Hollywood Slims Down

Hollywood's big box office bonanza may be slowing down. With private investment waning, studios are scaling back their busy release schedules. This year has only seen a 16 percent drop in wide releases, but experts predict we'll only begin to see the impact of the financial crisis on the big screen in 2010. It's also no longer as easy to green light films, and studio executives are hoping that will translate to, as Variety puts it, "enough titles to fill the pipeline, but not so many that they drown each other." But one anonymous honcho told the paper that a scale back in the crowded lineup is "The best thing that could happen to the business."