Movies

It was a year ago July that Paramount Vantage laid off the majority of its 100 or so staffers, signaling the end of the studio's short-lived specialty division that brought home a host of Oscar nominations but managed to lose loads of money along the way. Finally this June the studio axed Vantage founder John Lesher, who'd enjoyed an all-too-brief reign as Paramount's top creative executive after leaving Vantage behind. It's one thing to get rid of your top executives and hard-working staff.

The directorial debuts of two well-known stars didn't combine to do half the business of a new horror comedy this weekend. Ricky Gervais' "The Invention of Lying" and Drew Barrymore's "Whip It" both had weak openings, collecting a studio-estimated $7.4 million and $4.9 million, respectively. The films, which co-starred and were aggressively publicized by their directors, were easily beaten by the weekend's other new wide release, "Zombieland," which sold $25 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada.

In Hollywood, the more things change, the more they remain the same. When I was a clueless cub reporter, I did a story on Sam Arkoff, the B-movie impresario behind the fabled American International Pictures, the low-budget assembly line (known as AIP) that churned out hundreds of quickie teen exploitation beach party and horror films. In his office, Arkoff had movie posters adorned with catchy titles and ad slogans.

Just two days after earning 10 Academy Award nominations, "Slumdog Millionaire" on Saturday won the Producers Guild of America's Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award. The award went to producer Christian Colson. The film, which revolves around the fortunes of an impoverished Mumbai teenager, has become this movie season's darling, winning multiple Golden Globes and critic's awards. "Slumdog" went into wide release in the U.S.

For at least one day this weekend, fans looking for the latest films from Mother Russia won't have to badger the staff at West Hollywood's several Russian video stores or settle for pirated DVDs. The first Russian Winter Festival is bringing to L.A. a rare influx of the latest features, documentaries and shorts straight from that country's vibrant film industry to the James Bridges Theater at UCLA.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's new licensing deal with Redbox Automated Retail -- operator of those bright-red $1 DVD rental kiosks in grocery and convenience stores -- adds up to some serious coin. Sony stands to collect about $460 million over the term of the five-year agreement, which extends through September 2014, according to regulatory filings.

When Pixar first started working on "Wall-E" several years ago, the studio considered making the animated movie -- about a lovable robot on a future Earth -- without any dialogue at all. As the film's screenplay evolved, a few talking humans dropped in, but "Wall-E" is still distinguished by what isn't said, particularly in the movie's opening act.

It was a seminar that top executives at Sony and Paramount couldn't afford to miss. Forty-six of them -- including Sony Pictures Chairman Michael Lynton, co-Chairman Amy Pascal, Paramount Film Group President John Lesher and marketing teams from around the globe -- crowded around a table recently in one of Sony's conference rooms. The reason: to hear a presentation on Tintin, the 80-year-old comic strip series by Belgian artist Herge about a boy reporter and his loyal dog, Snowy.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., which recently said it would finance fewer movies to reduce production and marketing costs, has made a multiyear distribution deal to release as many as five films a year from Relativity Media. The arrangement will enable Lions Gate to fill out its annual release schedule without having to spend much more money.

In Hollywood, lives are shortened all the time by envy and jealousy, but only screenwriters die of encouragement. People are happy to tell writers how much they adore their scripts, but actually getting them made is a whole other story. You can win an Oscar and still put in years of struggle trying to get your next project going. But here's one exception: Robert Mark Kamen.