AFI Chief Exec Steps Down

Jean Picker Firstenberg, the CEO of the American Film Institute, will leave her post next year after supervising the celebration of its 40eth anniversary, according to Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. She is only the second person to lead the organization. She succeeded George Stevens Jr. in 1980 and is one of the longest-serving chief executives of an American non-profit organization. She has been considering her departure for three years, but discussions with the board became formal eight months ago.

Spielberg Powers Down


Steven Spielberg has said he may make lower-budgeted specialty movies at Dreamworks not that it’s owned by Paramount. The blockbuster director’s comments came in an interview for “Sunday Morning Shootout,” hosted by Variety editor Peter Bar and producer Peter Gruber. The first of the two-part interview will be shown on Sunday.

Fox Racks Up Hits


Jim Gianopolous and Tom Rothman, co-chairmen of Fox Filmed Entertainment, are racking up the hits, as detailed in a New York Times profile. Since they took their posts in 2000, they’ve churned out blockbusters such as “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Ice Age” and its sequel, plus the “Cheaper by the Dozen” series. Fox’s specialty divisions divisions have also notched successes with “Walke the Line,” “Sideways” and “Napoleon Dynamite.” The studio has increased operating profit in the filmed entertainment division (which includes television production) year over year for the last four years, from $473 million in 2002 to $1 billion in 2006. In comparison, other studios report mixed results.

‘Cars’ Tops Box Office


“Cars” raced to an estimated gross of $62.8 million this weekend in the U.S. and Canada, speeding ahead of other movies, but falling shy of the goal set by Pixar. The family-oriented animation production is the first of Pixar’s seven releases to open with a box-office tally below the previous one. It averaged $15,800 at about 4,000 theaters, according to media reports.