Struggling DreamWorks gets extension on financing

The studio's main source of funding, India's Reliance Entertainment, is providing another $200 million, reports the LAT, citing sources. (The NYT and Reuters reported the deal earlier today.) DreamWorks, which is an iteration of the original Spielberg-Geffen-Katzenberg operation, had received an earlier infusion from Reliance, but its releases have been largely disappointing. It has been negotiating with Reliance since late last year. From the LAT:

A shortage of cash since late last year has left many in Hollywood nervous about DreamWorks' future. The company, led by Chief Executive Stacey Snider, severely cut back on its spending on development and production. The independent studio has only two movies set to come out this year -- the low-budget comedy "We the People" and the Spielberg-directed biopic "Lincoln" -- compared with six in 2011, the first year that it released films in its current incarnation.

[CUT]

Under the new arrangement, DreamWorks will scale back its ambitions from the six pictures per year that it announced in 2009 to a proposed three to five starting next year. The films will continue to be released by Walt Disney Studios. In addition, DreamWorks now intends to seek co-financiers for all of its movies with large budgets. Already, 20th Century Fox is on board to co-finance "Lincoln" and "Robopocalypse," an adaptation of the bestselling book that is the studio's only movie already scheduled to come out in 2013.