Clooney Leaves Warner Brothers, Joins Sony Pictures

For the past twenty years, nine of which under contract, George Clooney and production partner Grant Heslov moved Smokehouse Pictures to Sony. The contract, as it sits right now, is for a mere two years. Clooney and Heslov co-wrote Good Night, and Good Luck back in 2005, and the two have worked on numerous projects prior and since.

The problem lies in Smokehouse’s goals. The studio doesn’t plan on making Oscar-quality movies and not since Syriana has Clooney gotten the recognition that he’s received in the past. Granted, movies like Leatherheads and The Good German were decent, neither were considered for performance awards. The Good German got a Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Score, but lost to the contemporary Brokeback Mountain. Sony Co-Chairman Amy Pascal addressed this by saying, “We see real value in opening our doors to producers with their critical and commercial track record and their artistic point of view.”

In an interview with Nikki Finke, a Sony executive said, “You need to look no further than Sony’s track record with A-list talent like Adam Sandler and Will Smith to answer your question of why,” in regards to the why. Sony also plans on making available tools and executives “to develop the kind of material we all believe makes sense for Sony and its multilabel distribution strategy. Sony has Columbia, Screen Gems and Classics allowing for different kinds of films for different audiences.”

Hopefully, Clooney and Smokehouse prosper with under Sony’s helm. But, to be fair, Adam Sandler and Will Smith shouldn’t be anywhere near the same class as Clooney.

Source: FirstShowing.net