The cost of producing and marketing a film by a major studio increased 8 percent to $82.1 million in 2000, MPAA chief Jack Valenti said at the ShoWest gathering of movie exhibitors in Las Vegas Tuesday. Marketing costs averaged $27.3 million per movie, up 11.4 percent from 1999, with 42.1 percent of that amount spent on television and 15.6 percent on print ads. (Only 0.7 percent went for ads on the Internet.) In just nine years, the cost of making and marketing a studio film has risen 115 percent, according to the report. Valenti also noted that although the box office produced record grosses in 2000, virtually all of the increase could be attributed to an average $0.32 boost in ticket prices; actual admissions were down more than 3 percent.

The FBI confirmed Tuesday that it has been investigating an alleged plot to kidnap Gladiator star Russell Crowe. The kidnaping plot was first reported in Britain's Sunday People on March 4. A spokesman for the actor said Tuesday, "We are aware of it and the FBI has been helpful in guiding us." In his latest movie, Proof of Life, Crowe plays a hostage negotiator trying to secure the release of an American kidnapped by South American guerrillas.

Director Steven Soderbergh (Eric Brockovich, Traffic) has decided against using Mike Tyson in a Las Vegas boxing scene for his remake of Ocean's Eleven, the New York Daily News' "Rush and Molloy" column reported today (Wednesday). Soderbergh, who reportedly had considered staging a match between Tyson and Lennox Lewis, told the newspaper that he instead will pair Lewis with WBO heavyweight champ Vladimir Klitschko. Explaining his reason for ditching Tyson, Soderbergh told the NYDN columnists: "My sense was that it would not be a tension-free set, and I believe in a tension-free set."

"Ride film" company Iwerks Entertainment has been acquired by SimEx Inc., a less well-known producer of films using ride-simulation technology. Shares in Iwerks have been trading for less than $0.50 recently -- a steep drop from 1993 when the company, founded in 1986, went public at $18 a share (and hit $37 a short time later). It has been clobbered in recent years by a plunge in sales to Asian markets, declining interest in ride-film attractions, and a costly -- many say too costly -- takeover of rival Showscan Entertainment in 1997. Shares in the company were trading for about $4.00 a year ago. SimEx has agreed to pay $0.63 per share.

A Michigan jury on Tuesday awarded Detroit high-school teacher Brian Webster $19 million in his copyright-infringement suit against 20th Century Fox, whom he accused of stealing his idea for the 1996 movie Jingle All the Way, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although "Ed McQueen" was credited as the writer of the film, the lawsuit contended that the name was used to hide the identity of the real writer, a Fox script reader, Randy Kornfield. Fox said that it will appeal.

Brendan Fraser is the latest film star heading for the London stage in an apparent search for respectability. Fraser, known mostly for his roles as dimwits in such films as Airheads, George of the Jungle, Dudley Do-Right and the just-released Monkey Bone, will reportedly appear in the role of Brick Politt in a West End production of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof -- a role created on the stage by Ben Gazzara and on the screen by Paul Newman. Fraser received critical praise in 1998 for his performance in the indie film Gods and Monsters.

In a development that could have a far-ranging impact on television broadcasting, the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory announced Tuesday that it had successfully compressed a high-definition television signal into the space reserved for conventional analog channels. The result is that viewers with analog TV sets can continue viewing broadcasts as usual while those with specially equipped digital HDTV receivers will be able to view a movie-like 1,280x720-pixel display. The HDTV signals can be broadcast using existing transmitters, the lab indicated.

Survivor II: The Australian Outback was the undisputed top draw last week, producing a higher average rating and viewer count than any other show, according to Nielsen Research. The reality show drew an 18.0 rating and a 28 share, topping NBC's E.R., which was close behind with a 17.5/29. The Survivor victory helped CBS and ABC tie for top honors for the week with an identical average of 8.6/14, while NBC was close behind with an 8.3/13. Fox followed with a 6.4/10. NBC's ratings were again impacted by disastrous numbers for its Saturday night XFL telecast.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research: 1. Survivor II: The Australian Outback, CBS, 18.0/28; 2. E.R. NBC, 17.5/29; 3. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 14.8/22; 4. ABC Original Movie: Oprah Winfrey Presents: Amy & Isabelle, ABC, 13.4/20; 5. Law and Order, NBC, 13.0/21; 6. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Sunday), ABC, 12.8/19; 7. The West Wing, NBC, 12.5/18; 8. Millionaire (Thursday), ABC, 12.3/18; 9. Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS, 11.9/17; 10. 60 Minutes, CBS, 11.4/19.

Sunday's season debut of The Sopranos mowed down some of its rivals, producing the biggest ratings ever for a single HBO telecast. Although the pay-TV channel can only be received in fewer than one-third of the homes reached by the major networks, it drew more viewers than NBC and tied CBS in its time period. It was bested, however, by ABC, which drew strong ratings for the movie Oprah Winfrey Presents: Amy & Isabelle and by Fox, which debuted the X-Files spinoff, The Lone Gunmen.

NBC and Paramount finally confirmed Tuesday that they had reached a three-year deal that will keep Frasier on NBC. Published reports said that NBC agreed to pay $5.25 million per episode. During a telephone news conference, star Kelsey Grammer remarked, "I got off the phone and jumped around the room for a while when the deal was done."

Although his film, Battlefield Earth, is on many critics' lists of worst films of 2000, John Travolta has been set as one of Barbara Walters' guests on her annual post-Oscar celebrity special on ABC. Travolta is scheduled to appear with his wife, Kelly Preston. Ben Stiller and Faith Hill have also been set to be interviewed by Walters.

AOL Time Warner announced Tuesday that it is consolidating many of its TV operations, combining The WB network with the Turner basic cable networks, including CNN, TNT and the Cartoon Network. The combined unit will be headed by WB founder Jamie Kellner, who was named chairman and chief executive. Today's (Wednesday) Wall Street Journal, in a report headed "AOL's TV Combo Good For Kellner; Not So For Advertisers," said that Madison Avenue viewed the development skeptically. Today's New York Post put a different spin on the story. Business writer Allyson Lieberman wrote: "AOL Time Warner put an emphatic end to the Ted Turner era yesterday -- clearing the last remnants of the cable tycoon's team out of Turner Broadcasting."