If "The Little Midget" is never released as a full-length animated Disney feature, blame former Disney minihoncho Jeffrey Katzenberg, who settled a long-running dispute with the media giant last week for an undisclosed sum. Katzenberg, who left the company in a snit in 1994 after Evil Chairman Michael Eisner refused to name him to the No. 2 spot, sought to exercise a contract provision promising 2 percent of the gross proceeds of films made during his tenure. He asked for $250 million, was paid $117 million in 1997, and later upped his demand to ... 580 ... million ... dollars. (Bwah-ha-ha-ha!)
Disney watchers had hoped the suit would reveal secrets about the media giant and Evil Eisner, whose animosity toward the diminutive Katzenberg is legendary. The settlement disappointed everyone. "Both parties felt they didn't get what they wanted," Katzenberg's business partner David Geffen told The New York Times.
