Universal Pictures

In the latest austerity move in Hollywood, Universal Pictures has asked its three top movie suppliers -- Imagine Entertainment, Working Title and Stuber Productions -- and other production companies it funds to cut overhead and economize to compensate for the tough economic realities of the movie business, according to people close to the situation. Some of the studio's producer contracts will not be renewed when they expire. Others with longer-term agreements, including Imagine, Working Title and Stuber, have agreed to reduce operating costs, watch expenses and find efficiencies in their businesses.

Thousands of theater owners and executives gathering in Las Vegas for the annual CinemaCon convention will see the first footage of Universal Pictures' "47 Ronin" on Thursday. But they won't get to showcase the big-budget Keanu Reeves action film in their cinemas this Thanksgiving as they had expected. Universal on Wednesday pushed back the movie's planned release date of Nov. 21 to Feb. 8. The move was made because the remaining work on its extensive 3-D special effects would have made it difficult to hit the November date and impossible to assemble a compelling trailer ready to show this summer, when theaters are packed with audiences watching similar event movies, according to two knowledgeable people who were not authorized to speak publicly.

In acquiring legendary Universal Pictures, Comcast Corp. would make its Hollywood debut during a particularly turbulent time for the movie business. Not only are all studios grappling with declining DVD sales and shifting consumer habits in entertainment, but Universal is also struggling to correct course from a prolonged box-office slump, runaway production costs and turmoil in the executive suites. Comcast wouldn't be able to exert much influence over the operations of Universal until well into next year after its merger with NBC Universal is finalized.

Apple Inc. is putting movies in the cloud, providing a boost to Hollywood film studios' small but growing digital business. Movies purchased through Apple's iTunes Store from five studios — Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. — will be accessible via the technology giant's iCloud service from any of its devices, including the Apple TV, iPad and iPhone. Apple announced its plans, which have been in the works since last year, at a Tuesday news conference, where the company also unveiled new versions of the iPad and Apple TV, an Internet-connected device that displays movies and TV shows from iTunes and other services on televisions.

In the wake of the marriage between France's Vivendi and Seagram Universal, movie marketing president Marc Shmuger has been given broader responsibilities at Universal Pictures as the studio's vice chairman. Studio President Rick Finkelstein has been given the added title of chief operating officer. In his new role, Shmuger, who joined Universal in 1998, will oversee the studio's worldwide marketing operations and Internet initiatives.

Frank Price has resigned as chairman of the motion picture group and president of Universal Pictures, a spokesman for the studio said Tuesday. The studio issued a sparse two-sentence statement, but sources at the studio said Price telephoned MCA President and Chief Operating Officer Sid Sheinberg from New York on Monday evening to announce his departure. Sean Daniel, 35, currently president of production at Universal, is now the top-ranking production executive at the studio.

Universal Pictures Chairman Casey Silver is nervously pacing around his eighth-floor office, a tastefully decorated corner suite with authentic arts and crafts furniture. It is here that "the buck now stops," as Silver likes to say, referring to the responsibility of ensuring that the studio's movies yield a positive return on a colossal investment for the company's shareholders. Silver, a 10-year veteran of the studio who was handed the keys to Seagram Co.'

David A. Lipton, 86, for many years vice president of advertising and publicity for Universal Pictures and its parent company, MCA Inc. A native of Chicago, Lipton began his career as an office boy and then moved into publicity. In 1934, he publicized the legendary fan dancer Sally Rand at the Chicago World's Fair. Lipton moved west in 1940 to become publicity director of Universal Studios.

Following a dismal year at the box office and the disastrous performance of its holiday movies, Seagram Co. has fired Casey Silver, the chairman of its film division, and put Universal Studios President Ron Meyer in direct charge of the operation. Silver was the last top executive holdover from the regime that ran Universal Studios before the Canadian liquor giant bought the entertainment company in 1995.

The hunt for the next Universal Pictures chairman appears to have narrowed to two inside candidates with deep backgrounds in marketing and distributing films but lacking in experience developing major studio movies. Universal Studios President Ron Meyer is said to be favoring a partnership between Vice Chairman Marc Shmuger and David Linde, co-head of Universal's specialty film label Focus Features, to replace outgoing movie chief Stacey Snider.

