Allen to Make Next Movie for TriStar

Woody Allen will make his next movie at TriStar Pictures rather than at financially troubled Orion, both studios announced Wednesday.

Allen, who has made his last 11 films at Orion, will return to the studio for three more pictures after finishing his untitled TriStar project. Shooting is scheduled to begin in November; Allen will write, direct and star in the movie.

In New York, Allen issued a statement saying that working with TriStar Chairman Mike Medavoy, a former Orion executive, “is not new to me. He was part of Orion as long as I was and he’s absolutely used to all the nuances and specificis of how I operate. Every dedicated filmmaker I know is rooting for Orion to return to its old form and rightly so, because as studios go, they don’t come any finer.” Orion will still release Allen’s just-completed movie, “Shadows and Fog,” which features Madonna, early next year.

The director’s future with Orion had been in doubt due to the company’s ailing financial situation.

Jeffrey Logsdon, an analyst at Seidler Amdec Securities Inc., said Orion is not adding any new projects until its financial uncertainties are resolved. “They’re putting nothing in the production pipeline. . . . It’s simply that Woody’s ready to make a movie and Orion isn’t.”

The Oscar-winning director’s ties to Orion have remained strong over the years even though many of his films have not been financially successful. In Hollywood, Allen is considered a prestige director for a studio; his 25-year friendship with Orion’s former chairman Arthur Krim cemented the studio ties.