Columbia Pictures Purchased The Romantic Comedy Spec "Bobby Ewing".

The studio has just purchased the romantic comedy spec "Bobby Ewing" -- the debut feature screenplay from Linda Bloodworth, a TV veteran and celebrated Clintonista. The project will be co-produced by Bloodworth and her husband and producing partner, TV director Harry Thomason.

The story concerns an indefatigable immigrant who, having learned passable English from watching reruns of "Dallas," is nonetheless repeatedly foiled in his attempts to cross the U.S. border. However, his perseverance eventually leads to a romance with an INS agent.

While the two are well known for creating CBS series "Designing Women," "Evening Shade," and last year's NBC skein, "Emeril" which was cancelled quickly, it was their work as ersatz hagiographers of the Democratic Party that most often got their names in boldface type in the national press.

The pair's Mozark Prods. (derived from the combination of Missouri and Arkansas, their home states) made shorts that promulgated the teachings and life history of candidate and later, president, Bill Clinton.

Watch Out Happy Gilmore, Here Comes "Ingle Woods."

Fresh off his role in the boxing biopic "Ali," Jamie Foxx is set to take a comedic swing at the world of golf for New Line Cinema.

Foxx is attached to star in "Ingle Woods," a pitch that was originally conceived by actor Duane Martin ("Any Given Sunday"), who also will appear in the film. Lawrence Bender, Ross Grayson Bell and Martin will produce the project with Foxx and his manager Jamie King serving as executive producers. There is no writer attached at this point.

Foxx will play big talker Ingle Woods, a man who unwittingly lands a spot on golf's PGA tour. Once there, Woods not only shows a talent for the sport but also finally gets the chance to prove that Tiger Woods is his long-lost cousin.

The project will be overseen at the studio by director of development Matt Moore and production president Toby Emmerich.

"I have wanted to be in business with Jamie Foxx for quite some time," Emmerich said. "He is as funny and charismatic as any leading comedian out there right now."

Emmerich said he envisions the film as the kind of edgy breakout comedy that Foxx's former "In Living Color" co-star Jim Carrey had with "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective."

"I really believe this is the kind of role that will prove Jamie can carry a blockbuster comedy," Emmerich said. Foxx and Martin are repped by CAA and the Paul Kohner Agency, respectively.

'Billy Jack' on Way Back with Keanu Reeves

After he completes a pair of sequels to the futuristic hit "The Matrix," Keanu Reeves is looking to go retro, in the form of "Billy Jack."

Tom Laughlin, who wrote, directed and starred in the original 1971 counterculture hit, is in talks with Danny DeVito's Jersey Films and Reeves' management firm 3 Arts to mount a remake of the film.

A tough, spiritual Vietnam veteran who's half-Native American, Billy Jack challenged the establishment and championed a group of runaway teens as well as the environment in an Arizona town. A man of few words, he was quick with fists and feet.

The project is expected to be shopped to studios shortly, and Laughlin also will play a critical role in the production. The film rights are controlled by Laughlin, who over the years has received numerous remake overtures for a film whose cost-to-gross ratio made it wildly profitable.

It is the first project Reeves has targeted as a potential star vehicle since he immersed himself in the yearlong shoot of "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions," the back-to-back sequels to the hit 1999 film.

Columbia Pictures Filmproduktion's Success In Local Production

Florian Gaertner’s screwball teenage comedy Sex Up will be the sixth local feature to be produced by Deutsche Columbia Pictures Filmproduktion GmbH (DCPF), the German production arm of Columbia TriStar Film.

DCPF’s production partner on the project, which is being scripted by Gaertner with Jakob Hilpert (Kleine Kreise), will be Berlin-based outfit Schramm Film whose production of Christian Petzold’s The State I Am In (Die Innere Sicherheit) won the "Best Film" Lola at last year’s German Film Awards.

Meanwhile, principal photography began on March 4 in Berlin on DCPF’s fifth project - Anatomie 2 - the sequel to the company’s first outing into production which attracted more than 2m cinemagoers in Germany in 2000.

Anatomie 2 will reunite DCPF with Austrian writer-director Stefan Ruzowitzky and production partner Claussen + Woebke Filmproduktion who were part of the successful team on the first film.

Backing has come from Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and the Federal German Film Board (FFA), and it is expected that the German arm of Columbia TriStar will release the film at the end of the year.

