Will Awards Equal Success for Paramount

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If awards were the only measure of a movie studio’s success, Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures would appear to be at the top of its game: the studio yesterday laid claim to 19 Academy Award nominations for movies including “Babel,” “Dreamgirls,” and “An Inconvenient Truth,” the Wall Street Journal reports.


But Oscar glory doesn’t always equate to profits. When it comes to financial success, Paramount — now in the third year of an attempted turnaround led by studio chief Brad Grey — still has some work to do to achieve margins that match Hollywood’s best-run studios, such as News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox.


That’s not to say Mr. Grey hasn’t made progress already. Last year, he set out an ambitious strategy, organizing his movies under various labels. He scored several modest hits like “Nacho Libre” and “Jackass Number Two,” and used his skill as a former talent manager to draw some A-list filmmakers. And he made a splash by buying DreamWorks SKG, which came with its former owner, Steven Spielberg.


Yet none of Paramount’s successes, including its award nominees, were blockbusters that gave a large, fast boost to the financial performance of the operation. Meanwhile, integrating DreamWorks has taken some heavy lifting, especially with the DreamWorks team determined to maintain some of its independence. And while Paramount won among the most nominations of any studio yesterday, it failed to get a widely expected best-picture nomination for “Dreamgirls.”


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