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Paramount Vantage, Paramount combining operations
Wednesday June 4 10:01 PM ET

Paramount Pictures said Wednesday it will combine its marketing, distribution and production functions with indie label Paramount Vantage.

Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, said in a statement provided Wednesday that the combination of the two Los Angeles-based units of Viacom Inc. will be more efficient.

The merger will initially result in the loss of three executive positions, said a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

It was unclear if further jobs might be lost or when the combination will occur, the person said.

Paramount Vantage, which produced the double Oscar-winner "There Will Be Blood" released last year, is the latest indie movie label to be merged into the larger operations of the same company.

Time Warner Inc. said last month it would close its Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures film studios and eliminate 70 jobs.

That followed the layoff of 450 people at New Line Cinema, which was absorbed into Warner Bros.

ANOTHER ARTICLE

Paramount cuts art-house unit after Oscar glory
Wednesday June 4 2:01 AM ET

Paramount Pictures has downsized the art-house division that helped produce the Oscar-winning movies "No Country For Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood."

Paramount Vantage will continue as a production label under president Nick Meyer. But the 2-year-old studio's marketing, distribution and physical production departments will be taken over by its parent. Three senior positions are being cut, including that of Vantage distribution executive vp Rob Schulze.

The art-house division partnered with Miramax Films on both best picture Oscar winner "No Country For Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood," for which Daniel Day-Lewis won the best actor statuette. Other notable releases included "Into the Wild" and "An Inconvenient Truth."

Studio specialty divisions have taken a hit in Hollywood recently. Warner Bros. last month shuttered its Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse units.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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Drexl

Well, this may not be that bad. They are keeping the label, so it doesn't sound like they will stop producing those kinds of films. They'll just be distributed by Paramount.

DeanoBKN

I agree with Drexl...it might not be all that bad.

Rypro 525

werent most of their bigger movies co produced by miramax as well (blood, country and babal come to mind)

Gerry P.

No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Into the Wild

That's a pretty great 2007. I hope whoever greenlit those films still has a job in the company.

chris_sc77

Maybe they shouldn't have spent over $40 million alone in Oscar advertising for There Will Be Blood.

RichC2

Where'd you get that figure from?

chris_sc77

Entertainment Weekly contacted Paramount vantage and t was revealed how much was spent on Oscar campaigns for No Country for Old Men (Close to $50 million!!!) and There Will Be Blood ($40 million). They even said it was questionable why Paramount would spend more on the Oscar campaign alone than the film even made.

Jericho

Those numbers just don't seem right. The whole point of Oscar campaigns is to influence the voters. And there's only a few thousand voters. That doesn't take enormous ad buys, so where do all those millions go? Bribes?

RichC2

According to a Variety blog entry (by the deputy editor), Paramount Vantage made money on only 3 movies - No Country for Old Men, Son of Rambow, and An Inconvenient Truth - and claims "FALSE: There Will Be Blood lost tons of money. Let's call it, after a lengthy Oscar campaign, breakeven."

So that means they lost money on:
The Kite Runner
Into the Wild
Margot at the Wedding
Beneath
Arctic Tale
How She Move
Year of the Dog
Black Snake Moan
Babel
Ask the Dust
Shine A Light

Amongst others.

Shame.

sauce07

Oscar campaigns are expensive once you factor in daily ads in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, Screeners, special events, gifts and finally consulting firms that tell you were to focus your money. Even with that I can't believe those numbers, just 4 years ago the combined total of money spent on oscar campaigns between Variety and THR was $42 mil. To think that Paramount Vantage spent $90 mil on 2 movies seems a little absurd.

chris_sc77

^Yep that sadly sounds rather accurate. There will Be Blood was my favorite movie of last year and in ways it was great to see Paramount Vantage advertise the heck out of it but ultimately the people are to blame for not coming to see the film. Total costs for the film (Production, advertising, Oscar campaign, etc.) would probably be about $90 million.
It made about $75 million worldwide.
But it did do really well n rental grosses so overall in a few years it will probably end up not being considered a bad investment on the studios part.

RichC2

The wording isn't the greatest is all, they spent $40m on prints (reels) and advertising the movie, period. The fact it was nominated for a lot of oscars makes it an "oscar campaign".

TWBB's total cost probably came out to be around $65m - $70m, only $25 - $30m of which was used in the movie itself. After Box Office, International rights, Cable sell off, PPV, DVD sales, Downloads, etc; I can certainly see it as a break even at this point, which is ashame - but at the same time, at least they didn't lose money on making a quality film.

chris_sc77

^And you have to remember that was written at least a week or two before the Oscars aired. They had to spend additional money to advertise on OScar Weekend and after the Oscars with the ads saying "Come see the winner of Two Academy Awards, including Best Actor...." and then they had to advertise the DVD release.

RichC2

Actually, this one was written 3 days after the Oscars (it even refers to them as "winners"). But just the same, I'm sure there were some additional costs after that (though I saw a fall off in advertising for it after the oscars, and a boost in NCFOM's advertising).

Zen Peckinpah

A shame, considering the studio's run was monumental in the past couple of years. Their first release got a Best Picture nom (Babel), and No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are potentially this decade's two best films. Into the Wild was also a superb film.

Also, Black Snake Moan has to be the most criminally underrated film of the decade IMO, featuring Samuel L. Jackson's best performance since Pulp Fiction and an amazing turn from Christina Ricci, yet it was virtually ignored by the public. I'd rank it among my top 5 movies of last year.