DCPF has around a dozen other projects at various stages of development, including the thriller Ego, to be directed by Hendrik Hendloegten (Paul Is Dead) from a screenplay by Hendloegten and Achim von Boerries (England!) and produced with X-Filme Creative Pool; the psychological thriller Whisper In The Attic, to be directed by Peter Keglevic with Norbert Preuss’ Fanes Film (Das Experiment); Viivian Naefe’s romantic comedy Big Switch (working title), penned by US-born screenwriter Ben Taylor and to be produced with SAM Film; Der Verlorene, an adaptation by Ruth Toma of Hans-Ulrich Treichel’s novel; and Maria von Heland’s family entertainment film Triple Magic, written by Susanne Freund.

So far, three of DCPF’s produced films have been released theatrically Ruzowitzky’s Anatomie, Lars Kraume’s Viktor Vogel – Commercial Man (which was seen by 155,168 cinemagoers last year) and Gregor Schnitzler’s Was Tun Wenn’s Brennt, which has attracted over 330,000 admissions since its opening at the end of this January. A fourth project – Maria von Heland’s teenage melodrama Big Girls Don’t Cry (Grosse Maedchen Weinen Nicht), produced with Egoli Tossell Film, is still in postproduction and will be released this summer.

International Media Declined To Discuss The Merger's Failure

High-flying indie IM International Media was clobbered on the German stock market Monday after its merger with Disney-based producer Spyglass Entertainment was called off.

The news sent a shock wave through the indie community. IM's main Intermedia Films unit has a high-profile year ahead with the release of films "K-19: The Widowmaker," "Dark Blue," "National Security" and "Adaptation," not to mention the production of "Terminator 3." But the stock's 63% plunge Monday and the aborted merger raised serious doubts about the company's ambitious blueprint.

Spyglass' Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum and IM's Moritz Borman, Nigel Sinclair and Guy East reached unanimous agreement this weekend to terminate the transaction, according to a company statement.

Sinclair and East have canceled their previously announced plan to leave the IM board of directors to become producers. They will continue in their positions as co-chairmen of Intermedia with Borman.

While the five principals declined to discuss the merger's failure, Sinclair and Barber failed to see eye-to-eye on several key deal points.

Barber's vision for Intermedia didn't include expensive production deals -- even for Intermedia co-founder Sinclair, who planned to segue from his role as co-chairman to being an "on the lot" Intermedia producer. Sinclair stood to walk away with tens of millions from the sale of Intermedia stock in his exit, but he has a reputation as a tough dealmaker. When the two sides couldn't come to terms, both the Intermedia and Spyglass partners decided that the two companies would be better off apart.

IM's stock price closed Monday at 7 euros ($6.09) -- a 63% drop from Friday's close and 78% below its initial offer of 32 euros (about $28) in May 2000 -- after Intermedia decided to restructure its operations and make a change in accounting procedures. That move was accompanied by a profit warning, startling antsy investors and resulting in the dramatic plunge in IM's share price.

IM CEO Florian Bollen said the company's new accounting methods meant revenue figures would now register after a film's actual theatrical release as opposed to the picture's delivery. IM's year-end figures for 2001 will be presented March 14.

The accounting move reflects continuity in at least one element of the would-be merger. Spyglass planned to bring its direct distribution model to Intermedia, which historically has relied on presales for financing. Even without Spyglass, however, Intermedia plans to follow the higher risk/reward plan of direct distribution on many of its future pictures.

This change in strategy will now be reflected in IM's accounting methods, which mean that IM will not be able to count any film's monies until the picture is actually in release.

Intermedia will release the Harrison Ford starrer "K-19" under direct distribution, with Paramount Pictures taking only a distribution fee for its release.

"Nothing has been lost, only postponed," IM's Bollen said, adding that the outlook for the current year looks good.

Nevertheless, Bollen has accepted responsibility for the failure to reach the company's annual target figures and offered to resign. The supervisory board is to decide the topper's fate later this week.

When IM announced Jan. 14 that it had agreed in principle to the takeover of Spyglass -- a merger that would have created a film company to rival major studios -- IM was expecting revenue of $260 million and operating profits of around $26 million for 2001. Following the planned merger, it was expecting revenues of around $1 billion.

IM was set to give Spyglass $50 million in cash plus 7 million company shares that were then valued at around $140 million. Following Monday's announcement, the share package plunged in value to about $49 million.

None of the principals would comment on why the merger failed to close, citing legal obligations to remain mum. Those close to the negotiations, however, said the deal was slow to close and lost much of its appeal in the process.

Certainly IM received no encouragement from the Neuer Markt, which greeted the merger announcement in January with a 25% drop in the company's share price.

Local analysts were surprised by the market's reaction Monday. "What happened to Internationalmedia today was very painful," said Merrill Lynch analyst Bernard Tubeileh, adding that there appeared to be no logical justification for investor panic.

