According to Variety, Paramount Pictures has signed on as DreamWorks' dance partner for "Dreamgirls," the Bill Condon-directed adaptation of the stage musical.

The studios will co-finance the film, a thinly veiled telling of the rise of Diana Ross and the Supremes in the formative years of Motown Records.

The pic stars Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles and Eddie Murphy.

DreamWorks will release the film in North America; Paramount will handle overseas. Production begins in January for a December 2006 release.

The project built its momentum at DreamWorks, where the musical's original producer, David Geffen, has worked with producer Laurence Mark. They set Condon, who scripted the Oscar-winning musical Chicago, to write and direct. Condon adapted the original book by Tom Eyen, and the film will retain the lyrics and music of Eyen and Henry Krieger. Tuner, which bowed in 1981, won six Tony Awards.