Brett Ratner Sets Up Shop at Paramount (So Sell Your Viacom Stock Pronto)

Paramount just got douched. The studio, riding high over the past couple of years, has signed a first-look deal with Brett Ratner and Rat Entertainment. This is great news for people who like really dumb but slick popcorn movies and loudmouths. "I thought I’d stay at New Line for the rest of my life, but when Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne left, it was time to make a change," Ratner told Variety. The dealings are not done, however, for the man comic book geeks the world over revile for X-Men: The Last Stand. The new major player in Hollywood is Reliance Entertainment, which gets its cash from one of the world's richest men, Anil Ambani (2007 net worth: $42 billion). Just within the past few months, Reliance has signed development deals with Nic Cage, Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks, Jay Roach, Chris Columbus, Brad Pitt, and George Clooney, and now Ratner is part of that stable, as well. According to Variety, Ratner’s first responsibilities with Paramount will be the highly-unanticipated Beverly Hills Cop 4 and the comic adaptation, Harbinger, both of which Ratner will direct. That's more a bit of fair warning for you than anything else. The sad thing in all of this is that Ratner has consistently made big-ass hits. As long as he does, no matter how big a tool he may seem or how average the movies themselves are, he'll be able to score deals like this. In other Paramount news, it won't be the studio distributing Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards; Universal has agreed to terms with the Weinsteins and QT on a deal for the upcoming war movie. Elsewhere, in a move that was widely expected, the company swung the axe at five dozen heads over at Paramount Vantage, as the big studio will more or less absorb the smaller boutique brand.

Comments

[Miles Seymour]

Heard about Harbinger the movie a while back and im so excited. I dont care if its Ratner that does it, in fact he got cooler in my eyes because of it. It could be a classic!

[Will]

Not sure anything, not even a sweet pair of Z-Cavaricci's paired with some of those tight British Knights, could make Ratner any cooler than he already isn't.