Mancuso Tops List to Head United Artists : Film: The ex-Paramount Pictures chief would be called on to revitalize the pioneering-- now dormant--UA studio.

Former Paramount Pictures Chairman Frank G. Mancuso is in negotiations to run a revamped United Artists movie studio, according to knowledgeable sources.

Mancuso would be named UA’s chairman and would co-manage a combined United Artists/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer marketing and distribution division under the terms of the deal.

Credit Lyonnais, the French bank that controls MGM and UA, is said to be prepared to provide as much as $200 million in start-up funds to revive the dormant UA, best known as the former home of tough guys James Bond and Rocky Balboa.

Negotiations with Mancuso are said to be in an advanced stage, though sources stressed that no deal has been signed. Mancuso declined comment, and bank executives and their representatives could not be reached on Sunday.

Credit Lyonnais inherited UA and its sister studio, MGM, after Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti defaulted on loans owed to the bank two years ago. Under U.S. banking law, Credit Lyonnais must sell the studios by 1997.

The revitalization of UA is seen as a key element of Credit Lyonnais’ sales strategy. It recently hired Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency, headed by Michael S. Ovitz, to help locate a buyer. UA’s greatest asset, its 1,100-title library, is tied up through the rest of the decade under deals made by Parretti. But Lisbeth R. Barron, an analyst at S.G. Warburg Securities in New York, said reactivating the studio could make the package more attractive to a buyer “if discussions are already underway.”

Sources would not say if the bank has a specific buyer in mind. But, like MGM, UA has the benefit of a rich history and an internationally known name. It was started by film pioneers Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and D. W. Griffith and went on to release scores of films before its downfall with the infamous “Heaven’s Gate.”

When Parretti bought the studios from Kirk Kerkorian in 1990, they were known collectively as MGM/UA Communications Co. Parretti later dropped UA from the company’s formal name, and the studio has been dormant since then.

Sources close to the discussions said Credit Lyonnais wants to make MGM and UA more competitive with the major studios by increasing the number of films funneled through their single distribution network. “There would be two full-blown production entities,” said one source.

Mancuso is known as a marketing and distribution specialist. With his longstanding ties to talent and deal makers, Mancuso, 59, also is seen as someone who could quickly jump-start UA, given adequate funding.

He has kept a low profile since 1991, when his long tenure at Paramount ended. In a lawsuit against the company at the time, Mancuso charged that he was abruptly fired after Stanley Jaffe was named president of the studio’s parent company, Paramount Communications. The suit was later settled.

Mancuso’s final year at Paramount was clouded by the release of such disappointing films as “The Godfather, Part III,” “Another 48 Hours” and “The Two Jakes.” But before that, he enjoyed significant success both in television, with shows such as “Arsenio Hall,” and with films that included “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Indiana Jones.”

Financial terms of Mancuso’s offer to take over UA are not known. Nor is it clear exactly how power would be shared between Mancuso and MGM Chairman Alan Ladd Jr.