A perspective report from Austin’s Yunda Eddie Feng (i.e., “the Admiral”): Paramount has hit the $1 billion revenue mark faster this year than any other studio in any given year. Indeed — the studio has brought in over over $800 million from its top four grossers alone — Iron Man, Indiana Jones 4, Kung Fu Panda and Cloverfield.
But the only serious money Paramount has made is from The Spiderwick Chronicles ($71 million gross), Feng claims, since the studio is merely taking a distribution fee plus whatever it spent on p & a on the first three, and, he reports, because its Cloverfield income has been “heavily reduced by gross points going to J.J. Abrams.” I don’t know about the Abrams deal but the Iron Man/Indy 4/Panda arrangements are, as far as I’ve been told, accurate.
