Inside Move: Pix find b'cast deals scarce

No takers yet on 'Mummy,' 'Tomb Raider'

By JOHN DEMPSEY

Some B.O. draws like 'The Mummy Returns' have yet to secure broadcast windows from the Big Four.

The studios behind movies like "The Mummy Returns," "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and Steven Seagal's "Exit Wounds" have so far slammed their heads against a brick wall in trying to induce the Big Four broadcast networks to buy the pics in the first broadcast window.

After eight weeks in the theaters, "Mummy Returns" has neither a broadcast or cable network deal.

CBS cuts back

"Tomb Raider" landed a cable deal with Turner Broadcasting's TBS and TNT last week as part of a seven-title package, with Paramount holding out the prospect of being able to sell a broadcast deal with one or more of the titles down the road. But CBS, Par's sister network, has cut back one of its primetime movie nights, leading it to scale back on the number of theatrical movies it buys.

Similarly, Warner Bros. did a deal with Turner for "Exit Wounds" and three other titles earlier this month, again reserving the option of getting a broadcast network to share in the window.

The Big Four broadcast nets are not leaping to buy all of the successful theatricals because ratings of movies have fallen off, particularly in the past three years. The Nielsen decline has led the networks to re-evaluate their previous willingness to soak up the hit movies.

Cable networks have taken up a lot of the slack. But the high license fees for hit movies have led cable webs like TBS, USA and FX to welcome a broadcast network in the window as a way to share the cost, which can soar to as high as $30 million for one title that grosses $200 million in U.S. theaters.