Real life studio dramas are back. Sumner Redstone’s bust up with Tom Cruise has forced the Hollywood star off Paramount’s lot. Jobs have been cut back at Disney, and Warner Brothers. Universal Pictures lost chairman Stacey Snider to DreamWorks earlier this year. Is it a sign of fundamental change in the film industry?

Not really. Distribution is shifting - with release windows for DVDs, for example, creeping ever closer to box office release dates. The lucrative DVD wave, that hid a multitude of sins on the cost side of the business, is also slowing. But both trends have been around for a while. Coupled with the general pressure that media conglomerates find themselves under, and a relatively lacklustre box office, it is no surprise that there has been some belt-tightening in Hollywood.