Toon Drama Exaggerated In Paramount, DreamWorks Animation Split

A report today that inferred DreamWorks Animation just spurned a last-ditch attempt by Paramount to add another year to its expiring distribution pact is basically a regurgitation of a story Deadline revealed almost a month ago. Insiders say there have been no negotiations between the studios since Paramount asked DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg early last month if he wanted to extend for a year — at the same terms — beyond the distribution pact that expires in 2012. When Jeffrey Katzenberg said no, Paramount subsequently announced its own animation division that will generate one animated film per year beginning in 2014. At the time of that story, Deadline reported Paramount’s one-year approach to Katzenberg. “We did offer them a one-year extension on the same terms of what we have,” a Paramount exec told Deadline at the time. Nothing has happened between the studios since then, sources said.