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Steven Spielberg's Lincoln Also Having Financial Troubles?!

by Alex Billington
February 19, 2009
Source: The Big Money

We've been hearing a lot of talk about Steven Spielberg's Lincoln project around Hollywood recently, but not all of it has been legitimate. And with the excessive amount of unconfirmed rumors floating around these days, we've been trying to only stick with the good stuff. We all know that DreamWorks split from Paramount late last year and recently attached itself with Disney a few weeks ago. However, because the Lincoln project was in development at Paramount, Spielberg needs to work with them and get them to approve it in order to actually make it. According to Slate's The Big Money, unfortunately that didn't happen, and Paramount has since passed on the project. Spielberg really is in trouble these days.

The extensive article on The Big Money talks all about the ins and outs of Spielberg's and DreamWorks' situation right now - and it's not good. If you remember, Spielberg's other big passion project, Tintin, also had trouble getting funding. Back in September we reported that Universal told Spielberg that they would not be funding Tintin, although Paramount and Sony eventually came to the rescue. I'm not sure whether these issues relate to financial agreements he's trying to arrange, or because the studios aren't so sure of their potential. Either way, this isn't good for Entertainment Weekly's greatest active film director.

I was never keen on the idea of Spielberg doing a movie about Abraham Lincoln to begin with, but I'll watch it anyway. That said, this statement makes me even more nervous: "The Lincoln movie—an earnest 19th-century drama—calls to mind one of Spielberg's least commercially successful films, Amistad." Out of all of Spielberg's movies to compare Lincoln with, it just had to be Amistad? Since he is dedicating all of his time to Tintin right now, Spielberg won't be fighting for Lincoln too much just yet. Who knows if it will ever get the money it needs or if it will get stuck in development hell again. Paramount passed on Lincoln a few years ago, citing the budget, which Spielberg has since trimmed to $50 million.

Filed under Movie News, Opinions

From around the web:

Itri

What the hell is this about? It's Spielberg, give me a break. Give him the damn money.
wm

if he's such a great fucking director, why does he need so much money to make the film? Get creative, Steve, come on. I would love to see him make a great film under 20 million. It could make every other hot shot director re-evaluate how to make a great movie again.
dallegre

Give me the address, I will finance it.
Roberto Dinamite

Lincoln loved having balls in his mouth.
http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

$50M isn't too bad considering Spielberg is behind it so it will get at least a decent turnout.
zubzwank

"...isn't too good for EW's greatest active film director." I wouldn't worry too much about Steven Speilberg's place in movie past or present. If he wants it, he'll get it. Also, Amistad was a great historical film. Perhaps because it depicts American history (as would a Lincoln film) is why this comparison is being made. Whaddya expect, comparisons to ET?