Paramount Vantage: Taking the temperature

"An Inconvenient Truth" and "Babel" were the bookends on Paramount Vantage's inaugural year. Both have scored well at the boxoffice and already have been recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. with Golden Globe noms. The Al Gore-led environmental documentary and the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ensemble drama are on track to earn Academy noms as well. In between, the new division helmed by longtime agent John Lesher, aided by former Lionsgate International exec Nick Meyer, who joined Vantage as co-president, kept busy by putting together a production slate featuring the talent of writer-directors Noah Baumbach, Paul Thomas Anderson and the Coens. Lesher also secured a two-year, first look deal with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Gary Sanchez Prods.