Some descendants of the Maya tribes depicted in Mel Gibson's Apocalypto have denounced the movie as racist and not representative of their ancient culture. In an interview with Reuters, Ignacio Ochoa, director of the Nahual Foundation, said, "Gibson replays, in glorious big budget Technicolor, an offensive and racist notion that Maya people were brutal to one another long before the arrival of Europeans and thus they deserved, in fact, needed, rescue." Lucio Yaxon, described by Reuters as a 23-year-old Mayan human rights activist, added, "Basically, the director is saying the Mayans are savages." Today's (Thursday) Los Angeles Times noted that archaeologist Richard Hansen was on hand throughout the shooting of the film, lending his advice to the production team. Production designer Tom Sanders told the newspaper, "It was really fun to say [to Hansen], 'Is there any proof they didn't do this?' When he said, 'There is no proof they didn't do that, ' that gives you some license to play."

NBC Universal has announced plans to build a $3-billion office and residential center on the 391-acre Universal studio property near Hollywood. Along with additional production facilities, the project, if approved, would include restaurants, stores, a hotel, and 2,900 homes and apartment units. The Universal Studios Tour and the Universal CityWalk center would also be improved. Local community associations and homeowner groups have expressed alarm over the possible impact of such a large undertaking on the surrounding community.

In its first day in video stores, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest sold nearly 5 million copies Tuesday, according to Disney's Buena Vista Home Video, thereby tying the record set by Warner Bros.' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in March. The company reportedly shipped 20 million copies to retailers and has said that it hopes to break the existing record held by its own The Lion King of 30 million DVD and VHS copies sold.

The president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the union that represents most of Hollywood's craft unions, has taken the leaders of the Writers Guild of America (West) to task for turning down an offer from Hollywood producers to negotiate an early contract renewal. Thomas Short told the Los Angeles Times that the WGA's refusal would fuel uncertainty among Hollywood's rank and file about whether they will have work should the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture Television Producers be unable to reach an agreement before the current contract expires in October. WGA Executive Director David Young told the Times that it was unfortunate that Short was siding with the studios.

Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who, while heading their former company Miramax, infuriated conservative Christian activists with films like Kids, Priest, and Dogma, have announced that they are forming a new company to distribute faith-based movies. They said Wednesday that they have signed a production deal with Christian film producer Impact Entertainment. Executives of The Weinstein Company also said Wednesday that they plan to release six theatrical films per year and an additional number of direct-to-DVD productions.

China's policy of restricting the number of foreign films that can be shown on the mainland is largely to blame for rampant piracy in the country, MPAA Senior V.P Michael Ellis has told the Foreign Correspondents Club of China. He said that by limiting the number to 20, Beijing encourages pirates to provide the films to consumers that cannot otherwise be viewed theatrically. "There needs to be a recognition that there's not going to be progress until they open the market," Ellis said. Noting that bootleg DVDs of many top U.S. movies are available in Chinese shops within days of their U.S. release, Ellis said that the bootlegs now represent 93 percent of all DVDs on sale in China. He said that some of the shop owners continue to sell the bootleg DVDs even after they are punished for doing so.

News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch and Liberty Media Chairman John Malone have privately agreed on an asset swap in which Malone will receive Murdoch's 39-percent stake in DirecTV, plus other smaller assets, and Murdoch will get Malone's 19 percent voting stake and 15 percent nonvoting stake in News Corp, published reports said today (Thursday). The deal represents a financial u-turn for both men. Until now, Murdoch had tirelessly sought to create a worldwide satellite distribution system of which DirecTV would serve as the American nexus. Malone, on the other hand, quit the TV distribution business in 1998 when he sold Tele-Communications, Inc., the nation's largest cable system, to AT&T for $52 billion. He has since focused on investing in and developing cable networks, including Discovery and QVC. Ironically, his move into satellite comes at a time when many satellite subscribers are switching back to cable to take advantage of package plans that include TV, Internet, and phone services, which DirecTV does not provide.

In a filing in federal court on Wednesday, the FCC defended its tougher enforcement policies on indecency, insisting that previous court decisions had recognized limitations of broadcasters' First Amendment rights. The commission also appeared to invalidate the V-chip as a tool to allow broadcasters to air programs unsuitable for children. It pointed out, for example, that the Billboard Awards broadcast in which Bono uttered the phrase "f*****g brilliant" would not have been caught by the V-chip because it was "misrated." In fact, the FCC held, the networks routinely apply inaccurate ratings to programs, and even when they are correct, they are often misunderstood by parents. "The V-chip is ineffective," the commission remarked. Moreover, it argued, it has an "independent and compelling interest" in seeing to it that children are not exposed to indecency on TV.

Sirius Satellite Radio is getting into the TV business in a very limited way, CEO Mel Karmazin told a Credit Suisse Media conference in New York Wednesday. As reported by Broadcasting & Cable magazine's website, Karmazin revealed that Sirius is working on a service that will transmit kids videos to family vehicles with TV screens in the back seat. Karmazin said that the antenna needed to receive the video is about "the size of a hockey puck." Karmazin played down the value of such a system to Sirius, however.

The TNT channel is virtually certain of pulling in record numbers of viewers when it becomes the first outlet to televise The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King next week. TNT said that it plans to air the hit movie in its entirety on three consecutive weekend nights beginning Friday, December 15. The Sunday showing will mark the end of an 11-hour marathon telecast of all three LOTR features. TNT also said that each of the films will become available via video on demand (VOD) beginning December 24.

Damon Wayans and Andy Dick have become the latest comedians to utter the N-word in public and receive their comeuppance for doing so. TMZ.com, the website that first reported on the incident involving Seinfeld star Michael Richards last month, said Wednesday that Dick, the former costar of NewsRadio, stunned patrons at The Improv in Hollywood Monday night when he shouted at the crowd, "You're all a bunch of n*****s." Dick apologized the following day, issuing a statement saying, "In an attempt to make light of a serious subject [the Richards matter], I have offended a lot of people, and I am sorry for my insensitivity." Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times said that Wayans was banned for three months from the Laugh Factory, the site of Richards' racial tirade, when he opened his routine Tuesday night by remarking, "Give yourselves a big round of applause for coming down and supporting n****r night." The newspaper said that he repeated the word 15 times during his appearance.

Rene Syler learned that she was being let-go as co-anchor of CBS's The Early Show as she was preparing to produce a series of reports about her battle with breast cancer, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported today (Thursday). The newspaper said that Syler is scheduled to undergo a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy next month and that her bosses were aware of her medical condition when they informed her that they were planning to take the morning show "in a different direction." Syler said that she was surprised by the network's decision but that there was an upside to it. "This gives me time to recuperate," she said.

France on Wednesday launched a French-language all-news satellite network that will compete worldwide with CNN and the BBC World Service. The channel is the brainchild of French President Jacques Chirac, who complained at the outset of the Iraq war about how the French view of the war was being presented internationally. The channel's slogan is "All the news you're not supposed to know."