Motion Picture Association Of America

Reversing a long-standing practice, the trade and lobbying arm of the Hollywood studios won't disclose the average costs of making and marketing movies. For years, the Motion Picture Assn. of America has annually released a statistical analysis showing average movie costs of its six members, made up of the major studios and their specialty film labels.

For all the rumblings in Hollywood that Dan Glickman was miscast as the industry's top Washington lobbyist, the next head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America could well be closer to his technocrat mold than to the suave celebrity of the man who made the job famous: Jack Valenti. That's because, with Glickman disclosing Monday that he'll step down next September, the movie industry knows it has evolved since he took over in 2004 as MPAA's chairman and chief executive. Preventing piracy of movies and TV shows dominates the trade association's lobbying agenda, and the desire for a glitzy face in the nation's capital has lessened as the major movie studios have become divisions in larger media conglomerates with sometimes competing agendas.

Responding to complaints of undue censorship from movie makers and film critics, the Motion Picture Assn. of America abolished its X movie rating on Wednesday and replaced it with a new adults-only classification. The MPAA, in a joint announcement with the powerful National Assn. of Theater Owners, said the X rating would be replaced immediately with a designation of NC-17, which indicates that no children under 17 can be admitted.

When the late Jack Valenti held court, with his silver mane, White House contacts and celebrity friends, the Motion Picture Assn. of America boasted the Washington lobbying establishment's equivalent of the double feature: political clout playing alongside Hollywood glitz. Politicians and other power brokers snapped up invitations to private screenings of new movies in the MPAA's 70-seat theater just two blocks from the White House.

In bringing "Scandal" to the screen, the iconoclastic Palace Productions had to overcome church objections, threatened lawsuits and widespread opposition to the notion of raking up the details of a sex scandal that toppled a British government more than a quarter century ago. But now, just as "Scandal" is gaining popularity in British theaters, its producers face an even bigger hurdle: the Motion Picture Association of America has made the rare decision to tag it with an X-rating.

Like any good businessman, Ricardo Jimenez stands behind what he sells. That's one reason he and thousands of Mexicans like him are giving Hollywood fits. A few days ago, the 26-year-old vendor was hawking pirated DVDs at his usual spot, just outside the entrance to the Pino Suarez subway station near this frenetic capital's historic center.

It takes a lot of creativity, and sometimes even a thesaurus, to be a movie rater these days. From their San Fernando Valley screening room, the Motion Picture Assn. of America's raters watch more movies in a year than some people see in a lifetime. With each one, they try to summarize potentially objectionable parts while not giving away the plot.

Early in Norm Macdonald's new film, "Dirty Work," the comedian is thrown in jail after a scheme he hatched to earn $50,000 goes awry. No sooner does the comic voice a fear of what happens to soft guys in prison than he is taken away by three hulking tattooed bikers. "Hey," he says, berating the bikers with the mock severity that was his trademark as the Weekend Update anchor on "Saturday Night Live." "You fellows have a lot of growing up to do."

Wayne Kramer looked a little beleaguered as he ordered a plate of eggs for breakfast the other day. The 38-year-old director of "The Cooler" has a crushing weight on his shoulders: He's trying to figure out what he can say to a Motion Picture Assn. of America appeals board that will prevent it from tattooing his film with the deadly NC-17 rating. With a cast that includes William H.

October Films lost its bid this week to overturn an NC-17 rating on Trey Parker's upcoming film "Orgazmo," and attorney Alan Dershowitz--who was retained by October--thinks that makes no sense. "The thing about 'Orgazmo' is it's adolescent humor. Therefore, adolescents should be able to see it," Dershowitz said of the comedy about a young Mormon man who stumbles into the lead role in a porno film that becomes a big hit.

Reversing a long-standing practice, the trade and lobbying arm of the Hollywood studios won't disclose the average costs of making and marketing movies. For years, the Motion Picture Assn. of America has annually released a statistical analysis showing average movie costs of its six members, made up of the major studios and their specialty film labels.

Hollywood laid much of the blame for illegal movie downloading on college students. Now it says its math was wrong. In a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Assn. of America claimed that 44% of the industry's domestic losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students, who often have access to high-bandwidth networks on campus.

The Motion Picture Assn. of America will relocate its Encino office down the street to a larger space in Sherman Oaks Galleria, the association said Thursday. The MPAA, a trade group representing six major Hollywood studios, is sub-leasing the 100,000-square-foot space from Warner Bros. Entertainment for the next 8 1/2 years.

The previews you see in movie theaters are approved for all audiences by the Motion Picture Assn. of America. But the trade group for the major Hollywood studios saves one type of sneak peek for a more select crowd. At its exclusive 70-seat theater two blocks from the White House, the MPAA offers free movie screenings to its best friends in Washington -- and those it wants to join the list.

The Motion Picture Assn. of America, the trade group for Hollywood's biggest studios, sued two websites, claiming they illegally post copyrighted movies. The group filed complaints in federal court in Los Angeles against Cinematube.net, Ssupload.com and their owners seeking damages and court orders barring illegal posting.

It takes a lot of creativity, and sometimes even a thesaurus, to be a movie rater these days. From their San Fernando Valley screening room, the Motion Picture Assn. of America's raters watch more movies in a year than some people see in a lifetime. With each one, they try to summarize potentially objectionable parts while not giving away the plot.

The 12 men and women gather privately in an Encino screening room nearly every business day. Their professions range from hairdresser to health administrator to homemaker. But their most important qualification--the one that the Motion Picture Assn. of America believes best enables them to rate movies on behalf of society--is that they have kids.

A whopping 75% of American parents with children under the age of 17 describe the Motion Picture Assn. of America's voluntary movie rating system as useful, and that endorsement is echoed by 76% of parents of pre-teenagers, the MPAA reported Wednesday. The MPAA's new survey, conducted by the Opinion Research Corp. in Princeton, N.J.

Hollywood's trade group and its labor negotiating executives plan to move their offices in Encino down the street. The Motion Picture Assn. of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are expected to relocate in November into larger quarters in the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The groups have been in their current building on Ventura Boulevard since 1993.

Movies and cigarettes used to go together like Bogie and Bacall, with Hollywood and its stars glamorizing the habit on screen and off. Now films could earn a tougher rating if their characters light up. Under a policy announced Thursday, the Motion Picture Assn. of America said its movie raters would take into account "depictions that glamorize smoking or movies that feature pervasive smoking outside of a historic or other mitigating context."