Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES

Janet’s Story: TriStar Pictures has acquired the rights to “Janet’s World,” a story about Janet Cooke--the former Washington Post journalist whose Pulitzer Prize for feature writing was returned after it was discovered that she had fabricated her article about an 8-year-old heroin addict. Published in the June issue of GQ, the story by Mike Sager reportedly commanded $750,000 upfront and an additional $750,000 if the movie gets made. The picture will be produced by James Brooks’ Gracie Films and Doug Wick’s Red Wagon Productions, both of which had been tracking the article a few weeks before Turner Pictures, Fox 2000 and TriStar bid on the project Thursday morning. “This piece is a first-person narrative by someone who was a 22-year-old reporter at the Washington Post during the early 1980s,” Wick said. “The fact that it was done in collaboration with Cooke, whom he hadn’t seen for 15 years, makes it particularly vivid. This is her story after all these years.”

‘Crash’ Rocks Cannes: David Cronenberg shook Cannes on Friday with his new film, “Crash,” a sexual and automotive head-on collision that is the Canadian filmmaker’s most disturbing movie yet. Initial screenings provoked angry walkouts and boos from audiences upset by a story linking sexual arousal and car crashes, but some did cheer a visionary director who takes viewers to places few filmmakers dare go. “Crash” stars James Spader and Holly Hunter, who play two people drawn to each other following a car wreck. The film is scheduled to open in the United States on Oct. 4.

TELEVISION

No Envelopes, Please: If you taped Thursday night’s season finale of NBC’s highly rated “Seinfeld” and haven’t watched it yet, read no further. It looks as if George Costanza (played by Jason Alexander) will remain a bachelor. After becoming engaged to Susan Ross (Heidi Swedberg), George got cold feet and spent most of this season trying to get out of the wedding. On the season finale, Susan expired (yes, died) from licking a toxic adhesive on their wedding invitation envelopes. A spokeswoman for NBC said there were “some calls” complaining about the darkly humorous manner in which George’s dilemma was resolved, but said the network had “gotten so few calls they haven’t even tallied anything yet.” The episode also worked in a cliffhanger: Jerry became engaged to a guest character played by Janeane Garofalo (“The Truth About Cats & Dogs”), leaving his fate to be determined next season. Those wacky “Seinfeld” scribes will probably have her bitten by a dog and dying from rabies.

STAGE

‘Time’ Opening Postponed: The Broadway opening of “Time and Again,” now at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, has been postponed from the fall to next spring, co-producer Thomas Viertel said Friday. The San Diego production is “a good start,” Viertel said, “but it’s obvious there is a lot to be done” in further developing the project. Viertel said he was unsure if the show would go through another tryout before Broadway.

ART

Merger Near: Narrowly overcoming a last-minute tide of opposition, proponents of a merger between two of Orange County’s most prominent art museums declared victory Thursday. The Laguna Art Museum and the Newport Harbor Art Museum appeared headed for consolidation after Laguna members voted by a scant 6% margin to remove the largest remaining barrier. The merger still requires approval by the state attorney general’s office, which regulates charitable organizations. Also, Newport Harbor must balance its budget and both museums must settle legal and fiscal matters. If the merged institution prospers over the long run, it would represent the first successful combination of art museums in the nation. Although the bylaw and charter changes were minor, a group of staunch merger opponents sought to defeat them in an eleventh-hour effort to torpedo a deal viewed as depriving Laguna Beach of an independent, hometown arts museum. The 78-year-old museum is the county’s oldest arts institution and cornerstone of the city’s widely known art colony.

Rare Raphael Drawing Found: A drawing of a hand raised in benediction that languished in a storeroom at the Art Institute of Chicago was unveiled Friday as a rare 16th century work by the Italian artist Raphael. The drawing, which will go on display in a special exhibition, probably was a study for the artist’s portrait of Pope Peter, the first Roman Catholic pope, for the Sala di Constantino ceremonial room at the Vatican, the museum said. The drawing, which was donated to the institute in 1943, languished in the storeroom and was not displayed. It was reevaluated several months ago when it was found by researchers doing a book about the museum’s drawing collection.