Paramount Pictures

Nearly 1,000 service members and their families at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland got to see something Friday night that very few people in Hollywood have seen -- "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," the last big-budget action movie of the summer.

Detroit's not the only one reeling from the collapse of General Motors. There are a few executives bummed out on the Paramount Pictures lot as well. Eleven weeks before the release of its expensive summer sequel "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen," the studio can't count on its key promotional partner to support a marketing blitz that helps drive mass awareness of Hollywood's big popcorn movies.

Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey is elated that his pet movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" topped the Academy Award nominations Thursday with 13 nods, including best picture. But such elation could be tempered by a sobering reality. Although Oscar honors can lead to an increase in ticket sales as moviegoers flock to theaters to see what all the hoopla is about, the boost may not be enough to help make "Button" a financial home run for Paramount.

It was a year ago July that Paramount Vantage laid off the majority of its 100 or so staffers, signaling the end of the studio's short-lived specialty division that brought home a host of Oscar nominations but managed to lose loads of money along the way. Finally this June the studio axed Vantage founder John Lesher, who'd enjoyed an all-too-brief reign as Paramount's top creative executive after leaving Vantage behind. It's one thing to get rid of your top executives and hard-working staff.

Had pundits bet on the HD DVD camp folding its hand in Las Vegas, they would have lost their shirts. None of the corporate giants that back the next-generation DVD format have jumped ship at the Consumer Electronics Show here. But the huge momentum shift toward the Blu-ray format has at least one studio strongly considering a switch. Warner Bros.'

Nearing the end of his third year as chairman of Paramount Pictures, Brad Grey has again realigned his top management team in hopes that the studio can produce more homegrown hits as it braces for a future without its key movie supplier, DreamWorks.

The Indiana Jones series is known for its cliffhangers. But the real cliffhanger in the long-awaited upcoming sequel is when -- and perhaps even if -- the famous filmmakers and the star will make money.

With divorce between DreamWorks SKG and Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures a given, the only issue now is who gets custody of the children. Like custody battles anywhere, this one could get nasty. In the coming weeks, DreamWorks will begin the complicated business of dissolving their bitter 2 1/2 -year union, leaving in limbo hundreds of movie projects, employees, talent and producers who work for the company.