Amy Baer exits CBS Films

BaerFour years after joining CBS Films, Amy Baer is ankling her post as president and CEO, and plans to segue into a producer role.Her departure corresponds with the end of her contract, which concludes at the end of October. CBS topper Leslie Moonves, who created CBS Films as a home for mid-budget mainstream titles, confirmed the departure via a statement issued Thursday."We thank Amy for her important role in building CBS Films," he said. "Going forward, we remain fully committed to the division's focus on a targeted slate of smart acquisitions and quality homegrown productions in all genres."CBS did not indicate who will succeed Baer. A CBS Films insider indicated Thursday that the current top execs are expected to remain in place, including chief operating officer Wolfgang Hammer, VP of acquisitions Scott Shooman and distribution topper Steven Friedlander.Additionally, the basic aim of CBS Films -- filling the gap left by the majors for moderately priced titles with wide appeal -- isn't expected to change. The company plans to release about six pics a year with about half being produced internally and half being acquisitions.Baer's first role as a producer will be on CBS Films' comedy "Last Vegas," with Jon Turteltaub directing.CBS Films made the largest acquisition at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival earlier this month with a $5 million deal for Lasse Hallstrom's "Salmon Fishing In The Yemen." The company is also working on horror thriller "7500," which will launch production next month with Takashi Shimizu (''The Grudge'') directing. It's developing "Hellfest," with Gale Anne Hurd producing, and spy thriller "American Assassin" with Edward Zwick directing an adaptation of the Vince Flynn novel about counterterrorism agent Mitch Rapp.CBS Films' first released "Extraordinary Measures," which performed poorly, followed by "The Back-Up Plan," "Faster," "Beastly" and "The Mechanic." It also acquired a reboot of "Gambit" and "Woman in Black," due out Feb. 3.Baer took the CBS Films job after serving as one of Sony's longest-serving executives, rising to exec VP in 1998. During her time at Sony, she oversaw production on "My Best Friend's Wedding," "The Mask of Zorro," "SWAT," "Something's Gotta Give" and "The Pursuit of Happyness."Baer worked at TriStar Pictures from 1992-97. She was also director of development at Guber-Peters Entertainment Co., where she helped develop "Jumanji" and "Single White Female" and began her career at CAA in 1988 as an assistant to the late Jay Moloney. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

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'Butter': Jennifer Garner Campaigns like a Bachmann Wanted Clone (Video)

In the Toronto Film Festival, Harvey Weinstein launched an argument inviting Republican presidential candidate Bachmann Wanted towards the Iowa premiere of his approaching film Butter inside a very finely veiled poke in the Tea Party and Republican party. Now, audiences are becoming their first consider the Weinstein Co. film, which stars Jennifer Garner as Laura Pickler, an uptight housewife from who aims to win a butter carving championship, but her win is threatened with a youthful, adopted African-American girl with natural talent. STORY: Toronto 2011: Harvey Weinstein Pokes Fun at Bachmann Wanted and Tea Party Before 'Butter' Screening Within the clip, Garner's character is giving an address prior to the outcomes of your competition are introduced. As the film's premise should be a metaphor for that 2008 presidential race of Hillary Clinton and Obama (Pickler's husband has already been a proficient butter carver), Garner's character comes off like a more Sarah Palin/ Bachmann Wanted character. VIDEO: Toronto 2011: Olivia Wilde on Celebrity Mania, Most sexy Lists, and Playing a Bisexual Stripper in 'Butter' "Many people appear to consider this levels of competition are about who's probably the most disadvantaged," Garner's character states in her own speech. "I apologize which i was created whitened and tall and pretty." TELLURIDE REVIEW: Butter The Weinstein Co. film, that also stars Yara Shahidi, Ty Burrell, Ashley Greene and Olivia Wilde, may have a 1-week Oscar run in October before a wider release in 2012. Harvey Weinstein Jennifer Garner Ty Burrell The Weinstein Company Butter

Southwest Air carriers Declines Incident With 'L Word' Actress Was Discrimination