In the wake of recent stock market disasters, like the collapse of Enron, IM's efforts to adopt new accounting methods and become more transparent should have been welcomed as positive signs, Tubeileh said. That it was seen negatively is evidence of continuing nervousness on the part of investors, he added.

The restructuring also will cause one-off charges and postponement of revenues and profits. As a result, IM is expecting losses and lower revenues when it presents its year-end figures for 2001 next week.

Turkey funds award-winning film... then bans it

The Turkish ministry of culture has banned a film it partly funded, and which had been Turkey's hope to pick up an Oscar for best foreign film.

Buyuk Adam, Kucuk Ask (Big Man, Small Love) has won a number of awards. But it has now been banned on the grounds that it highlights Kurdish nationalism and portrays the Turkish police in a poor light.

At the film's heart is the relationship between a nationalist, authoritarian judge and a five-year-old Kurdish orphan. The judge, who is the girl's neighbour, takes her in following a botched raid on her home by police who kill her guardian while looking for two Kurdish rebels hiding in the house.

Through their relationship the film explores the difficulties Turkey has living with its Kurdish minority of 12 million.

For 15 years in the 1980s and 1990s Turkey fought a bloody civil war in the south-east of the country with the Kurds. A ceasefire is in operation, but the Turkish state refuses to allow Kurds to broadcast in their own language or to educate their children in Kurdish.

The Turkish culture ministry partly funded the film with a grant of $30,000, and Turkey had put it forward as its candidate for the best foreign film in the Academy awards - although it was not selected.

The ministry said police had asked for the revocation of the film's licence because the film promoted a "chauvinistic" approach towards Kurdish iden tity and created the impression that police carried out extra-judicial killings.

Attila Dorsay, head of the Turkish film critics association, said: "The whole world will know that Turkey, which is trying to be a democratic country, has come down on this little film."

About the Film; Big Man Small Love / Büyük Adam Küçük Ask (2001) 120 min. Turkish-Greek-Hungarian Co-Production Directed by:Handan Ipekçi; Written by: Handan Ipekçi; Cinematography by: Erdal Kahraman.Art directed by:M. Ziya Ülkenciler,Natali YeresCast: Sükran Güngör, Dilan Erçetin, Füsun Demirel, Yildiz Kenter, Ismail Hakki Sen. Produced by:Yeni Yapim Film ve Reklamcilik Org. San. Tic. Ltd. Sti., Hyperion S.A.,Focus Film Ltd.

Originally funded by Eurimages as "Cumhur Bey", the story is set between a retired and lonely judge (Güngör) preparing himself for a move to a retirement home and a 5 years old Kurdish girl Hejar (Erçetin) who lost all her family members during an operation. Their roads cross in Istanbul and they experience language barriers and initial mistrust. . First they have to learn each others language and than develop a friendship.

Microsoft eyeing TV, movie deals, signs with CAA

Microsoft Games Studio has engaged CAA to pitch the software giant's popular PC and Xbox game franchises for potential TV and movie deals.

Five CAA members recently spent a day at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., campus looking at 30 upcoming Xbox and PC games.

In light of the gaming industry's $9.4 billion domestic take last year -- a transition year that saw the launch of three gaming systems -- Microsoft has enlisted CAA to give some of the brightest minds of the gaming community access to the powers that be in Hollywood.

"We think that there's potential for great new content for TV and film from Microsoft Game Studios, especially with Xbox content," CAA partner Bryan Lourd said. "Not every game will translate to traditional entertainment, but we're now in a position to marry the right game with the proper director and producer very early in the game's development cycle. The big push from movie studios is that they want tentpole films with sequel potential, and Xbox content offers many possibilities."

Microsoft is spending $500 million to market Xbox worldwide. With the CAA deal, Microsoft executives seem to be operating under the assumption that building game franchises is crucial to success.

"We don't understand Hollywood," Microsoft Games Studios general manager Stuart Mulder said. "We're the wrong people to try to make movie or TV deals. CAA has a network of contacts, and they're the right people to be in the driver's seat." Lourd said CAA might be working with additional video game companies in the near future.

"A good idea is a good idea," Lourd said. "I think we'll see traditional Hollywood turning to game creators because this global creative group is full of amazing ideas. In creating these games, developers go to great lengths in developing complex characters with individual histories and massive universes."

There has been interest in such Microsoft properties as Bungie Software's Xbox sci-fi action epic "Halo," which has sold more than 800,000 units, and Ensemble Studios' "Age of Empires" real-time strategy PC game, a franchise that has sold more than 10 million units worldwide.

