Have a film you want to make? Go independent. See the two most recent casualties
within the major movie film system which as we know it is over:

Item 1:Spielberg caught in the 'Jaws' of credit squeeze
By Guy Adams

He is impossibly rich, uniquely powerful and boasts a copper-bottomed CV that includes dozens of the most influential blockbusters of modern times. But even Steven Spielberg's career is stalling in the face of the global credit crunch. The legendary movie mogul, who recently "divorced" Paramount Pictures to turn his production firm, DreamWorks, into an independent company, finds himself struggling to raise enough money to get his ambitious new project off the ground. Ironically, given his unrivalled reputation for producing some of the most lucrative films ever made, such as 'Jaws', 'ET', and the Indiana Jones series, Spielberg seems unable to raise $750m(€525m) of the $1.2bn (€841m) needed to underwrite DreamWorks' forthcoming movie productions.

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Spielberg's problems date back to October, when an Indian company, Reliance Big Entertainment, agreed to put up $500m (€350m) to take his company independent, provided he could raise an additional $750m in loans to finance a total of 17 proposed films over the next seven years. But the collapse of AIG, which was due to provide a portion of the cash, and the tightening of credit markets left Spielberg unable to secure the cash and his bankers, JP Morgan, have delayed efforts to raise more money until the New Year. The Hollywood newspaper 'Variety' carried a front-page report that the company's cashflow problems had left an important distribution deal with Universal Pictures "in jeopardy". Its report noted that Spielberg's firm is being forced to "limp along" on $75m (€53m) in bridge financing and must find another $20m (€14m) by mid-January to compensate Paramount Pictures for its departure.


Item 2:

Disney Dumps Narnia
by Monika Bartyzel Dec 24th 2008 // 8:02AM

Can you imagine a world where The Chronicles of Narnia only made it through two installments? Can you imagine no Dawn Treader, or Silver Chairs, or Horses, or Nephews, or The Last Battle? It's come to be, at least where Disney and Walden Media are concerned. The Hollywood Reporter posts that the companies have chosen to not co-produce and finance the next Narnia installment (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), citing "budgetary and logistical reasons." (And also declining to elaborate on these reasons.)

The plan was to get the film in production soon, to be released in May of 2010. But without a company and deep pockets to finance the fantasy, there's a decent chance that this will all go up in smoke. The key cast were attached to the third installment, but there's no telling if they'll wait around for a new bank. However, Walden does plan to shop the film around in hopes of finding someone willing to fork over the money. I imagine that it will be a pretty hard sell -- the second only pulled in close to half what The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe pulled in, so it's far from a sure bet, box office-wise.