Reports: John Lesher, Vantage Staff Out at Paramount

John Lesher's short, turbulent ride in the cockpit of the Paramount Film Group has reportedly come to an end today, and with it, that of the co-president of production, Brad Weston. Production boss Adam Goodman is set to replace Lesher. Observers detected engine trouble for months now, not so long after Lesher's prodigious spending drove Paramount Vantage to awards-season glory (No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, An Inconvenient Truth, Babel) and massive cash woes. Nikki Finke, who broke the story, points to Lesher's indecision on the greenlighting front (and inefficiency in developing fare including Beverly Hills Cop 4) among the primary reasons for his ouster, but off he goes with a production deal on the lot. Weston, too, will work his connections with a production deal at the 'Mount.

Meanwhile, another unconfirmed report from inside the studio notes that the entire remaining Vantage staff is out as well, leaving its upcoming slate -- including The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard and Neil Jordan's fantasy Ondine -- in a bit of limbo. Developing...