After a little backwards and forwards between Southwest Air carriers and L Word actress Leisha Hailey and her partner, Uh Huh Her band mate Camila Gray, the organization has launched an up-to-date statement around the incident following an analysis from the claims. STORY: 'L Word's' Leisha Hailey Responds to Southwest Air carriers: Our actions Weren't 'Excessive, Inappropriate or Vulgar' "Additional reviews from your employees and clients onboard flight 2274 throughout an end in El Paso on Sunday now confirm profane language had been used noisally by two people," the up-to-date statement reads. "A minumum of one family who had been upset through the noisy profanity gone to live in another part of the cabin." "Although we now have reviews of the items clients characterize being an excessive public display of love, ultimately their aggressive reaction brought for their removal in the aircraft," the statement continues. "We don't tolerate discrimination against anybody unconditionally. In cases like this, their removal was directly and exclusively associated with the increased conversation that developed onboard the aircraft." This up-to-date statement and also the one launched by Hailey and Gray previously Tuesday really agree with the reality that the verbal exchange grew to become elevated. The pair admit they grew to become "vocally upset" once they claim the flight attendant said excitedly the organization is really a "family oriented air travel." STORY: Southwest Air carriers Sparks Outcry After Kicking 'L Word' Actress Off Flight for Kissing Girlfriend The 2 claims also appear to agree the couple was contacted initially according to customer complaints proclaiming that the display of love was "excessive." Which might be the purpose of contention for Hailey and Gray who condition, "I was not making out or creating any type of spectacle of ourselves, it had been one, modest hug." Southwest Air carriers didn't immediately return a request clarification. Nonetheless, the air travel continues to condition its "tenets of inclusion and celebration of diversity among our clients and employees, including individuals within the LGBT towns, anchor the west of mutual respect and following a Golden Rule." The air travel states its "Customer Advocacy Team arrived at to extend goodwill along with a 100 % refund to have an experience that fell lacking the people' expectation." PHOTOS: 12 Hollywood Air travel Controversies Hailey and Gray appear at first sight filing a proper complaint using the air travel with the hope that "when all is stated and done a larger tolerance without prejudice will evolve." Related Subjects Leisha Hailey The L Word

Surprise 8-Minute Girl while using Dragon Tattoo Trailer Comprises A Scenario for your Fincher Remake

Inside the summer season, audiences got their first taste of David Fincher’s British-language version in the Girl while using Dragon Tattoo like a “leaked” trailer that was either stolen and placed online or (more likely) a fantastically secretive little bit of marketing posed becoming an accidental viral phenomenon. Now something referred to as Mouth Recorded Shut (http://mouth-recorded-shut.com/) first demonstrated announcing a distinctive surprise installed on numerous “secret” regional tests of approaching The brand new the new sony films Hay Dogs and Moneyball. That surprise switched to become an eight-minute preview trailer for Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo. I caught the surprise sneak preview before a Screen Gems screening of Hay Dogs on Wednesday evening in La. The big thought here isn’t a great deal the Dragon Tattoo blitz is, really, quite organized in the new the new sony (someone over there's an advertising genius, even if the studio never takes credit with this particular campaign — no less than, until Oscar time) but that Fincher’s version of Stieg Larsson’s novel The Woman while using Dragon Tattoo really seems to warrant its own existence just like a remake of Swedish director Niels Arden Oplev’s already pretty great 2010 film adaptation. That film version of Dragon Tattoo starred Swedish actress Noomi Rapace in the star-making role as Lisbeth Salander, the damaged, cyber-punk heroine of Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. Rapace’s feral, coldly distant portrayal of Salander made an appearance unmatchable when the idea of a Hollywood film adaptation, striking screens stateside within couple of years in the Swedish version, was sailed. Despite the fact that that first teaser trailer was intriguing alone — flashes of images and seems at American actress Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander, based on Trent Reznor’s highly-charged score — the completely new, “secret” (read: designed to become viral) eight-minute preview supplies a so much much deeper, much more convincing argument for why Fincher’s version will stand completely alone. One reason: Mara’s Lisbeth seems to become different creature than Rapace’s Lisbeth. To start with, there’s her appearance. Mara’s Lisbeth feels and appears a lot more alien than her predecessor her eye eyebrows are bleached, the kind of detail that leaves an unsettling impression even when you're able to to’t quite place your finger on why. Her makeup is smokier, her physique more angular inside the trailer, someone even highlights how skinny she's, which she waves off. Mara seems more fragile than Rapace in manners, but there’s another quality in their eyes. Not better, just different — enough to convince that yes, this new Lisbeth might offer something totally new that’s worth watching, extending its love to people who’ve seen the Swedish version. For the uninitiated, the eight minutes of connected plot and intrigue and photographs won’t look like much more than an elaborate mystery tale, that's what Dragon Tattoo will there be’s enough plot in Larsson’s trilogy-beginning novel to fill multiple hundreds of minutes of runtime, as well as convey the gist from this all-in-one trailer. That's where the eight minutes prove helpful it’s time enough presenting your two protagonists, Salander and her journalist counterpart Mikael Blomkvist (Difficulties), explain the wealthy guy named Vanger (Christopher Plummer) has hired the pair to check out the decades-old disappearance of his beloved niece, meet Vanger’s respectable searching but suspect family people, explore handsomely-shot flashbacks, show the duo finding strange Spiritual clues for the mystery and dip into the separate backstories of Salander and Blomkvist in addition to their particular personal lives and provides flashes of thrills and action sequences. More to the stage, the eight minute trailer allows the individual performances to breathe, showing the film’s identifiable cast of stars can easily disappear into the material although speaking lilting, Swedish-outlined British. This achieves another Hollywood remakes of language films frequently don't: it proves there’s an advantage in remaking a film in British for British audiences. I’m usually in the “just read subtitles, people” camping, where Hollywood versions of great foreign films appear redundant once the original versions are perfect themselves Let the most appropriate one In, for example, will be a language film (Swedish too, coincidentally) that we didn’t feel tips from being remade by getting an Americanized setting or possibly in British for simple understanding. Here, however — even just in a preview — the text adjustment seems to produce the performances and story more immersive. Combined having a charging, tinkling score that crescendos and Fincher’s deft visual work, which evolves palpable atmosphere in just snatches of full moments, this feels as if another animal from Oplev’s film. Same story, same figures (minor diversions still appear, for example having a scene showing Lisbeth’s run-together with her abusive counselor that may restrain in which the Swedish film went), slightly different mood and temperature. It’s unknown setup eight-minute preview will probably be installed on theatrical The brand new the new sony/Screen Gems tests beyond the Mouth Recorded Shut promo occasions, but consider this to debut online inside the future, possibly like a shrewdly timed “leak.”

