re: ET, Jaws and Jurrasic coming to HD DVD?
I'm not talking about the retraction specifically. I'm talking about in general because of what happened.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/...ness/dream.php
"..Negotiations began with Universal more than a year ago, when Geffen sat down with one of his best friends, Ron Meyer, president of Universal Studios. A sale to Universal made sense for both sides, and Hollywood insiders as well as Wall Street observers fully expected a deal.
Spielberg has longstanding personal ties to Universal, the studio that gave him his first break as a young director when he made such blockbuster hits as "Jaws," "E.T." and "Jurassic Park." His production company, Amblin, is based on the Universal studio lot, where he has a contract to remain through 2010.
Indeed, Geffen said he and Spielberg favored making a deal with Universal. Geffen added, "Steven's instructions were: 'If it is possible to make a deal with Universal, make a deal."'
In July, DreamWorks and Universal agreed to a period of exclusive negotiations, and a tentative deal was struck for Universal to acquire DreamWorks for $1.5 billion, with about $900 million of that sum going to pay DreamWorks' principal executives and investors - $125 million more than the deal that was ultimately struck.
But the talks broke off two months later when Universal lowered its bid to $1.4 billion after the poor performance of some DreamWorks films, principally the big-budget summer thriller, "The Island," and the romantic comedy "Just Like Heaven." Geffen said the chairman of NBC Universal, Bob Wright, had made a handshake deal for the $1.5 billion, and then "reneged."
Feelings were bruised, but at the time, Universal was the only bidder for DreamWorks. Paramount had started to negotiate, but when Grey and Tom Freston, the co-president of Viacom, brought the proposal to the Viacom board of directors, they were told the deal was too expensive and was poorly timed because Viacom was in the process of splitting into two companies, Viacom and CBS.
Rather than abandoning the deal, Grey took a different message from that meeting. He felt the board favored the deal if he could overcome the obstacle of the price. When Grey learned that Universal had not closed its bid for DreamWorks by late November, he sounded out several private equity firms about the prospect of helping to finance the DreamWorks purchase. When he secured interest from a number of firms, he went back to Geffen to see if a deal were still possible.
On Dec. 2, Geffen called Meyer and told him another bidder was in the game. During the next week, Meyer waited for a response from GE's chairman and chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt. None was forthcoming.
On Thursday, Viacom's board met in New York and approved the purchase of DreamWorks. Grey and Freston flew through the night on a private jet to bring the contracts to the DreamWorks principals.
All that remained was for Spielberg, the powerhouse director with longstanding affection for Universal, to get comfortable with the deal and his new patrons. That took place on Friday morning at his home.
But before signing the contracts with Grey and Freston, Geffen called his friend Meyer. He would still make the deal with NBC Universal, he told Meyer, if General Electric would produce a check for $100 million as a good faith deposit on the purchase.
It was not to be. "They said, 'We couldn't get a deal done today under any circumstances,"' Geffen recalled. "That was the end. We knew they couldn't get it done in a day. They couldn't get anything done in a day..."
and from another article on Rottentomatoes.com
"...Steven Spielberg said, "I am thrilled by today's announcement of the deal with Viacom/Paramount, who came recently to the table and were able to conclude and sign agreements quickly. Due to my very long history and my loyalty to Universal, I was saddened that after long negotiations and many compromises, we were unable to come to terms with Universal's parent company, GE. Nevertheless, I am truly looking forward to working with Tom Freston, Brad Grey and Gail Berman, as this is an exciting opportunity for each of us to embark on a new adventure together..."
I'll bet Spielberg isn't too thrilled with Universal currently...
...pretty lame I know 
and I was quite happy to know JP and ET is coming 
