Movies Business

At Creative Artists Agency's recent corporate retreat in Ojai, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger was invited to expound on the future of the entertainment business and field questions about the media giant. He talked about Disney's decision to make fewer movies. He talked about the acquisition of Pixar Animation, producer of the soon-to-be-released "Up." He talked about the studio's new deal to distribute films from director Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG.

The hottest thing in movie rentals is as old as the Coke machine -- and just as red. Redbox movie kiosks are popping up by the thousands in supermarkets, drugstores, restaurants and convenience stores around the country. The kiosks stock DVDs that rent for $1 a day, a remainder-bin price that is less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Jerry Seinfeld's pesky little "Bee Movie" emerged as queen of the box office over the weekend, stinging the Harlem drug lords of "American Gangster" and knocking the critically acclaimed crime thriller into second place. "Bee" also buzzed past Warner Bros.' new Christmas comedy "Fred Claus," starring Vince Vaughn, and took a bite out of Hollywood heavyweights Tom Cruise, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, whose highly promoted political drama "Lions for Lambs" placed fourth.

The Universal Studios ninth-floor conference room offers a spectacular view of the San Fernando Valley. Yet the more remarkable sight is what takes up one entire wall: a 2005 calendar jammed with more than 100 cards, each representing a new DVD release, all vying for a slice of Hollywood's newfound $21.2-billion windfall. For years, movie studios expended most of their marketing muscle on a movie's vital opening weekend at the local multiplex.

Two years ago, Brad Grey set out to transform himself from Hollywood's top talent manager into a movie mogul. The chairman of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment was "a little bored," a friend says, after his many years helping guide the careers of A-listers such as Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler. So Grey, whose production experience was mainly in television, threw himself into learning how a movie gets made.

Hollywood is in pre-Saturday night fever mode. Mother-daughter combos gleefully exit the El Capitan following a "Princess Diaries 2" tea party. The courtyard of Grauman's Chinese Theatre is overrun with tourists trying cement footprints on for size. And on Sunset Boulevard, the entrance to the upscale ArcLight is buzzing with moviegoers, grooves from a small jazz band and diners relaxing on the cafe patio.

"The Kid Stays in the Picture," a witty, colorful and poignant account of the life and times of producer Robert Evans, takes its title from a remark made by movie mogul Darryl F. Zanuck. With scant acting experience, Evans had been cast as a matador in "The Sun Also Rises," and so chagrined at this turn of events were Ernest Hemingway, Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner and Eddie Albert that they sent Zanuck a telegram demanding Evans' removal.

Vivendi Universal's senior entertainment executives were sure of two things when they unpacked their polar tecs at Robert Redford's Sundance ski resort the first Monday of the Olympic Winter Games. One: No matter how much work there was to do back at their Universal City offices, this four-day retreat, Vivendi Universal Chairman Jean Marie Messier's months-in-the-planning Olympic moment, came first.

The Japanese video-game company behind the animated movie "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" said Thursday that it is quitting the film business after its first and only effort proved to be a box-office flop. Tokyo-based Square Co., which plowed about $115 million into making "Final Fantasy," said it will post a loss of about $83 million this fiscal year as a result of the film, which grossed just over $33 million in North America.

With its desert vistas, rugged hills and jagged mountain peaks, Santa Clarita has provided the perfect backdrop for filming everything from the "Dukes of Hazzard" to "The X-Files" and "VIP." But Santa Clarita officials say they are aiming to make the area more than a pretty place to find some colorful scenery. They want to become the next happy homestead for the entertainment industry as it looks to expand locally.