Gregorio Gonzalez sets new projects

GonzalezChile's Gregorio Gonzalez, producer of "The Maid," has unveiled two productions at Toronto: thesp Alvaro Viguera's "Perez" and Isidora Marras' "R. Lorena." Written by actress Elisa Zulueta, adapting her own hit stage play, "Perez" turns on a father's conflicted re-encounter with a 22-year-old daughter he's long ignored. Produced by Antonia Santa Maria, pic toplines Santa Maria, Luis Gnecco, a star of HBO Latin America series "Profugos," and Natalia Grez ("Metro cuadrado"). Forastero, Gonzalez's shingle, has taken co-production equity in "Perez," covering post-prod costs. "R. Lorena," an identity thriller, follows a young woman whose mother suffers Alzheimer's and is suddenly hounded by collection agencies, which mistake her for someone else. Produced by Forastero exec Josefina Undurraga, and co-produced by 1.90 Cine Digital and Don Quijote Films, "R. Lorena" shoots early 2012. Meanwhile, Dominga Sotomayor's "From Thursday to Sunday" is in advanced post-prod, and Sebastian Brahm's "Roman's Circuit," screens Monday and Tuesday at Toronto's Discovery section. "Circuit" is a tale of academic ambition and the past's weight on the present. "Circuit" is sold by Shoreline Ent., "Thursday" by Urban Distribution Intl. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

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Exactly What Do Tyler Perry, Jerry Bruckheimer, Steven Spielberg, Elton John And Simon Cowell Share? $$$

Forbes has come forth with its annual listing of the greatest-compensated males in entertainment. Tyler Perry leads those this season with $130 million gained between May 2010 and could 2011, with five movies and 2 TV series to his credit on the two-year period. Here’s the very best 5: Perry, Jerry Bruckheimer ($113 million), Steven Spielberg ($107 million), Elton John ($100 million) and Simon Cowell ($90 million).

'Contagion' could infect grown ups at B.O.

