishing upon a star either...!
Hope can be routinely crushed, of course, but it still springs eternal - somehow...! No one had more disappointments than Napoléon - and yet "No obstacles fell in his way that seemed to him insurmountable. He might be defeated, as he sometimes was, but he shrank from no hardship through impatience, he fled from no danger through cowardice." (J.P. Morgan writing about Napoléon Bonaparte - yes, THAT J.P. Morgan; another rich boy...! Another pattern emerges, I know...!). Imagine how one can indeed avoid "being crushed" after a momentous disappointment - through faith! No matter what you do - with God, hopes and dreams do come true!
And you don't have to bother with wishing upon a star either...!
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NBC Universal in talks to buy DreamWorks -reports
Thursday July 28, 2:37 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NBC Universal is in talks to buy DreamWorks SKG, the movie studio whose hopes of becoming a major Hollywood player with a big lot and broad entertainment interests never panned out, according to various news reports.
The speculation was first reported on Wednesday in the New York Post. Hollywood's two trade papers, Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, followed up in their Thursday editions, as did the Wall Street Journal. The deal could be worth as much as $1 billion, according to some of the reports.
In the New York Post, a DreamWorks official was quoted as denying the studio was for sale. But DreamWorks subsequently issued a statement saying the comment was "not authorized," and the studio's policy is not to comment. NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co. (DIS), also declined comment.
Daily Variety attributed the sensitivity to a federal probe into stock trading at DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (DWA), which was spun off last fall. The company recently revealed that earnings will miss expectations because of lower-than-expected DVD sales, and it will cancel a planned $500 million secondary stock offering.
DreamWorks SKG was launched in 1994 by filmmaker Steven Spielberg, former Walt Disney Co. (DIS) executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and music billionaire David Geffen, the "S," "K" and "G" in the company's name.
DreamWorks stumbled out of the gate, with its plan to operate on a large campus near the Pacific Ocean stymied in part by environmental concerns. Its first film "The Peacemaker," starring George Clooney, was considered a flop.
DreamWorks eventually found its movie groove with the "Shrek" cartoons, and the Oscar-winning dramas "American Beauty" and "Gladiator," the latter a co-production with NBC Universal's Universal Pictures. Its forays into television production, music and video games were less successful, and the studio eventually jettisoned the latter two businesses.
The last few months have been particularly tough. In addition to the woes at DreamWorks Animation, where Katzenberg serves as Chief Executive Officer, DreamWorks suffered a major setback at the box office last weekend with the sci-fi movie "The Island," a co-venture with Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX)Warner Bros. Pictures. It cost more than $120 million to make and sold just $12.4 million worth of tickets in its first three days.
©2005 Reuters Limited.
Thursday July 28, 2:37 AM EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NBC Universal is in talks to buy DreamWorks SKG, the movie studio whose hopes of becoming a major Hollywood player with a big lot and broad entertainment interests never panned out, according to various news reports.
The speculation was first reported on Wednesday in the New York Post. Hollywood's two trade papers, Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, followed up in their Thursday editions, as did the Wall Street Journal. The deal could be worth as much as $1 billion, according to some of the reports.
In the New York Post, a DreamWorks official was quoted as denying the studio was for sale. But DreamWorks subsequently issued a statement saying the comment was "not authorized," and the studio's policy is not to comment. NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co. (DIS), also declined comment.
Daily Variety attributed the sensitivity to a federal probe into stock trading at DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (DWA), which was spun off last fall. The company recently revealed that earnings will miss expectations because of lower-than-expected DVD sales, and it will cancel a planned $500 million secondary stock offering.
DreamWorks SKG was launched in 1994 by filmmaker Steven Spielberg, former Walt Disney Co. (DIS) executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and music billionaire David Geffen, the "S," "K" and "G" in the company's name.
DreamWorks stumbled out of the gate, with its plan to operate on a large campus near the Pacific Ocean stymied in part by environmental concerns. Its first film "The Peacemaker," starring George Clooney, was considered a flop.
DreamWorks eventually found its movie groove with the "Shrek" cartoons, and the Oscar-winning dramas "American Beauty" and "Gladiator," the latter a co-production with NBC Universal's Universal Pictures. Its forays into television production, music and video games were less successful, and the studio eventually jettisoned the latter two businesses.
The last few months have been particularly tough. In addition to the woes at DreamWorks Animation, where Katzenberg serves as Chief Executive Officer, DreamWorks suffered a major setback at the box office last weekend with the sci-fi movie "The Island," a co-venture with Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX)Warner Bros. Pictures. It cost more than $120 million to make and sold just $12.4 million worth of tickets in its first three days.
©2005 Reuters Limited.
This just in: more dreams shattered to smithereens (happens with a frightening higher frequency than we all might suspect...)
- Those "sasquatch hairs" up for analysis that had sasquatch researchers all excited about the finding... are actually bison hairs it appears.
Harry, the Hendersons, Bigfoot, the Yeti and the Abominable Snowman were all unavailable for comment...
- Bye Bye Bob - Bob Goodenow had a dream; lead the NHLPA and NHL players to "grossly overpaid paradise" (for what they're really worth). He failed. Some players hold grudges. Some might even place curses. He resigned.
He claims "player reaction" was NOT a factor... That is player reaction to the latest negociations fiasco that lasted 301 days and that saw players' patience NOT being rewarded at all (quite on the contrary - had a deal been done at day 30 it would have been much more generous for the NHLPA than it was at day 300... calling a bluff is not always the clever thing to do when THERE IS NO BLUFF).
No NHL players will be unavailable for comment on this for long; but who cares what they have to say... not this luminous blogger anyway...
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- Those "sasquatch hairs" up for analysis that had sasquatch researchers all excited about the finding... are actually bison hairs it appears.
Harry, the Hendersons, Bigfoot, the Yeti and the Abominable Snowman were all unavailable for comment...
- Bye Bye Bob - Bob Goodenow had a dream; lead the NHLPA and NHL players to "grossly overpaid paradise" (for what they're really worth). He failed. Some players hold grudges. Some might even place curses. He resigned.
He claims "player reaction" was NOT a factor... That is player reaction to the latest negociations fiasco that lasted 301 days and that saw players' patience NOT being rewarded at all (quite on the contrary - had a deal been done at day 30 it would have been much more generous for the NHLPA than it was at day 300... calling a bluff is not always the clever thing to do when THERE IS NO BLUFF).
No NHL players will be unavailable for comment on this for long; but who cares what they have to say... not this luminous blogger anyway...
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