Insiders said Ortega wanted to make a picture with elaborately staged musical numbers at a budget of $30 million or so. Par production chief Adam Goodman wanted an edgier drama with less emphasis on the musical numbers and a budget around $25 million or less.

Paramount and Ortega confirmed the split but took the high road in a statement attributed to Ortega’s camp: “Coming off the extraordinary project, Michael Jackson’s ‘This is It,’ director Kenny Ortega has decided it is premature for him to commit to his next film and will not be moving forward with ‘Footloose’ as previously reported.”

“This Is It” is expected to moonwalk into theaters on October 28th with a two week limited release date. With the over abundance of hype surrounding the rehearsal footage film on Michael Jackson, this feature could follow the same path as “Toy Story/Toy Story 2 in 3D” and possibly stay open longer. Paramount is in the middle of hunting a director for the Chase Crawford starring picture which also is a remake of the 1984 Kevin Bacon movie of the same name.