To quote Ron Burgundy this is "kind of a big deal."
Like Brigette Nielson and Flava Flav's romance, this relationship was destined to end badly. "Variety" reports that movie studio Warner Bros. and long time producer Joel Silver* have decided to call it quits after 25 years and dozens of films.
Although Silver produced many hits for Warner Bros. such as Lethal Weapon, Predator, Die Hard and The Matrix movies, recent years have not been so kind. Flops like The Reaping, Fred Claus and Ninja Assassin hurt both the studio and Silver. Couple this with the fact that Warner Bros. gave Silver advances based on a percentage of the box office expectations, and a wall between studio and producer grew that was ultimately unbreachable**.
Lest you feel heartbroken for the man, know that he is receiving $30 million from Warner Bros. for rights to 30 films under his Silver Pictures banner. He's also working on a current five year deal with Universal that entails 12 movies and will pay him $7 million a picture.
Although I'm a huge fan of Silver's pictures I've never been a fan of the man himself. He always came across as an arrogant, officious, control freak douche bag. But then again that probably sums up most of the producers in Hollywood. I'd like to wish Silver good luck in his new endeavors but at $7 million a film I don't think he needs it.
*Reportedly Joel Silver was the inspiration for the foul-mouthed studio exec Les Grossman played by Tom Cruise in 2008's Tropic Thunder and actor Kevin Spacey's crazy movie mogul character Buddy Ackerman in 1994's Swimming With Sharks.
**Warner Bros. also paid for Silver's 20 person staff, a personal driver, a personal projectionist for his home theater, and two bungalos on the Warner Bros. lot. WOW.
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