Movie Studios

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.

Fourteen years ago, the gender breakdown for behind-the-scenes employment in the top 250 films was 83% men and 17% women. By last year, women had improved their representation -- ever so slightly. In 2011, the division of labor in the same number of movies was 82% men and 18% women, according to a San Diego State University study looking at directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors and cinematographers. "The shocking underrepresentation of women in our business" is how Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep described the "dreadful" statistics Tuesday night during Women in Film's 2012 Crystal and Lucy Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton hotel.

Yahoo Inc. is trying to stake a claim on the summer movie season with the launch of Movieland, an interactive online game promoting 35 upcoming big-budget films. Developed with participation from all the major movie studios, Movieland is laid out as a virtual board game, with each square representing a summer film. Users will be able to watch trailers, answer trivia questions, earn and share online badges, buy tickets and win prizes. Ken Fuchs, vice president and head of sports, entertainment and games at Yahoo Media Network, said Movieland "game-ifies moviegoing in an interesting way. It sucks people into an experience.

Here's looking at you on Facebook, kid. In a first for a Hollywood studio, Warner Bros. is screening its classic 1942 film “Casablanca” for free on Facebook on Wednesday night. While many other studios have rented movies through Facebook since Warner began the practice in March 2011 with “The Dark Knight,” no other film has been screened for free. The one-night event is intended to help drum up sales for the studio's deluxe Blu-ray and DVD “Casablanca” collection that was released in March, as well as “Inside the Script,” a new animated ebook series featuring screenplays for classic films including “North by Northwest,” “Ben Hur,” and “Casablanca.” On Facebook, U.S. users can begin watching “Casablanca” between 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time and 9 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

For most of the year, theater owners are worried about the price of movie tickets, what kind of candy to stock the concession area with and keeping tweens out of R-rated movies. But for four days at Las Vegas' CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners, exhibitors get to mingle with Hollywood stars and see previews of the industry's most anticipated films. On a trade show floor at Caesars Palace, they can check out vendors pushing new popcorn toppings, the latest 3-D glasses and new 3-D and sound technology.

An ex-convict who was free on probation has been arrested after police discovered tens of thousands of dollars' worth of items they say he may have stolen from cars parked near movie studios. Police believe Sean C. Ray, 35, of Los Angeles rented a Mercedes-Benz convertible to avoid calling attention to himself while driving the streets and scouting cars to burglarize. Ray was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of receiving stolen property, LAPD Det. Jim Hays said at a news conference in front of the Hollywood Community Police Station.

Google Inc.'s YouTube has struck a movie-rental deal with a fifth major Hollywood studio, Paramount Pictures, adding 500 titles to its expanding online library. The addition of Paramount's films brings YouTube's rental library to nearly 9,000 titles, featuring such popular mainstream movies as Martin Scorsese's Academy Award-winning "Hugo" and director Michael Bay's action-packed "Transformers" and classics including "The Godfather. " The deal reflects YouTube's strategy to provide its millions of online viewers with a range of entertainment options, from its trademark user-created video and polished Web originals to professional long-form content.

Hard-core Harry Potter fans who devoured the books, camped out for the movies and trekked through the theme park now have a new way to relive the boy wizard's adventures. PHOTOS: Making of Harry Potter studio tour Debuting Saturday, the Making of Harry Potter behind-the-scenes tour at theWarner Bros.studios in England will let wizards, mudbloods and muggles pull back the curtain on the movie-making secrets of the most successful film series of all time. Located 20 miles outside of London, the three-hour self-guided tour will take visitors past sets, props, costumes, models and special effects exhibits from the eight "Harry Potter" movies.

Channing Tatum lowers his green eyes and stares at the camera. "Your friend wanted me to tell you that they think you're pretty awesome," the 31-year-old actor says. "And they love hanging with you. " Tatum's performance wasn't from a movie, but a "Sweet Nothings" video that marketers for his new film, "The Vow," posted on Facebook in advance of its opening last weekend. It worked: The romantic tear-jerker blew past expectations to open at No. 1 with $41.2 million in North American ticket sales.

Combining Hollywood's two biggest independent film studios and the blockbuster young adult franchises "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games" into one powerful entity, Lions Gate Entertainment has agreed to acquire Summit Entertainment for $412.5 million in cash and stock. The two Santa Monica companies have engaged in on-and-off merger talks since late 2008 as Lions Gate sought to bolster its library of film and TV properties and Summit's investors tried to cash in on the lightning-in-a-bottle success of the "Twilight" movie series, which has grossed $2.5 billion worldwide over four films.