Universal Pictures has decided not to join forces withWarner Bros.in that studio's war with Redbox. Universal, the studio behind "Safe House"and this weekend's animated release "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax,"on Thursday announced an extension of its deal with the DVD rental kiosk company through August 2014 that will maintain the current 28-day wait from when DVDs go on sale until consumers can rent them from Redbox. The news comes two months after rival studio Warner Bros. said it would only sell discs to Redbox if it agreed to double the length of the so-called rental "window" to 56 days.

Soon after Pete Berg signed on to direct a big-screen version of the board game Battleship, he was summoned to meet with the new heads of Universal Pictures. The filmmaker best known for his work on "Friday Night Lights" and "Hancock" had reason to be nervous. Adam Fogelson and Donna Langley were inheriting a risky, expensive project greenlighted by their predecessors at a time of rampant cost-cutting in Hollywood. But the executives had a surprising message: They wanted to increase the budget for "Battleship" and add a multimillion-dollar sequence set in Hong Kong.

Comcast Corp. beat analysts' estimates with a 26% increase in fourth-quarter profit, but two NBCUniversal units continued to struggle: the NBC broadcast network and Universal Pictures. For the quarter that ended Dec. 31, the Philadelphia cable television giant posted net income of $1.29 billion, or 47 cents a share, compared with $1.02 billion, or 36 cents, for the year-earlier period. Revenue climbed 3% to $15 billion. Once again, the company's core business of providing bundles of cable TV channels and high-speed Internet service bolstered its financial results.

Facing threats of a boycott from theater owners, Universal Pictures has abandoned its controversial plan to make "Tower Heist" available to consumers via video on demand just three weeks after the movie opens in theaters. Universal Pictures said in a statement Wednesday that it would delay its experiment in premium home video on demand "in response to a request from theater owners" but added it would continue to seek ways to deliver movies to the home more quickly. "We look forward to working with our partners in exhibition to find a way to experiment in this area in the future," the studio said.

Cinemark USA Inc., the nation's third-largest movie theater chain, is threatening not to play the upcoming Eddie Murphy-Ben Stiller comedy "Tower Heist" in any of its 300 locations if Universal Pictures goes ahead with its plan to offer the film on premium video on demand just three weeks after it premieres in theaters. The bold move would deprive Cinemark of a substantial share of what's sure to be tens of millions of dollars, and potentially more than $100 million, in box-office receipts.

NBCUniversal owner Comcast Corp. took another step to retain Universal Pictures' top leadership, announcing that it has extended the contract of Chairman Adam Fogelson through 2014. Fogelson's deal was set to expire at the end of next year. The news comes after the company in June extended the contract of Fogelson's boss, Universal Studios President Ron Meyer, to 2015. Although the company is keeping Fogelson in his current position, NBCUniversal is tweaking the reporting structure.

Golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez sees nothing funny about the hit comedy "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar." Rodriguez, 59, has sued the movie's production company and Universal Pictures over a drag queen character named Chi Chi Rodriguez. The golfer's lawyers said that the character, played by John Leguizamo, engages in numerous "disreputable acts and is portrayed as sexually promiscuous." Rodriguez filed suit Thursday in U.S. District Court here.

An evangelical activist who is among those leading protests against Universal Pictures' "The Last Temptation of Christ" said Tuesday that he has wrongly attributed an inflammatory remark--about Christian objections to the film--to a top studio executive. Christian protesters have used the claim that Universal Motion Picture Group Chairman Tom Pollock once declared "the Christians aren't going to stop us from releasing this film!"

Former Universal Pictures co-Chairman David Linde has unveiled his new independent film finance and production company, the latest Hollywood venture to be backed by India's Reliance Entertainment. A spokesman for Linde declined to disclose details of the deal with Reliance, including how much capital the company is investing in the yet-to-be-named venture and what its ownership stake is. Reliance Entertainment, a division of the Indian media conglomerate Reliance ADA Group, has been stepping up its investment in Hollywood over the last several years.

Google Inc.'s YouTube dramatically expanded its movie rental service with the addition of 3,000 titles from major Hollywood studios, positioning the dominant online video service to capitalize on the growing number of Internet-connected televisions and portable devices. YouTube head Salar Kamangar notified the site's estimated 105 million U.S. users via a blog post Monday that they would be able to watch "full-length blockbuster films," read reviews and catch behind-the-scenes videos on the site.