Reliance Entertainment infuses $200 mn in DreamWorks

MUMBAI: Indian billionaire Anil Ambani’s dream of conquering Hollywood continues unabated even after a slate of releases from the joint venture with Steven Spielberg‘s DreamWorks Studios failed to impress the box office.

Ambani-promoted Reliance Entertainment has agreed to infuse fresh funding of $200 million in a new deal that calls for a slimmer DreamWorks. The ambitious six movies a year announced in 2009 has been scaled back to three to five starting next year.

The new arrangement, providing a lifeline to the studio, comes after a series of negotiations that began late last year as the global economic crisis hit DreamWorks had. The studio had slashed its spending on development and production.

When contacted, a Reliance Entertainment spokesperson declined to comment.

In 2009, DreamWorks had raised $325 million from Reliance Entertainment for a stake. It had got another $325 million in debt.

The releases of the science-fiction ‘I Am Number Four‘ and the big-budget ‘Cowboys & Aliens‘ bombed. Though Academy Award nominee ‘The Help’ was a hit, but the remake of ‘Fright Night‘ didn’t succeed. ‘Real Steel’ and Spielberg‘s own ‘War Horse‘ put up moderate performances.