There's no recession in the home video business. Domestic video sales and rentals grossed $17.2 billion last year, including the first half-billion-dollar week ever: between Christmas and New Year's Day.
"This country is consuming movies like there is no tomorrow," chortled Warren Lieberfarb, president of Warner Home Video.The top video moneymakers for 1992 included "Beauty and the Beast," "Lethal Weapon 3," "Batman Returns" and "Patriot Games."
- Spiraling costs have put a hold on Eddie Murphy's "Beverly Hills Cop III," which was due to start filming next month. The project is being delayed at least eight weeks as spending projections top $60 million. Paramount previously had budgeted $55 million for the flick, which was supposed to be released this August. Producers also say a rushed production schedule would have lowered quality. A new release date is likely to be in early 1994.
- Legendary Greek director Costantin Costa-Gavras ("Z") says his next movie - about former communists trying to cope in the post-Soviet world - will have massive appeal in America. "It is we who intend to colonize (American) production, and not vice versa," he says. "I believe my movie will be important for the American public. One cannot make a film on `how we will be' without talking about `how we were.' "
- The latest sound-alike lawsuit comes from ZZ Top, which says Mitsubishi Motors of America did not have permission to use either the group's tune "La Grange" or sound-alike performers in a car commercial. The suit demands at least $15 million for copyright infringement and seeks $100 million for "illicit profits."