DreamWorks/Universal?

By Peter ScirettaOct. 23, 2007 3:32 pm EST

The rift between Paramount and DreamWorks is no secret. Many industry insiders expected a split sooner rather than later. Today DreamWorks and Universal heads were seen breaking bread together, could this mean that Universal/DreamWorks won't be far behind? Nikki Finke reports:

"Jeff Zucker and Ron Meyer had lunch in the Universal Studios commissary today with Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider — and everybody was all smiles. Talk about a virtual public announcement that a reunion between the studio and DreamWorks isn't far behind!"

Let us take a quick glance at just a couple of DreamWorks' accomplishments over the last year:

Transformers: $701 million worldwide, and the DVD has set a yearly sales record with 8.3 million copies since its release last week. Not bad for a $150 million movie.

Shrek the Third: $792 million worldwide

Disturbia: $20 million movie makes $116 million worldwide and over $40 million on DVD.

Blades of Glory: $166 million Worldwide and over $40 million on DVD

Dreamgirls: $154 million worldwide, $30+ million on DVD, 2 Academy Awards and six more nominations

Paramount set a new $1 Billion record back in July, almost entirely due to films from the DreamWorks pipeline. I can't imagine that GE would let DreamWorks go this time around. Spielberg has clearly always wanted to call Universal home, and hasn't even moved his office off the lot. When we met with Spielberg last month, it was on the Universal lot at the Amblin/DreamWorks office.