UNIVERSAL TO BOOST OUTPUT OF ITS FOCUS FEATURES UNIT

While several studios have abandoned the production of smaller films, preferring to go for broke with big-budget blockbusters, Universal said on Monday that it will boost the output of films produced by its “art house” unit Focus Features by 67 percent — to ten per year from six. That will raise the studio’s total output by about 18 percent to about 26 to 28 per year from 22 to 24. The announcement came on the same day that Universal said that Peter Schlessel, who currently is CEO of FilmDistrict, will take over as CEO of Focus in January and that Focus’s headquarters will move to Universal City from New York. In its announcement Universal said that Focus will “broaden the types of films that Focus distributes,” but it provided no details.