47 RONIN TRIGGERS WRITE-OFFS

Universal has so little hope that it will be able to recoup the $175 million that it reportedly shelled out to produce the Keanu Reeves film 47 Ronin that corporate parent Comcast has already taken an unspecified writedown on the film, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Analysts have forecast that the movie, which opens today (Wednesday), will earn just $17-20 million over the five-day Christmas holiday. A statement given to Reuters by an unnamed Universal official suggests that the studio long ago concluded that the movie would flop and has already taken writedowns on it. “Universal Pictures regularly evaluates its film slate for potential adjustment,” the official said. “In the case of ’47 Ronin,’ we adjusted film costs in previous quarters and as a result, our financial performance will not be negatively impacted this quarter by its theatrical performance.”