Paramount and DreamWorks Join Forces for Dreamgirls

Paramount Pictures will join DreamWorks in producing "Dreamgirls," the Bill Condon-directed adaptation of the stage musical.

The studios will co-finance the film, which is loosely based on the rise to stardom by Diana Ross and the Supremes in the formative years of Motown Records. The feature will star Beyonce and Jamie Foxx.

DreamWorks will release the film in North America; Paramount will handle overseas. Production will begin in January with a December 2006 release. This has been the baby of DreamWorks’ head honcho David Geffen, who has been working closely with producer Laurence Mark. They chose Bill Condon, who scripted the Oscar-winning musical Chicago, to write and direct. Condon adapted the original book by Tom Eyen, and the film will retain the lyrics and music of Eyen and Henry Krieger.