Steven Soderberghs thriller Contagion is riding a Venice fest berth and reviews that are positive because it opens Friday. Adult-skewing fare should still reign n the domestic B.O.'s first fall frame: Having a forecasted launch north of $20 million, Warner Bros. ensembler "Contagion" looks set to wage germ warfare on three-week B.O. champion "The Assistance.Inch "Contagion," from Participant Media and Imagenation Abu Dhabi, bows alongside a set of photos specific at individuals under 25: "Warrior" and "Bucky Larson: Born to become a Star." Late August and publish-Labor Day box office is usually driven by adult fodder (e.g., 2010's "Red-colored" and "The CityInch) as well as an increase of niche game titles. A few days ago, indies bowing include Anchor Bay's Rooney Mara starrer "Tanner Hall" and IFC's Brit period laffer "Burke and Hare." Monster movie "Creature," self-written by Sid and Jon Sheinberg's Bubble Delivering, also opens wide at 1,507 locations.Overseas, Sony's "The Smurfs" could win again (cume is approaching $300 million), though game titles including "Rise from the Planet from the Apes" ($189 million) and "Final Destination 5" ($61 million) keep headway worldwide. "Contagion" bows day-and-date in Italia and more compact Asian marketplaces. It isn't surprising to determine high-profile photos like "Contagion" bow after Labor Day weekend -- in the past among the slowest weekends in the box office. Due to that stigma, some distribs steer clear of the Labor Day frame so they won't discourage filmmakers or studio executives. However the first weekend following Labor Day typically is not that busy, either. The upside is the fact that while children are busy settling into school, over-25 moviegoers tend to be more active at multiplexes and hungry for mature fare following a box office's blockbuster season. Think about "The Assistance,Inch that has made $127 million locally. "Contagion," helmed by Steven Soderbergh, sports a topnotch cast including Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Marion Cotillard. The thriller opened in the Venice Film Festival and it has tallied up largely reviews that are positive. Lionsgate stated it hopes "Warrior," starring Tom Sturdy and Joel Edgerton, will broaden to adult auds, according to positive person to person. Pic, which opens at 1,869 engagements, should play best (in the beginning) to core more youthful males, driving a forecasted opening of $six million-$8 million. The prosperity of "Warrior," allocated in a reported mid-$20 millions, will hinge about the extent from the recognition of mma. Lionsgate made the decision to sneak the pic last weekend, with a lot more advance person to person tests to segments including belief-based auds. Meanwhile, Sony's "Bucky Larson: Born to become a Star" should figure lower in overall weekend standing, by having an believed launch around $4 million. Fortunately for The new sony, the Nick Swardson laffer, in regards to a Midwesterner who moves to Hollywood to become porn star, cost under $ten million to create. The new sony mainstay Adam Sandler co-authored the script with Swardson and Allen Covert. Sandler created through his Happy Madison banner. A set of foreign niche photos also bow a few days ago within the U.S.: Bollywood film "My Brother's Bride," being distribbed by Yah Raj Films, opens at 75 engagements, while China Lion's "Love in Space," which Fox Intl. bows today in China, launches at 15 Stateside engagements. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com

