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George Clooney’s Movie Company Poised to Depart Warner for Sony

By Michael White

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- George Clooney is in final talks on a two-year agreement to move his film production company to Sony Pictures Entertainment from Warner Bros.

A three-year development deal that Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. has with Clooney, director Grant Heslov and their Smokehouse Pictures is expiring, Clooney spokesman Stan Rosenfield said today in an interview.

The agreement gives Culver City, California-based Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp., first right to future projects developed through Smokehouse. Six movies in development, including the drama “Escape from Tehran,” will stay at Burbank, California-based Warner Bros., Sony said in an e-mailed statement.

Previous Smokehouse movies include “Leatherheads,” the 2008 release starring Clooney as a professional football player in the 1920s.

Time Warner, based in New York, fell 14 cents to $25.19 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Sony gained 25 yen to 2,525 yen in Tokyo.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 30, 2009 17:06 EDT

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