20th Century Fox

Sonia Wolfson, 94, publicist for 20th Century Fox for 35 years. A native of Russia, she immigrated to Los Angeles and began her career as an art critic for Art Digest and other publications. She was also an associate with the Stendahl Art Gallery. At the film studio, Wolfson publicized such films as "South Pacific" and "Island in the Sun."

Many people in Hollywood considered "Life of Pi" to be unfilmable. Now that it's about to hit theaters Wednesday, there's a new question: Can it be profitable? Director Ang Lee's $120-million adaptation of Yann Martel's 2001 book, which has sold 9 million copies worldwide, is precisely the kind of movie that many complain the big studios don't make anymore: an ambitious and highbrow creation that's not a sequel and isn't based on a comic book or theme park ride. Marketing the movie in no easy task either.

The state labor commissioner sued 20th Century Fox for allegedly ignoring an order to post a public apology letter to an ex-employee discriminated against because he is gay, court records show. Commissioner Arthur Lujan contends Fox did not post the apology and has not stopped discriminating against homosexual employees.

20th Century Fox launched an initiative designed to spur digital sales, offering its sci-fi thriller "Prometheus" for sale through several major online retailers three weeks ahead of the movie's release on DVD and Blu-ray disc. The Ridley Scott film is one of 600 titles to be sold digitally in high-definition for less than $15 -- a discount from the typical retail price of $20. The movies are available online through Amazon, Apple Inc.'s iTunes store, BestBuy's CinemaNow, Google Play, YouTube and Wal-Mart's Vudu, as well as through entertainment stores connected to the Sony PlayStation and Xbox game consoles.

Patricia Wyatt is leaving as head of 20th Century Fox's home entertainment unit to start a film production and financing firm. Wyatt led the division, which releases Fox movies on video and DVD, for five years. No successor was named, but sources said the leading candidate is Executive Vice President Mike Dunn.

News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox said it agreed to supply feature films on digital cinema projection systems from Christie/AIX. Fox last month confirmed that it was near a deal when Walt Disney Co. announced a similar agreement. The agreement is nonexclusive. It involves supplying films from 20th Century Fox, Fox 2000, Fox Searchlight and its animation unit, and paying a fee when its movies are projected on the systems. Digital projection provides crisp pictures that don't fade over time.

News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox said it would join a Sony Corp.-led group of companies developing the Blu-ray DVD format, said Michael O'Neill, a special advisor in Fox's optical media division. Fox will join the Blu-ray Disc Assn., which includes Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., and Dell Inc., to promote Blu-ray as the standard for next-generation DVDs.

A small Detroit publishing firm won a $19-million lawsuit against 20th Century Fox after a jury in Michigan agreed that the movie studio had stolen the script for a hit Christmas movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Murray Hill Publications claimed in the lawsuit that the script for the 1996 movie "Jingle All the Way" bore a remarkable resemblance to the screenplay "Could This Be Christmas?" written by high school teacher Brian Alan Webster.

In the latest scrape between a Hollywood studio and online fans, 20th Century Fox attorneys have recently been slaying Web sites that pay homage to the studio's hit show, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." A handful of Buffy "fan sites" have either shut down or removed some of their content, after being threatened with copyright infringement suits by Fox attorneys. "I complied in fear of any legal repercussions," said the operator of one site, who declined to disclose his name.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has chosen the Digital Video Express, or Divx system, for home videos, boosting the format promoted by Circuit City Stores Inc. The News Corp. unit joins Walt Disney Co., Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, Seagram Co.'s Universal Studios and DreamWorks SKG in backing Divx, a variant of the digital video disk format that allows customers to view a movie for only a 48-hour period. Circuit City is a partner in the group that developed Divx.

Shrek and Po have found a new home. DreamWorks Animation, the Glendale studio behind such hit animated franchises as "Shrek," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Madagascar," has signed a five-year deal with 20th Century Fox, which will distribute its movies beginning next year. Fox replaces Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks' partner since 2006. The two companies' relationship began souring in 2011 as DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg sought to pay a lower fee and Paramount Chairman Brad Grey formed a competitive animation unit at his studio.

Premium cable channel HBO has renewed its deal for theatrical movies from 20th Century Fox. Although terms were not disclosed, HBO is expected to pay just over $200 million annually to the studio for the movies, people familiar with the matter said. The extension runs through 2022. The current contract was set to expire in 2015. There are some tweaks in the new agreement between Fox and HBO. Previously, when a 20th Century Fox movie was running on HBO, the studio could not sell that title on iTunes, Amazon, Wal-Mart's Vudu or other digital platforms.

The cast of"Modern Family"has an ancient problem. In the television industry, actors typically sign contracts that range from five to seven years with annual pay increases of 4% to 6%. The compensation can range from $40,000 to $70,000 per episode to more than six figures for established stars. On its face, that doesn't sound so bad. But in the rare cases of a huge commercial hit, the companies that produce and air the show get a big and quick return on their investment. Then their headaches begin - with the actors.

The family that sues together apparently stays together. Several of the key cast members on the hit TV sitcom "Modern Family" have teamed up to sue 20th Century Fox Television, the studio that makes the show for ABC, claiming their contracts are illegal. Stars Sofia Vergara, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell filed suit Tuesday in California Superior Court. The move comes after unsuccessful efforts on their part to renegotiate their deals with the studio.

Hollywood's movie studios are heading to Comic-Con with less spring in their step this year. Stung by splashy presentations in the past that resulted in costly box-office duds like"Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"and"Green Lantern,"the major studios will not arrive in full force in San Diego for the annual event that begins Thursday. Although Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate are making presentations and trumpeting their wares for fans, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures are skipping the show this year.

News Corp. is contemplating what once was unthinkable — splitting its entertainment and publishing operations into separate companies. The company Tuesday confirmed that it was considering a breakup of the $52-billion global media conglomerate. The lucrative film and television operations — including the 20th Century Fox film studio, the top-rated Fox broadcast network and the profitable Fox News Channel — would form one company. News Corp.'s newspapers, HarperCollins book publishing assets and education businesses would comprise a second publicly traded company.

In pretrial maneuvering Tuesday, lawyers for 20th Century Fox Film Corp. raised the curtain for the first time on purported top-level feuding and an aborted proposal to take the Hollywood studio private shortly before oilman Marvin Davis bought it in 1981. The company and Davis, defendants in a wrongful termination suit filed by former Fox Chairman and Chief Executive Dennis C.

A bludgeoned body found in the back seat of a burning car in Woodland Hills was identified Monday as that of Herbert Wallerstein, a veteran television director and producer, and a former top executive for 20th Century Fox. Wallerstein, 59, was last seen Friday evening at a supermarket near his Woodland Hills home, police said.

Apple Inc. is putting movies in the cloud, providing a boost to Hollywood film studios' small but growing digital business. Movies purchased through Apple's iTunes Store from five studios — Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. — will be accessible via the technology giant's iCloud service from any of its devices, including the Apple TV, iPad and iPhone. Apple announced its plans, which have been in the works since last year, at a Tuesday news conference, where the company also unveiled new versions of the iPad and Apple TV, an Internet-connected device that displays movies and TV shows from iTunes and other services on televisions.

When director George Lucas hired illustrator Ralph McQuarrie in 1974 to do a series of paintings visualizing scenes from his script for an intergalactic war movie he was trying to sell, McQuarrie liked the concept for the space fantasy. He just didn't think it would ever get made. "My impression was it was too expensive. There wouldn't be enough of an audience. It's just too complicated," he recalled in a 1999 interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune. "But George knew a lot of things that I didn't know.