Faust

A Proline Film production. (International sales: Films Boutique, Berlin.) Produced by Andrey Sigle. Directed by Alexander Sokurov. Screenplay, Sokurov, Marina Koreneva, Yuri Arabov.With: Johannes Zeiler, Anton Adasinskiy, Isolda Dychauk, Georg Friedrich, Hanna Schygulla, Antje Lewald, Florian Brueckner, Sigurdur Skulasson, Maxim Mehmet. (German dialogue)Alexander Sokurov brings his singular vision to "Faust," though it's difficult to categorize the accomplishment. Forget Marlowe, Goethe, Gounod and Murnau, or rather, lay them aside, since the idiosyncratic helmer adds his own spin on the classic legend, and an over-familiarity with Faust's previous incarnations will likely hinder understanding. Sokurov conceived the film as the final part to his tetralogy of power ("Moloch," "Taurus," "The Sun"), and established fans -- the only audience for this largely impenetrable though undeniably impressive indulgence -- will fill many pages discussing how the unholy trinity became a foursome. The basic concept of Faust (Johannes Zeiler) the man is here: a professor and alchemist, craving knowledge yet incapable of being satisfied with the limitations of human understanding. He falls in love with Margarete (Isolda Dychauk, Lucrezia Borgia in the French-German TV series), for whom he signs away his soul. Sokurov's Mephistopheles however owes little to any other manifestation: He's known in the film as the Moneylender (Anton Adasinskiy), and unlike most literary embodiments, this devil is no charmer. He's a snivelly creature, quick with words but the opposite of Goethe's jocular and sensual beguiler. Perhaps Sokurov chose to make his Mephistopheles this unappealing so he could highlight Faust's bald opportunism. Not for him a wily tempter with a bag of tricks but instead a disagreeable coot who simply makes possible the lust for power that was already well established. Faust doesn't have an excuse to hide behind, but then again, neither does he in Goethe. But in painting a man who doesn't need to be seduced toward his downfall, Sokurov also creates greater parallels with the characters of his history films: Hitler, Lenin and Hirohito. In the end, though they're stylistically similar, the four films contain protags whose use and understanding of power are markedly different, and it's probably best to leave it to the elliptical helmer to elucidate this particular quartet. Which leaves "Faust" as film with a maddeningly opaque narrative and a brutalizing cascade of nonstop verbiage. The superabundance of subtitles doesn't help, impeding the eye's ability to take in the visual richness and hampering the mind's capacity to connect what's going on with the scenes before and after. About 80 minutes in, the camera stops on the silent faces of Faust and Margarete, and the audience feels they can momentarily breathe again before the next plunge. The influence of Flemish and Dutch painting on Sokurov's work has never been clearer than in "Faust," with its deep debt to the witchcraft paintings of artists such as David Teniers and Herri met de Bles. Zeiler's face comes straight out of a work by Adriaen Brouwer, and Dychauk's is pure Vermeer, especially in a ravishingly lit close-up that takes full advantage of the actress' girl-woman features. Similar to the other films in the tetralogy, "Faust" uses a sophisticated post-synch dubbing technique that plays with layering and aural planes. The device continues to fascinate, but it's used to greater effect in the earlier pics, whose more measured dialogue is better suited than the barrage of words here. Sokurov forgoes his penchant for fog-bound scenes (perhaps it was too obvious given Faust's supernatural element), and creates a world restricted to lichen tonalities, whose lack of differentiation can be tiring. Bruno Delbonnel wouldn't seem the obvious choice for a Sokurov d.p. -- "Amelie" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" probably don't make the Russian helmer's list of faves -- and while the stillness that marks the first films of his quartet (self-lensed) is little in evidence, visuals here are striking in their mottled gray tonalities. The opening CGI sequence feels oddly like the camera is coming down to Middle Earth, but luckily that sense soon passes, and the final sequence on an Icelandic glacier has a scope not limited by the square 1:1.33 aspect ratio, which is to be pillar-boxed and screened through a 1:1.85 lens. Less understandable than the format is the lens distortion of certain sequences, which perhaps makes sense after multiple viewings, though few will bother to find out. "What glitters, lives but for the moment; what has real worth, survives for all posterity" wrote Goethe, and only time will tell whether this "Faust" is more pyrite than gold. Art direction and costume design are derived from the Flemish and Dutch old masters, and clothes worn by Hanna Schygulla, in a brief role as the Moneylender's purported wife, provide a necessary bit of visual fun. Andrey Sigle's music, indebted in parts to Gounod, forms a near constant accompaniment.Camera (color), Bruno Delbonnel; editor, Joerg Hauschild; music, Andrey Sigle; production designer, Elena Zhukova; costume designer, Lidia Krukova; sound (Dolby Digital), Hauschild; special effects supervisors, Kamil Jaffar, Eggert Ketilsson; casting, Kristin Diehle. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (competing), Sept. 7, 2011. (Also in Toronto Film Festival -- Masters; London Film Festival -- Film on the Square.) Running time: 133 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Japanese TV Host's Resignation Stands out Light on Showbiz Mob Ties

