Paramount Pictures + Paramount Vantage = ?

What happens when Paramount Pictures and Paramount Vantage combine their operations? Will we still get a 'Babel' or 'There Will be Blood'? I'm not sure. They're combining marketing, distribution and physical production. Vantage will still use their own creative development and acquisition team. It will take away a part of the unique stamp, that's for sure. It's purely a choice of money. Just like Time Warner ditched Picturehouse and Warner Independent last month.

Of course Warner is spinning this into something like the 'best of both worlds.' They say it's "to leverage the strengths and resources of a combined talent base, while minimizing redundancies and optimizing efficiencies." But it will also save them several million in expenses. The reason studios are shutting down independent units is because of rising budgets, marketing costs and the crowded market. It's probably just a cycle. In a couple of years they'll just as easily start new ones.