Alan Levine

In their first major appointment, Columbia Pictures Entertainment Co-chairmen Peter Guber and Jon Peters have named their longtime lawyer, Alan J. Levine, to the post of president and chief operating officer at Columbia's newly formed Filmed Entertainment Group. The move puts the 42-year-old Levine above Columbia Pictures President Dawn Steel in the company's hierarchy.

Expanding its already close relationship with Hollywood, investment banking giant JPMorgan Chase has formed an entertainment advisory unit that will be headed by two former top studio executives. The group, JPMorgan Entertainment Advisors, will counsel studios, production companies, new-media outfits and investors on financial and strategic business issues.

Former Sony Pictures head Alan J. Levine on Tuesday returned to practicing law, joining the powerhouse entertainment law firm of Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca & Fischer. Levine will be "of counsel," meaning that he won't be a partner in the firm. Since leaving Sony in 1996, Levine has been a business consultant in entertainment and media.

Alan Levin, 79, a documentary filmmaker who captured the rise of America's religious right and participated in a number of PBS and HBO projects, died Monday in his sleep at his home in Maplewood, N.J., according to a publicist for HBO. Levin's work in the television industry began in the 1970s with PBS.

Mark Canton was fired Friday as head of Sony Corp.'s ailing movie studio, ending a lengthy melodrama and underscoring the chaotic condition of the Japanese electronic giant's film holdings. Ousting Canton may be only the first of several moves to play out over the next few weeks, with further top management purgings possible, sources said. Sony Pictures Entertainment President Alan Levine, who fired Canton, is widely seen by Hollywood to be on shaky ground and could be replaced soon.

Sony Corp. ousted Alan J. Levine as head of its entertainment unit on Wednesday, the second move in three weeks to clean up what has been an embarrassing management and financial mess for the Japanese electronics giant during its seven-year ownership. The departure of Levine, the last remaining top executive from the regime led by former Chairman Peter Guber, follows the firing last month of Mark Canton as head of Sony's Columbia and TriStar pictures units.

After two months of haggling with Warner Bros. over their exclusive production contract with that studio, producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters are finally free to take over Sony's newly purchased Columbia Pictures. And they're hitting the ground running. Already they've talked about the corporate jets they will order. Plans are in the works to build a gym and day-care center and to spruce up the executive offices at Columbia Pictures' new home at the former MGM lot in Culver City.

Sony Corp. hasn't quit making waves since it bought Columbia Pictures Entertainment from Coca-Cola Co. and other shareholders for $3.4 billion last fall. First came a nasty scrap with Time Warner Inc. over the services of Columbia's prospective co-chairmen, "Batman" producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters, who happened to be under contract to the American media giant.

Alan Levin, 79, a documentary filmmaker who captured the rise of America's religious right and participated in a number of PBS and HBO projects, died Monday in his sleep at his home in Maplewood, N.J., according to a publicist for HBO. Levin's work in the television industry began in the 1970s with PBS.

Expanding its already close relationship with Hollywood, investment banking giant JPMorgan Chase has formed an entertainment advisory unit that will be headed by two former top studio executives. The group, JPMorgan Entertainment Advisors, will counsel studios, production companies, new-media outfits and investors on financial and strategic business issues.

Former Sony Pictures head Alan J. Levine on Tuesday returned to practicing law, joining the powerhouse entertainment law firm of Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca & Fischer. Levine will be "of counsel," meaning that he won't be a partner in the firm. Since leaving Sony in 1996, Levine has been a business consultant in entertainment and media.

Sony Corp. ousted Alan J. Levine as head of its entertainment unit on Wednesday, the second move in three weeks to clean up what has been an embarrassing management and financial mess for the Japanese electronics giant during its seven-year ownership. The departure of Levine, the last remaining top executive from the regime led by former Chairman Peter Guber, follows the firing last month of Mark Canton as head of Sony's Columbia and TriStar pictures units.

Mark Canton was fired Friday as head of Sony Corp.'s ailing movie studio, ending a lengthy melodrama and underscoring the chaotic condition of the Japanese electronic giant's film holdings. Ousting Canton may be only the first of several moves to play out over the next few weeks, with further top management purgings possible, sources said. Sony Pictures Entertainment President Alan Levine, who fired Canton, is widely seen by Hollywood to be on shaky ground and could be replaced soon.

At Sony Pictures Entertainment, Hollywood's most colorful and contentious studio, Alan J. Levine enjoys a remarkable degree of anonymity. The Sony president and chief operating officer has functioned so quietly during his five-year stint that colleagues privately refer to him as "the invisible man." And even a close friend confesses, "I'm sorry, but I'm not really sure what he does."

Sony Corp. hasn't quit making waves since it bought Columbia Pictures Entertainment from Coca-Cola Co. and other shareholders for $3.4 billion last fall. First came a nasty scrap with Time Warner Inc. over the services of Columbia's prospective co-chairmen, "Batman" producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters, who happened to be under contract to the American media giant.

In their first major appointment, Columbia Pictures Entertainment Co-chairmen Peter Guber and Jon Peters have named their longtime lawyer, Alan J. Levine, to the post of president and chief operating officer at Columbia's newly formed Filmed Entertainment Group. The move puts the 42-year-old Levine above Columbia Pictures President Dawn Steel in the company's hierarchy.

At Sony Pictures Entertainment, Hollywood's most colorful and contentious studio, Alan J. Levine enjoys a remarkable degree of anonymity. The Sony president and chief operating officer has functioned so quietly during his five-year stint that colleagues privately refer to him as "the invisible man." And even a close friend confesses, "I'm sorry, but I'm not really sure what he does."

The Phoenix-based operator of ice cream parlors declined to say why its proposed merger collapsed with Hobson's International, a small ice cream chain, which has headquarters in Santa Barbara. An investor group headed by Alan Levine and Kimun Lee, who together control Hobson's, had in October agreed to buy Swensen's common shares, preferred shares and warrants for $6.96 million and then merge Hobson's into Swensen's.

After two months of haggling with Warner Bros. over their exclusive production contract with that studio, producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters are finally free to take over Sony's newly purchased Columbia Pictures. And they're hitting the ground running. Already they've talked about the corporate jets they will order. Plans are in the works to build a gym and day-care center and to spruce up the executive offices at Columbia Pictures' new home at the former MGM lot in Culver City.