Will the economic apocalypse hurt Hollywood? It’s happening already! Steven Spielberg, the popular director behind such blockbusters as Jaws, Schindler’s List, and the upcoming Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis or Something, has been denied funding by Paramount for his planned two-movie adaptation of The Adventures of Tintin (Peter Jackson was to direct the second one). The original hope, according to Radar, was that Paramount would partner with Universal to share the cost of the first Tintin film (purportedly budgeted at $130 million), but Universal passed on it last month and now Paramount chief Brad Grey is saying he won’t go it alone. In addition to the too-large budget, the other sticking point is Spielberg’s standard demands for giant profit percentages: “Paramount won’t pay Indiana Jones prices for a new franchise,” says an insider. With millions already spent on a screenplay and motion capture, Spielberg and Jackson are left with little choice but to cast Shia LaBeouf in the lead role, a time-tested strategy that seems to get any old piece of crap green-lit these days.
