Business Notes

What movie studio wouldn't be dancing in the streets with films like The Silence of the Lambs and Dances with Wolves to its credit? Answer: Orion Pictures, the studio that released both hits. The Jodie Foster thriller and the Kevin Costner western come at the end of a losing streak that has lasted more than two years and helped run up $500 million of debt with such busts as The Hot Spot, State of Grace and Valmont. So even though Lambs and Wolves together have grossed a stellar $230 million, Orion is struggling to keep the wolves from the door.

To attract new investors, the studio last week disclosed plans for a "major capital or financial restructuring" and an executive shake-up that pushed chairman and octogenarian co-founder Arthur Krim into an essentially powerless position. Such actions may not be enough. Orion's upcoming releases look weak -- and the studio is so hungry for cash that last month it sold its most promising new picture, a movie version of TV's cult hit The Addams Family, to Paramount at a loss.