Paramount Chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos wasn’t on the job when the studio inked its $1 billion slate deal with China’s Huahua Media and Shanghai Film Group, but while maintaining that there is a “signed deal” and that the company has received assurances from its overseas partners that things are in order, he acknowledged the studio has considered alternatives if the arrangement falls through.
At the Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference in Beverly Hills on Friday, Gianopulos cited China’s regulatory crackdown, which has specifically targeted entertainment deals, as being a primary culprit in the studio not having “received the money we are entitled to under the deal.”