Sony Pictures

Often film sequels are slam dunks at the box office, a seamless continuation from where a previous hit left off. But as the new installment of the 15-year-old franchise "Men in Black" proves, getting to the big screen isn't always a cakewalk. One of the most troubled productions in recent Hollywood memory, Sony Pictures' latest movie in the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi-comedy franchise encountered multiple script rewrites, a discontented star and a three-month production shutdown as writers and studio executives scrambled to fix a project that nearly fell apart . By the time it was over, the studio had run up a tab of nearly $250 million - making "Men in Black 3" one of the most expensive releases of the summer.

Peter Guber is bringing some Hollywood flash, and drama, to the Dodgers. A longtime player in film and television, Guber, 70, has had a hand in some of the best-known movies of the last four decades — including "Batman," "Rain Man" and "Midnight Express" — but also has a checkered record, stemming primarily from his troubled tenure as head of Sony Pictures. Guber and Magic Johnson have joined forces before, including on the Dayton, Ohio, single-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, which they continue to own. Guber also once owned the Dodgers' triple-A affiliate when it was located in Las Vegas.

Peter Parker can catch all sorts of villains in his webs, but the one thing Spider-Man couldn't bring to Sony Pictures was a workable script -- and budget -- for the $2.5-billion franchise's fourth installment, derailing one of the most lucrative movie series in Hollywood history. Less than a week after the studio said it was postponing production on the fourth web-slinger movie over story problems, Sony on Monday pulled the plug on the project as it was being conceived with director Sam Raimi after he told the studio he wasn't comfortable moving forward with the sequel, originally scheduled for release in May 2011.

The high school-set "21 Jump Street" taught its competition a lesson at the box office this weekend, easily collecting the majority of ticket sales at the multiplex. The film, starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as cops who go back to high school on an undercover mission, reaped a healthy $35 million, according to an estimate by distributor Sony Pictures. "21 Jump Street" was the only new movie to hit theaters nationwide this weekend, though two other comedies debuted in about 60 of the country's top markets.

One of Hollywood's most powerful producers has found a new studio home. Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin has signed a three-year deal with Sony Pictures that gives the studio right of first refusal on all of his projects in exchange for funding overhead costs for the producer and his staff. It has been widely expected in Hollywood that Rudin would sign a nonexclusive arrangement with Sony, as he has recently worked on a number of high-profile projects at the studio, including last year's "The Social Network," which was nominated for a best-picture Oscar.

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.

Sony Pictures Entertainment, suffering a prolonged box-office slump with such costly misses as "Zathura," "Stealth" and "Bewitched," has ousted Geoffrey Ammer, its president of marketing. In a statement released late Monday, the studio acknowledged that Ammer was stepping down and that a successor would be named shortly. Industry sources speculated that Valerie Van Galder, who is president of Sony's recently revived TriStar Pictures movie label, would replace Ammer.

Newly relaunched Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is finalizing a deal for Sony Pictures to handle worldwide distribution of its movies and DVDs and for the two studios to co-finance upcoming films, according to people familiar with the situation. Under the arrangement, Sony would fund half of MGM's next James Bond movie, which is planned for release Nov. 9, 2012, and 25% of a potential follow-up. Sony co-financed and released MGM's last two Bond movies, "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace," making it a logical home for Hollywood's longest-running franchise.

Sony Pictures has set up a joint venture television and film co-production unit in China, taking advantage of a loosening of restrictions on the tightly controlled industry. The joint venture with Hua Long Film Digital Production Co. of the state-run China Film Group, which holds a majority stake, has full approval from Chinese regulators, Sony Pictures Television International said in a statement.

A former Sony Pictures executive was sentenced to a five-year prison term for stealing nearly $500,000 from the film studio by authorizing payments to a firm run by an associate, authorities said. Georgette Sue Studnicka, who served as the studio's vice president for music publishing, also was ordered to pay more than $453,000 in restitution.

