Warner Brothers Studios

Warner Bros. issued layoff notices Wednesday to about three dozen employees at its Burbank studio, citing the effect of the 2-month-old strike by Hollywood writers. The studio said last week that it had sent out written notice to more than 1,000 workers in its facilities division, advising them that they could potentially lose their jobs. A studio spokeswoman said Wednesday that those warnings had been misinterpreted by some media outlets, which reported that 1,000 people would be laid off.

Roll the credits on New Line Cinema, the 40-year-old studio behind such iconic movie franchises as "The Lord of the Rings," "Austin Powers" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street." The company will lay off hundreds of employees between its Los Angeles and New York facilities and be merged into its corporate sibling, Warner Bros. The consolidation marks the end of the line for the once scrappy producer that prided itself on taking creative risks that other studios wouldn't.

Warner Bros. Studio turns 85 this year, an anniversary now marked by two of the most recognizable symbols of success, High Hollywood style: a No. 1 summer blockbuster -- "The Dark Knight" -- and a long, thoughtful PBS biopic. The three-part “You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story," which premieres tonight, is written and directed by Time magazine film critic Richard Schickel, and is based on his book by the same name. It bills itself as a five-hour walk through the studio's history.

In an attempt to make headway against rampant film piracy, Warner Bros. will distribute newly released films online in China. The studio struck a deal with Union Voole Technology in China to offer new movies, as well as those that have never been seen in Chinese theaters, at rental prices ranging from 60 cents to $1. The inexpensive video-on-demand service seeks to entice China's estimated 253 million Internet users to pay for Hollywood fare rather than download illicit copies.

Every great western has a duel, and there's a showdown at the center of Brad Pitt's new movie about gunslinger Jesse James. The struggle hinged on the film's tone and length -- at one point its running time was more than three hours -- according to several people close to the production. But running time wasn't the main issue. The thornier challenge was to come up with a cut of "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" that satisfied audiences and Warner Bros.

Warner Bros., the studio behind the "Harry Potter" blockbusters, could find itself in an awkward position when author J.K. Rowling lets the black cat out of the bag next month about the ultimate fate of her characters.

Oscar-winning producer Alan Ladd Jr. and his business partner won a $3.2-million verdict Thursday in their four-year legal fight with Warner Bros. over fees from TV sales for such films as "Body Heat," the "Police Academy" comedies and "Chariots of Fire." A Los Angeles Superior Court jury ruled that the studio shortchanged Ladd and Jay Kanter's Ladd Co. in divvying up proceeds from worldwide television deals for their movies.

The historic former Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard, now occupied by television station KTLA-TV Channel 5, has been put up for sale by Tribune Co. amid a wave of high-stakes real estate investment in Hollywood. No price has been set for the block-size property at the southeast corner of Sunset and Bronson Avenue that also houses Tribune Entertainment and Tribune Studios.

NEW YORK -- Author J.K. Rowling and the maker of the "Harry Potter" films are suing a small publisher in Michigan over its plans to release a book version of a popular website dedicated to the boy wizard. The suit, filed last week by the author and Warner Bros. in federal court in Manhattan, claims that RDR Books will infringe on Rowling's intellectual-property rights if it goes ahead with its plan to publish the 400-page "Harry Potter Lexicon" on Nov. 28.