John Jordan, director of business development at Microsoft Games Studio, said Microsoft is in negotiations with DreamWorks to turn "Crimson Skies," a PC video game franchise expected to expand to Xbox, into a feature film. Because those negotiations began before the recent deal, CAA won't be a part of them.

"We look at film, entertainment and other licensing opportunities like toys and comic books as an extension of building strong game franchises," Jordan said. "We will work with CAA to help find ways to expand our great gaming properties into Hollywood entertainment and use their advice on how to build our portfolio."

CAA's Larry Shapiro said: "We're aggressively getting our clients involved in the video game business and are picking up more game clients. If you look at Hollywood, every studio currently has some type of relationship with a game publisher."

Sony Ericsson Aims To Entertain With New Phones

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson moved full force into mobile entertainment on Tuesday by launching new phones with color screens and cameras, along with movie clips, games and music specially designed for them.

The London-based handset joint venture between Sweden's Ericsson and Japan's Sony , the world's largest consumer electronics company, unveiled six new cell phones, which it believes will give it an edge over rivals.

Three of the models, one of which will be out next week, sport color screens. Three other models with monochrome displays were tailored to the American market.

Color screens and cameras will revitalize the mobile phone industry, its executives said at the first major product launch since the joint venture was established some six months ago.

``Color is the key driver for the handset replacement market this year,'' said President Katsumi Ihara, adding that taking pictures with a phone and sending them to handsets of friends is the logical next step from already popular text messaging.

Sony Ericsson joined Finland's Nokia, the world's largest cell phone maker, in embracing picture messaging as the key to the mobile future. But it got the jump on Nokia, which plans to introduce its color screen and camera phones in the second quarter.

The company will sell Sony services for the new phones, such as access to music, movie clips and games based on Sony-produced films, through wireless telecoms operators. Announcements with major operators are expected next week at the CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany.

Analysts applauded Sony Ericsson's initiative to pair Sony services with the new phones. The mixing of Ericsson's technical expertise and Sony's consumer focus has eagerly been awaited by industry watchers.

``It is positive that Sony Ericsson pushes ahead on content such as games and media. That is good, it is a market mover,'' said Inger Soderbom, an analyst at SEB asset management.

NO IMMEDIATE THREAT TO NOKIA

Ihara reiterated he wants to become the world's largest cell phone maker in five years time, but analysts played down the immediate threat to Nokia, which is the dominant player in the market and makes almost four out of in every 10 handsets.

Sony Ericsson's share is less than 10 percent, and the phones that are announced now will cost hundreds of euros and are aimed at the high end of the market.

``Nokia is not really challenged in any big way because of (Sony Ericsson's) relatively small volumes expected and relatively expensive models,'' said Mika Paloranta of Nordea Securities.

Shares in Nokia were down 1.0 percent at 26.10 euros at 1400 GMT, while shares in Ericsson were down 1.2 percent at 48.60 Swedish crowns, both under performing the Dow Jones Stoxx technology index by some 0.5 percentage point.

The new phones are the first sold globally to carry the Sony Ericsson logo. Building on the success of Europe's first color screen phone, the Ericsson T68, Sony Ericsson launched the T68i, an upgraded version with the ability to send picture and sound messages, called multimedia messaging (MMS).

It will be in shops in the next two weeks and available on wireless networks in Europe, Asia and the U.S. that use the existing GSM and new, always-on GPRS technologies.

The company said it was on course to launch high-speed third generation mobile phone handsets at the end of this year.

A phone with a large color screen and built-in camera, called P800 and due in the third quarter, is also a personal organizer and can display downloaded video clips. It is a response to the Nokia's 7650 camera phone due around June.

``It is almost the same size (as the Nokia rival) but has a much bigger screen,'' Ken Odaka, a Sony Ericsson vice president, told reporters.

The screen-screen Z700 gaming phone, also on the market in the third quarter, is building on Sony's experience in the games industry and comes with two built-in games.

Of the three other phones, which are aimed at the U.S. market, one features the Global Positioning System for emergency and location based services, capitalizing on the great demand for security after the September 11 attacks, in which mobile phones helped locate the attack's victims.

One other model will operate in two types of networks, TDMA and GSM, to provide a smooth transition for clients of American operators, who are switching to the more popular GSM standard.

