Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp

When it comes to marketing movies to kids, fast food wasn't to Disney's taste. But 20th Century Fox sees nothing wrong with a Big Mac. The News Corp. studio has struck a partnership with McDonald's for five of its major movie releases through 2010, beginning with the summer sequels "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs."

The court fight over "The Watchmen" is costing Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, but the biggest bill of all could fall to the film's producer, Larry Gordon, his lawyers and their insurers, who could be on the hook for substantially more money. Court documents in the nearly yearlong dispute over the superhero movie's distribution rights show that Warner Bros.

The trailer for the highly anticipated superhero movie "Watchmen" promises intense on-screen action, larger-than-life characters and scathing social commentary. But lately the movie has become better known for its courtroom drama, with 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. continuing to clash over interests in the film. Fox is trying to block Warner's scheduled March 6 release, claiming that it controls the rights to the movie through a series of deals it made with the producer, Lawrence Gordon.

Twentieth Century Fox is losing the head of its animation unit to rival Universal Studios, but said it remained committed to the division that was responsible for such lucrative films as the "Ice Age" series. Chris Meledandri, who joined Fox in 1993, has signed a five-year production deal with Universal to make live-action and animated films. The studio-financed deal is the first step in creating a separately funded production company to make family films.

With the award season upon us, everyone is looking for that perfect "token" of appreciation. And the solution may come from 20th Century Fox. What better present for that nominee in your life than Humphrey Bogart's first studio contract? Know a star with project commitment issues? Here are the various letters and telegrams demanding that Marilyn Monroe show up for the final stills for "Seven Year Itch" and on set for "How to Be Very Very Popular." (She did neither.

Movie theaters typically love having two big-budget movies butting heads on a holiday weekend because that will keep cash registers whirring at cinema complexes. But an abundance of riches has put theaters in a bind for Memorial Day 2009. Both 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. have chosen that date to release what each hopes will be its first 3-D blockbuster. DreamWorks' "Monsters vs.

The studio built to stage the special effects for the 1997 film "Titanic" has been sold. Twentieth Century Fox, which built the 46-acre oceanfront Baja Studios in Rosarito, Mexico, has sold the facility to Baja Acquisitions, a group of private investors, in an all-cash deal. Financial details were not disclosed.

Some critics won't get a look at "The Simpsons Movie" until three days before it opens nationally, a strategy Twentieth Century Fox is using to preserve the film's plot from Internet pirates and scoop-hungry movie bloggers. The film, which "Simpsons" fans have awaited for years, is set to premiere in Westwood on July 24 with a wide release on July 27. Fox is hosting screenings for most critics and reporters on July 24, 25 and 26.

Twentieth Century Fox is on the edge of an Internet publicity crisis. It's Day 10 of the Chicago Film Critics Assn. boycott on all Fox and Fox Searchlight films, a protest against the studio's practice of limiting online critics' access to screenings. Now critics all over the country are coming forward to echo their complaints and promise solidarity, revealing a simmering hostility between studios and many online journalists. Critics in Washington, D.C.

Twentieth Century Fox and the Chicago Film Critics Assn. have reached an agreement on movie screenings, the group's president Dann Gire said, two weeks after the CFCA called on its members to hold an "action of protest" against the studio for favoring some critics over others. Fox agreed to be more inclusive with its screenings after the CFCA came to the studio with a proposal to augment its code of ethics, requiring its members to honor studio-mandated embargoes on reviews.