George Clooney Leaving Warner Bros. For Sony Pictures

Hollywood actor George Clooney is leaving Warner Bros. and is moving to Sony Pictures with his production company which he formed in partnership with director Grant Heslov some years back. His company's contract with Warner is expiring.

Popular American actor George Clooney is poised to leave Warner Bros for a more lucrative working arrangement with Sony Pictures. Bloomberg.com reports:

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.

Clooney owns the Smokehouse Pictures, a company that handles Clooney’s films and production. It was a major move for Clooney who has been with Warner for over a decade of his movie career that was highlighted by the highly acclaimed TV drama ‘ER’ in 1994. In 2001, Clooney joined forces with director Steven Soderbergh to form Section Eight Production Company. They produced the film ‘Ocean Eleven’ which made very well in the box office. This was followed by two sequels. The rest of the movies made under Section Eight were relatively successful. Later Clooney parted ways with Soderbergh to form Smokehouse with director Grant Heslov. It may be safe to say that Clooney’s parting with Warner was not tied to any major disagreement but was considered only as a strategic business decision.