A Los Angeles film company that invested in a $500-million fund to co-finance Sony Pictures movies filed a lawsuit alleging that the fund's manager and a later investor cheated it out of at least $44 million. Aramid Entertainment Fund alleged in a lawsuit Wednesday that the Sony fund, which co-financed 18 movies since 2008, was shut down late last year in a manner that benefited both fund manager Relativity Media in West Hollywood and the investor, New York money management firm Fortress Investment Group, at Aramid's expense.

Kazuo Hirai, whose 28 years at Sony Corp. steeped him in the gaming and music businesses as well as the consumer electronics side, has been appointed the struggling company's next president and chief executive. Hirai's promotion is effective April 1, the beginning of Sony's next fiscal year. The 51-year-old executive will succeed CEO and President Howard Stringer, who will remain as chairman. Hirai joined Sony in 1984, fresh out of college. His first job was as a junior marketing executive at a joint music venture owned by CBS and Sony in Japan.

The gig: Doug Belgrad is president of Columbia Pictures, the primary film label for Culver City-based entertainment giant Sony Pictures and the home of such movies as "Spider-Man," "Grown Ups" and "Moneyball. " The 22-year studio veteran's job is a mix of creative and business — giving notes on scripts, helping run big productions such as this summer's "Men in Black 3" and setting movie budgets and stars' salaries. Reputation for numbers: Belgrad joined Columbia's executive training program in 1989 after two years following media stocks as a Wall Street analyst.

It has already had star-studded, red-carpet premieres in three major cities. It's being promoted everywhere from Gap stores to McDonald's to the side of trains. And, early ticket sales indicate it could enjoy a big opening. Yet, American audiences won't see Steven Spielberg's much-hyped family movie until Christmas. The director's big-budget 3-D animated movie "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn," produced by Peter Jackson, is opening this weekend in Europe — nearly two months before it opens in this country.

After a short and largely unsuccessful run, Amy Baer is exiting her post as head of media giant CBS Corp.'s film unit. The departure has been in the works for at least several months and was timed to the end of Baer's contract in October, according to knowledgeable people not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. CBS Films will now be left without a single leader. Instead, a trio of senior executives, including Chief Operating Officer Wolfgang Hammer; Terry Press, a former head of marketing at DreamWorks who is consulting for CBS Films; and a third person not yet identified, are expected to run the company and report directly to CBS Corp.

Consumers frustrated at paying an extra $3 for 3-D movies may have to shell out even more money next year — just to see them. A rift between Hollywood studios and theater chains over who should foot the bill for 3-D glasses erupted publicly Wednesday after exhibitors lashed out at Sony Pictures' plan to stop covering those costs starting in May. The nation's largest cinema operator, Regal Entertainment Group, threatened to not play certain movies...

Sony Pictures Entertainment is making a major push into the family market, creating a new division to produce home videos, TV shows, animated films and merchandising. The division's president will be Sander Schwartz, who currently heads Sony's Columbia TriStar children's television division. The new unit could release its first animated feature next year, officials said.

State regulators said Thursday that Sony Pictures is thwarting an investigation into the March death of a crew worker on the Downey set of its big-budget feature film "Spider-Man." Tim Holcombe, 45, of Monrovia died when a crane toppled onto him while he and other crew members were constructing a set at the former Rockwell International aerospace plant, 20 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

In "Moneyball," the sad-sack Oakland A's defy conventional wisdom by setting records and making the playoffs despite one of the lowest payrolls in Major League Baseball. As the adaptation of Michael Lewis' bestselling book hits theaters this weekend, Sony Pictures is hoping to buck the Hollywood wisdom that star-driven sports dramas have limited appeal in this country and do virtually no business overseas. Only a handful of movies about baseball have been hits in the U.S. — including "A League of Their Own," "The Rookie," "Field of Dreams" and "Bull Durham" — and none have generated more than a pittance of ticket sales abroad.

John Calley, a former top executive at Warner Bros., United Artists and Sony Pictures Entertainment and a producer whose credits include "The Remains of the Day" and "The Da Vinci Code," has died. He was 81. Calley died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles after a long illness, according to Steve Elzer, a spokesman for Sony Pictures. Highly regarded by Hollywood's creative community, Calley in 2009 was named the recipient of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.