Emboldened by this summer’s success with “The Dark Knight,” Warner Bros.’ movie studio is setting a new strategy.

The Time Warner Inc. unit, like some other Hollywood studios, is planning to release fewer films into the crowded marketplace. But the studio, known for making more big, expensive movies than most rivals, plans to make even more of those — some centered on properties from its DC Comics unit, such as Batman.

(Wall Street Journal)

How could this happen? The question springs to mind as 20th Century Fox claims it has the rights to the graphic novel on whichWarner Brothers is basing “Watchmen,” its giant superhero movie.

Peer deeper into the murk of Hollywood’s business practices, though, and the question becomes: How could it not?

The film industry was buzzing last week after a federal judge here allowed Fox to proceed with a lawsuit contending that Warner had filmed “Watchmen” without bothering to acquire rights that Fox says it has owned for 22 years. This eagerly anticipated movie is directed by Zack Snyder, of “300” fame, and is based on the illustrated series (republished as a graphic novel) by Alan Moore and David Gibbons.

Warner, of course, begs to differ with Fox. So the studios are squared off for battle. Fox wants an injunction blocking the movie’s planned release on March 6. Warner wants Fox to go away.

(New York Times)

Starting in 2009, all of DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc’s films will be in next-generation 3-D.

“This is the next innovation for the movie industry,” Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive of DreamWorks Animation, said in an interview. “It impacts how we make our movies, how movie theaters present our films and how audiences experience our films.”

Katzenberg’s DreamWorks Animation and No. 1 chipmaker Intel Corp announced a 3-D movie image brand called InTru 3D at Intel’s Developer Forum in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The first movie from DreamWorks Animation to use the brand and logo will be “Monsters vs. Aliens,” coming out next March.

(Reuters)

Will Steven Spielberg soon be directing a Bollywood extravanganza? A few years ago this might have seemed like a ridiculous question but with the news that Indian entertainment giant Reliance may invest $500m in Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio, it suddenly doesn’t sound so unlikely after all. And Spielberg isn’t the only major Hollywood player that Reliance are courting, having also recently announced development deals with the production companies of A-listers such as George Clooney, Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey and Tom Hanks.

And Indian co-productions have already made it to the screen, including M Night Shyamalan’s The Happening, partly financed by Indian company UTV. So, with this increasing economic power in Hollywood, the question is whether this financial collaboration will result in a creative crossover as well?

(The Guardian UK)

Even a segment of the Daily Show once sent reporter Larry Wilmore to Beverly Hills to see how the rich and beautiful are coping, what with less wealth available to spend on beauty. He heard resident Goldy Anthony lament, “I haven’t had Botox in 8 to 9 months,” while Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Kotler said, “I guess you can judge the economy by how many wrinkles are out there.”

Now, according to a news release from Frownies Facial Pads, a Hollywood secret, kept under wraps since the product first came out in 1889, is out of the bag

(LA Times)

Scarlett Johansson has criticised Hollywood’s treatment of older women.

The 23-year-old actress and singer said that the movie industry was harder on women than men.

Johansson told Hello! magazine: “Women kind of wilt as men sort of achieve as they get older, like wine or whatever. It’s like, ‘Oh, she’s past her prime and she can’t play a sex symbol’.”

The Girl With A Pearl Earring star, who is engaged to Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds, 31, added: “It’s just a preconceived notion about women in general and particularly in this industry. It’s a very vain, vain industry.”

Johansson is the latest in a string of actresses to complain of ageism in Hollywood.

(The Press Association)

In a move that ends her longtime business partnership with Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner is stepping down from her post as co-owner and CEO at United Artists.

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 expensive forms of entertainment like movie tickets rather than pricier activities such as sporting events or concerts.

(Wall Street Journal)

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 be in 3-D starting next year.

(Information Week)

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 film debuted with minimal fanfare and no premiere, in just two cinemas nationwide, grossing a paltry $5,000.

(The Telegraph UK)