Columbia Has Big Plans for Stories With Small Budgets

Columbia Pictures Chairman Frank Price will look to pop icon Michael Jackson and a growing stable of veteran producers to revive the fortunes of the company he took over last year.

At a press conference attended by his entire upper management team, Price revealed Friday that Jackson will star in a film produced by Anton Furst and written by Caroline Thompson and Larry Wilson. The project has no title or release date, but Price said it will include “music, dancing and action.”

Price also announced that Columbia has separately signed Harold Ramis and Amy Heckerling to 2-year, first-look development deals. Ramis’ films include “Ghostbusters.” Heckerling wrote and directed “Look Who’s Talking,” and co-wrote and directed the sequel.

Columbia, a division of Columbia Pictures Entertainment Co., has single-picture deals with Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand (in addition to her work on Columbia’s upcoming “Prince of Tides”). It also will continue its longstanding relationship with such independent producers as Castle Rock Entertainment and Stonebridge and Stone Group Pictures, Price said.

Price, who was hired last year following Sony Corp.’s $3.4-billion purchase of Columbia Pictures Entertainment Co., said Columbia will largely focus on love stories with modest budgets. He said he generally agreed with Walt Disney Studios Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg’s recent memo calling for cost cutting and stronger story lines.

“There aren’t that many around that are worth making,” Price said of big-budget films.

Price refused to disclose the company’s production budget for 1991. He has been criticized in some quarters for lagging behind his Columbia colleague, Tri-Star Chairman Mike Medavoy, when it comes to making deals and getting projects off the ground. Price, however, said his slate is quickly taking shape. Columbia produced three films in 1990. The company will produce 11 pictures in-house this year, according to Price, and will distribute four more.

Among the films scheduled for 1991 release are “Return to the Blue Lagoon,” the sequel to the 1980 hit film; “The Inner Circle,” a drama set in the Soviet Union that stars Tom Hulce, Lolita Davidovich and Bob Hoskins; “My Girl,” a comedy centering on a precocious 11-year-old girl with Anna Chlumsky, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis and Macaulay Culkin, and “Machine Gun Kelly,” based on the love life of the famous gangster.

“Mo’ Money,” an action comedy featuring Damon Wayans directed by Peter MacDonald, is scheduled for a 1992 release. Other long-range Columbia projects include Mike Nichols’ “Remains of the Day,” Rob Reiner’s “A Few Good Men,” Sydney Pollack’s “Shadowlands,” and “Barbarians at the Gate” from Ray Stark.