Tokyo, japan -- The sudden retirement of Shinsuke Shimada, among Japanese TV's greatest stars, on August. 24 after links to some boss within the biggest yakuza gang were uncovered is getting focus on the lengthy and deep ties between organized crime and showbiz. 'Various areas of society make active efforts to eradicate links with crime syndicates, however the entertainment world is yet to follow along with suit," opined an August. 30 article within the Daily Yomiuri, the British edition of Japan's, and also the world's, greatest newspaper by circulation. Police remain now requesting a reason from the underworld ties from Shimada's effective agency, Yoshimoto Kogyo, that has been quickly growing overseas recently, signing deals from Hollywood to Shanghai. Shimada located no less than six weekly Television shows on a number of Japan's greatest systems until it emerged that the weekly magazine was going to run articles detailing his friendship with Hirofumi Hashimoto, mind from the Kyokushin-Rengo, a gang affiliated towards the huge Yamaguchi-gumi. Shimada's troubles began ten years when, throughout a range Television show, he in comparison the chrysanthemum-formed symbol of the ultra-nationalist group to some certain nether region part of the body. Using the chrysanthemum also being the symbol from the Japanese imperial family, the ultimate right-wingers weren't amused. They sent seem trucks blaring out abuse about Shimada -- a typical modus operandi of Japanese nationalist groups --- to his house, the offices of Yoshimoto Kogyo and also the TV station in Osaka. Utilizing an ex-world boxing champion with gangster links being an intermediary, Shimada switched towards the gang boss to assist fix his noisy trouble with the ultra-rightists, a lot of whom have partners towards the yakuza. The 2 continued to be buddies and exchanged texts, and also the gangster visited a cafe or restaurant run by Shimada. Cavorting with gangsters might have attended Shimada's mind, as well as in 2004 he pummelled a lady worker of Yoshimoto Kogyo who he felt had unsuccessful to greet him with proper respect. He was penalized 300,000 yen ($3,750) by an Osaka court the lady later won ten million yen ($130.000) inside a civil situation against Shimada and also the agency. The openness that Japan's yakuza gangs happen to be allowed to use in Japan is frequently a hardship on Westerners to understand. Membership from the self-styled "chivalrous organizations" isn't illegal: They've registered offices and are available in the phonebook. The Yamaguchi-gumi gang federation by which Shimada's inked acquaintance was an underboss is believed to possess around 40,000 people, comprising about 50 % of Japan's yakuza. Gangsters from another Yamaguchi-gumi group, the Goto-gumi, slashed the face area of famous director Juzo Itami in 1992, angry in the depiction from the yakuza as clowns and bullies in the film Minbo no Onna (Minbo may be the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion). Once the director leaped to his dying 5 years later, many suspect the yakuza provided a bit of support. In 2007, within an episode that might have been written for any comedy crime film, a detective within the Tokyo, japan Metropolitan Police Department was installing porn onto his computer when he accidentally shared a gigabyte of police files. The files listed front companies for that Yamaguchi-gumi and Goto-gumi and incorporated the title ofBurning Productions, among Japan's major talent agencies. Even though files spread round the Internet like wildfire, no mainstream media organization -- many of which have major interests in TV and movie production -- named the company within their reviews from the story. "Everyone in the commercial is aware of Burning, it is a type of open secret," stated a business source who requested to not be recognized. Ironically, a penchant for mixing with stars and bringing in excessive media attention brought towards the downfall of Tadamasa Goto, the best choice from the Goto-gumi. Carrying out a celebrity-studded special birthday and news that Goto tried an offer using the FBI to obtain a liver transplant at UCLA Hospital in California, he was driven from the Yamaguchi-gumi. Goto has allegedly be a Buddhist priest, but you will find gossips it was he who leaked the data towards the media about Shimada's links towards the underworld. Goto felt that Shimada have been disrespectful to him previously and referred to the television host like a "chimpira" (low-level punk) in the autobiography. Recently, the nation's Police Agency, underneath the leadership of Takaharu Ando, has finally made serious tries to curtail the energy from the yakuza. "We would like these phones disappear from public society,"Ando told journalists in Tokyo, japan this past year following a meeting of police chiefs from across Japan he known as to go over anti-gang methods. In October, a brand new law banning all interaction with gangs makes effect, which might have motivated Yoshimoto Kogyo, Shimada's agency, to pressure his resignation, regardless of the large financial hit it will require from his departure. The company, Japan's greatest, was absorbed last year with a consortium of all of the major TV systems. "A primary reason for that takeover might have been an effort to chop the influence from the yakuza, that has lengthy been rumored to possess links with company," stated a Yoshimoto Kogyo staffer. Related Subjects Worldwide Asia