Focus shifted away from the films screening here to the announcements that AOL
Time Warner, whose merger was completed just last week, has announced an austere
across the board staff cut at its various divisions, including specialty distributors
New Line Cinema and Fine Line Features. The company will about 2400 jobs in
total, nearly three percent of the newly merged company's total work force.
New Line Cinema, which has had a disappointing year at the box office is taking
the biggest hit. Nearly 100 of its 600 staffers have been laid off and there
is a mandate to make lower-budget pics.

The cuts are likely
to be especially tough on the marketing side, home video and at subsidiary Fine
Line, whose New York office will be closed. All this follows the surprise departure
last week of long time New Line production president Michael De Luca, who apparently
opposed the cuts in long time staffers. New Line is here in Sundance with the
well received Hedwig And The Angry Inch, but this quirky film, which
has now been transferred over to specialty division Fine Line Features, will
not make a dent in the company's sagging finances. It also comes at a time when
New Line is gearing up for the summer release of the first film in its trilogy
Lord of the Rings, based on the classic sci-fi novels of JR Tolkein.
The films, shot back to back, are the company's biggest, with an estimated combined
budget of over $200 million.