Warner Independent Pictures

Who says there are no success stories in this summer of Hollywood's discontent? A little documentary about migrating penguins, of all things, has emerged as an unlikely star among the high-octane explosions, sexy gunplay and over-the-top special effects now dominating the cineplexes. Around Hollywood, they're calling it the "Penguin Movie."

Complete list of nominees for the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.'s Golden Globe Awards, to be presented Jan. 16: [MOTION PICTURES] Picture (Drama) "Brokeback Mountain," Focus Features/River Road Entertainment; Focus Features "The Constant Gardener," Potboiler Prods.

Adored -- Diary of a Male Porn Star. A gay actor reconnects with his estranged brother at their father's funeral. Marco Filiberti writes, directs and stars. Wolfe, April. Against the Ropes. Meg Ryan stars in this fictionalized take on the career of boxing manager Jackie Kallen. With Omar Epps. Charles S. Dutton directs and costars. Paramount, Feb. 20 Almost Peaceful. Parisian Jews try to resume their lives in the months after World War II. Directed by Michel Deville ("La Lectrice").

IT'S AN open secret in Hollywood that Warner Bros. is totally clueless about the independent film business. The studio's Warner Independent Pictures division has been a perennial also-ran, having released a string of films over the last two years that has largely disappeared without a trace. Warner finally acknowledged the obvious, announcing Thursday that it was closing both of its specialty divisions, Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures. According to Warner Bros.

Hollywood's biggest slasher story isn't playing at any theater near you. It's hitting the industry's corporate suites, where the sacking of studio executives has reached epidemic level. As evidenced by Disney's recent firing of its studio chief, Dick Cook, and Universal Pictures' dismissal Monday of chairmen Marc Shmuger and David Linde, Hollywood is in a state of panic-producing turmoil. It used to be that Hollywood's corporate parents could stomach a dry spell from their studio managers.

It's the movie Warner Bros. didn't want to distribute. And now everybody else wishes they had a piece of "Slumdog Millionaire." The Internet is filled with Oscar-obsessed pundits preoccupied by the tiniest bits of awards trivia and Academy Award prognostications.

When David and Victoria Beckham arrived in Los Angeles nearly three years ago, the list of Hollywood power players who came out to greet them was as long as a wall of free-kick defenders: Ron Howard, Will Smith, Steven Spielberg, Demi Moore and Tom Cruise were among those who turned out for a party at the Museum of Contemporary Art. While the vibe was celebratory, ostensibly welcoming David Beckham onto the roster of the L.A. Galaxy, the message that...

Hollywood's commitment to independently financed movies has declined as much as the stock market. Now, a distributor wants to take advantage of the retrenchment -- the fatalities include Warner Independent Pictures, Yari Film Group, Picturehouse, Paramount Vantage, New Line Cinema and ThinkFilm -- by launching a specialty film label.

A movie that Sony Pictures Entertainment had expected would arrive with a late-summer bang instead lived up to its title over the weekend as "Stealth" skidded into the nation's theaters in fourth place. Meanwhile, New Line Cinema's 3-weekend-old "Wedding Crashers" sidled up to first place with $20.5 million, according to studio estimates. "The disappointment is big," conceded Rory Bruer, Sony's president of distribution. "They beat us."

It took "Fantastic Four's" dysfunctional crew of superheroes and the $56 million the film generated to break a 19-week box office slump -- just barely. If ticket-sales estimates for the weekend hold up when more complete numbers are available today, and even competitors are keeping their fingers crossed, Hollywood's losing streak has ended.