Sony Ericsson, which made a loss in the fourth quarter of last year and expected to stay in the red in the first quarter of 2002, reiterated it expected to be profitable for the whole of 2002.

nGame Announces an Exclusive Global Wireless Licensing Deal With Viacom Consumer

nGame, a leading aggregator of entertainment content for Mobile Phones and Digital Interactive TV, today announced a worldwide, exclusive agreement with Viacom Consumer Products to publish games, ring-tones and graphics for Mobile Phones based on the Britney Spears feature film debut, ``Crossroads.'' The ``Britney Spears - Crossroads Trivia'' SMS game, sweepstakes and ring-tones for mobile phones which was launched to coincide with the release of the movie.

nGame are also partnering with Premium Wireless Services USA to provide ring-tones and graphics and with Mforma to provide the SMS Trivia game. Additional ``Crossroads'' games are in development by nGame for next generation 3G wireless devices including Sun Microsystems Inc.'s J2ME(TM) (Java(TM) 2 Platform, Micro Edition).

Many US Nokia mobile phone users will be able to download ring-tones and graphics to their cell phones by visiting us.yourmobile.com. Users can also play SMS Trivia on select carrier's networks via links at sites including www.ngame.com, www.crossroadsmovie.com and www.britneyspears.com the official fan site of Britney Spears. Additional domestic and international distribution deals will be announced shortly. Users will also have the opportunity to enter the Britney Spears Crossroads Sweepstakes, and have the chance to win Britney Spears Concert Tickets and Official Merchandise by visiting these sites.

``This is the first time that ring-tones, graphics and games have been aggregated and marketed in one package to US mobile phone users in association with a major movie license -- 'Crossroads.' We are delighted to bring Paramount Pictures' and Zomba Films 'Crossroads' to the small screen,'' said Alex Green, Senior vice president business development, nGame Inc.

``We are happy to be partnering with nGame, a Wireless Entertainment expert, on yet another exciting project. By aggregating and marketing compelling mobile phone ring-tones, graphics, and games, nGame made it easier for Paramount Pictures to effectively leverage the 'Crossroads' movie across multiple wireless content areas. It also allows 'Crossroads' fans to have a more enjoyable and consistent branding experience,'' said Pam Newton, vice president licensing and marketing, Viacom Consumer Products.

About nGame

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Cambridge UK and Redwood City CA, nGame aggregates Entertainment content and provides a unique end-to-end content delivery solution for Network Operators in a massive new content marketplace -- Interactive Entertainment for Wireless Devices and Digital Interactive Television.

nGame is the #1 publisher of games for mobile phones in North America. For more information, please visit www.ngame.com.

About Viacom Consumer Products

Viacom Consumer Products merchandises properties on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television, Viacom Productions, and Spelling Television, as well as third-party properties. Viacom Consumer Products, a unit of Viacom Entertainment Group, is a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. To learn more about Viacom Consumer Products and our properties, please visit us at www.viacomcp.com.

Napster decision puts record industry on defensive

As the movie studios work swiftly to shut down sites that trade copyrighted films, the saga of Napster vs. the record labels continues. But Napster recently got some good news from the court, a decision that has far-reaching implications for the record industry. Although this won't directly affect consumers or revive Napster's full service, shut since last summer, a federal judge decided, at Napster's request, to look into the legality of the record labels' Napster alternatives, MusicNet and Pressplay, which she said ''look bad, sound bad and smell bad'' in terms of antitrust issues.

Matt Oppenheim of the Recording Industry Association of America says the decision was based on ''unchallenged allegations. Once the record labels put forth the facts, there will be a very different story.''

Still, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel's ruling will ''force the labels back to the table'' to settle with Napster, says attorney Nicholas Crincoli of Morrison & Foerster, which specializes in technology and entertainment issues. ''A lot of things might come out otherwise that the labels will not want to see published, in the way they set up arrangements with each other.''

This comes at a time when the industry is under increasing fire, most vocally by recording artists who say the record labels keep most of the profits. ''The labels have shot themselves in the foot,'' says Raymond James analyst Phil Leigh. ''They wanted to rally artists to their legal position, but now it's working against them. The artists are saying, 'You're doing the same thing you're accusing Napster of -- not paying us.' ''

Napster CEO Konrad Hilbers says he had agreements in principle with all five major labels, but they fell apart when Napster demanded to give more to customers than offered on MusicNet and Pressplay. ''They have offered something that is not consumer-friendly and hasn't reached any level of success, because there's no portability and little content,'' says Hilbers, who's still hopeful he can settle. ''All I want is what consumers want: digital distribution of music.''

Meanwhile, with Napster still down (it's testing its subscription service to a small group of users), the most prominent Napster clone, Morpheus, had its own troubles last week. The system went down and became unavailable; new software introduced this weekend fixes the problem but switches users to a different network, generally perceived as slower and less reliable than others for sharing files.

Morpheus, along with similar services Kazaa and Grokster, also is being sued by the record industry; the three were in court Monday in Los Angeles.