Spielberg closes in on debt financing
div xmlns=http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtmlpa href=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/pics/uncategorized/2009/01/28/spielberg_sniderjluap5nc_jcehpwnc.jpgimg class=image-full title=Spielberg_sniderjluap5nc_jcehpwnc alt=Spielberg_sniderjluap5nc_jcehpwnc src=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/pics/uncategorized/2009/01/28/spielberg_sniderjluap5nc_jcehpwnc.jpg border=0 //a /ppSteven Spielberg, who amid the credit crunch has been having a tough time raising money to finance his new DreamWorks studio, appears to be getting there slowly but surely. img title=Ctlogosmall_3 alt=Ctlogosmall_3 src=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/pics/uncategorized/2009/01/28/ctlogosmall_3.jpg border=0 style=FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px / /ppThe filmmaker's lead bank, JPMorgan Chase, has received a commitment for about $150 million --almost half of the $325-million loan that Spielberg hopes to have in place by late March. Only then will Spielberg's financial partner, India's Reliance Entertainment, start forking over its matching equity portion so the director and his top movie executive, Stacey Snider, can start making movies.nbsp; /ppA couple of weeks ago, Spielberg and Reliance paid Paramount Pictures about $27 million to purchase 17 projects that DreamWorks had been developing at their former studio home and desperately need to get cameras rolling for their venture. This week, Spielberg began directing the massive-budget motion-capture 3-D movie quot;The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn,quot; starring Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig, for Paramount and Sony Pictures./ppA DreamWorks spokesman said, quot;This is a vote of confidence in the new company, so we're feeling pretty good about it.quot;/pp-- Claudia Eller/ppemPhotos: Spielberg (Hector Mata / AFP/Getty Images) and Snider (Vince Bucci / Getty Images)/em/p/div
The delightful 'Chuck' goes 3D and lines up massive guest stars
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