The film version of A Chorus Line was strangled in a maze of studio deals and awkward contracts long before cameras rolled, a corporate soap opera that landed squarely on director Richard Attenborough. Universal originally paid $5.5 million for the screen rights and agreed to a punitive royalty structure — 20% of distributor gross rentals above $30 million — a clause that made financiers nervous because the picture would have to be a very big hit before royalties even kicked in. Universal later flipped the rights to PolyGram for $7.8 million (1982), then Embassy Pictures came on as a 20% co-producer in 1983. Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio later put up a reportedly large personal stake (Arnold Schulman later claimed $24 million) to greenlight a new approach, only to see corporate ownership morph again: Embassy was sold to Coca‑Cola (which owned Columbia) six months before release, and then Dino DeLaurentiis bought Embassy but not its 20% interest in the film‑financing vehicle. The result was utter confusion about who actually wanted the picture and who would distribute it, and a tug‑of‑war between Columbia, Embassy, PolyGram and the individual producers. Writer Arnold Schulman later described a production where “every single element was fighting with every other element” and said that Columbia “wanted nothing to do” with the picture once the money had changed hands. All of this bureaucracy and second‑guessing constrained creative choices, increased pressure on Attenborough (who Schulman says “survived it” only by luck and decency) and contributed to a film that performed weakly at the box office — a $14.2 million gross on a heavy‑cost production — and left a legacy of bitterness among some of the stage’s original champions.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1980s
The Byzantine Rights Deal and Executive Infighting That Left Richard Attenborough Holding the Bag
A Chorus Line (1985 film) / 1980s
The film version of A Chorus Line was strangled in a maze of studio deals and awkward contracts long before cameras rolled, a corporate soap opera that landed squarely on director Richard Attenborough. Universal originally paid $5.5 million for the screen rights and agreed to a punitive royalty structure — 20% of distributor gross rentals above $30 million — a clause that made financiers nervous because the picture would have to be a very big hit before royalties even kicked in. Universal later flipped the rights to PolyGram for $7.8 million (1982), then Embassy Pictures came on as a 20% co-producer in 1983. Norman Lear and Jerry Perenchio later put up a reportedly large personal stake (Arnold Schulman later claimed $24 million) to greenlight a new approach, only to see corporate ownership morph again: Embassy was sold to Coca‑Cola (which owned Columbia) six months before release, and then Dino DeLaurentiis bought Embassy but not its 20% interest in the film‑financing vehicle. The result was utter confusion about who actually wanted the picture and who would distribute it, and a tug‑of‑war between Columbia, Embassy, PolyGram and the individual producers. Writer Arnold Schulman later described a production where “every single element was fighting with every other element” and said that Columbia “wanted nothing to do” with the picture once the money had changed hands. All of this bureaucracy and second‑guessing constrained creative choices, increased pressure on Attenborough (who Schulman says “survived it” only by luck and decency) and contributed to a film that performed weakly at the box office — a $14.2 million gross on a heavy‑cost production — and left a legacy of bitterness among some of the stage’s original champions.
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