Abrams Signs Five-Year Deal With Paramount

J.J. Abrams has signed a five-year movie deal with Paramount Pictures that will likely pay him more than $5 million for a Star Trek feature film.

Abrams signed separate film and television deals with Paramount and Warner Bros. respectively that together are worth more than $55 million, according to The L.A. Times. His deal with Warner Bros. Television locks the Lost creator in for six years.

Abrams had been expected to remain at Disney's Touchstone Television, where he had created series for ABC and where his production company, Bad Robot, had been based for seven years. ABC has three Abrams shows scheduled to air this fall, but insisted that revenue from Abrams' current shows should be factored into the new deal, which Abrams rejected. The Warner Bros. deal was said to rival taht of CSI producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

In addition to 35% of revenue from successful shows' DVD and syndication sales, Abrams will receive about $2 million a year from Paramount plus another $2 million a year for Bad Robot. "For the first movie he directs, which the studio hopes will be a 'Star Trek' film, Abrams will get $5 million plus some back-end profit if the movie is a hit," noted the article.

"We think J.J. is the next Steven Spielberg," said Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey. "He's a triple threat: a great writer, producer and now, a first-class movie director."

Abrams' agents initially proposed an all-inclusive movie and TV deal for at $100 million, but no studio was interested.

The full article is here.

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