The film industry may not be as recession-proof as Hollywood likes to boast, according to a new study by Interpret LLC, a global media- and market-research firm based in Los Angeles.
Conventional wisdom in Hollywood has long dictated that the movie business performs well during economic slowdowns because consumers are more likely to spend on less […]

Time Inc. Studios, together with management-production company the Collective and XYZ Films, will produce features and documentaries based on articles published in Time Inc. publications such as Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Life.
The company has identified its first project, optioning the April 14 Sports Illustrated article “Breaking the Bank.” Written by L. Jon Wertheim, the […]

For Warner Bros., the mission was to keep “The Dark Knight” from seeing the light of day.
In an era of instantaneous digital copying and widely available high-speed Internet access, the premature and unauthorized release of a movie to the public can spell disaster. If the movie’s a stinker, the word will travel at the speed […]

How did Hollywood lose Steven Spielberg?
Late last month, DreamWorks, the boutique movie studio that Mr. Spielberg co-founded in 1994, let it be known that it had found a way to exit its unhappy three-year marriage with Paramount Pictures. Reliance ADA Group, a Mumbai conglomerate, was nearing a deal to give the dream workers $550 […]

The movie-rental service Netflix Inc. is closing a small unit that finances independent movies, partly to avoid competing with Hollywood studios with which it partners for DVD and Internet distribution.
The financial impact on the company will be small, and only four out of about 400 employees are losing their jobs.
(Associated Press)

Intel and DreamWorks Animation SKG have formed a strategic alliance to work together on 3-D filmmaking technology, the companies said Tuesday.
The fruits of their collaboration will first be seen in the animated film “Monsters vs. Aliens,” which is scheduled for domestic release March 27, 2009. DreamWorks has said that all of its feature films will […]

Wherever you look, it seems as though the Klieg lights are going out all over Indieland. Every other week some calamity assails, overwhelms or even flat-out sinks one of the benchmark names of Hollywood’s indie film world.
Just this week we learned that Deutsche Bank has not only refused to get into bed with Paramount Studios, […]

“Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the 3-D remake of the classic Jules Verne adventure tale, didn’t exactly break box office records. The Brendan Fraser vehicle came in fourth last weekend and has pulled in $43 million in U.S. box-office receipts. Part of the problem is that many theater owners hadn’t yet installed […]

Death Defying Acts, a new $20m biopic of the magician Harry Houdini starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Guy Pearce, had a less than magical release in the US last weekend, writes Tom Teodorczuk in New York.
Released by Third Rail, a distribution label of the Weinstein Company run by film mogul brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the […]

As the founder of FedEx, Frederick W. Smith has been celebrated as one of the smartest minds in business. So why, at a time when American investors are avoiding Hollywood, does he keep pouring millions into movies?
Mr. Smith, who continues to serve as chief executive of FedEx, recently agreed to be the equity partner — […]