by mr.negativity » Thu Nov 04, 2010 2:08 pm
From Vulture:
[quote="Claude Brodesser-Akner"]
Everyone was expecting some very big dominoes to fall in the months before NBC/Universal is officially handed over to Comcast. First came Jeff Zucker. Now, Vulture hears there may be more fallout from NBC/Universal's imminent acquisition by Comcast: Sources tell Vulture that several candidates, including former Disney studios chief Dick Cook, have been approached about replacing Universal Studios president and COO Ron Meyer.
Universal’s troubles have been well-documented, if not well-attended: Their nearly uninterrupted string of flops (Land of the Lost, Public Enemies, State of Play, The Wolfman, Green Zone, Repo Men, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) dates back to two summers ago. Meyer’s movie studio is largely bereft of big franchises, and if he is forced out one of the last straws may have been his enormous gamble to get more of them: A constrictive — some say punishing — six-year deal with toy giant Hasbro to turn at least four familiar games and toys like Candy Land, Battleship, Stretch Armstrong, and the Ouija Board into big-budget films. Right now, Peter Berg is shooting a $200 million Battleship in Baton Rouge, Lousiana after a warp-speed development process that resulted in an alien spacemen versus American seamen plot that has almost nothing in common with the classic board game (except for the cry of “You sunk my battleship!â€