Released by the new Savoy Pictures, the film opens on Sept. 29 in New York and Los Angeles.

A competing bid for Orion Pictures was made by Savoy Pictures, created only two months ago.

However, Savoy Pictures went bankrupt before the film went out in theaters.

His big break came early in 1995, when Savoy Pictures bought three of his scripts with a deal for him to write a fourth.

Mr. Barron was brought on board; he recruited the Henson team, and Savoy Pictures agreed to finance 60 percent of the film's $30 million budget.

More recently, MGM Entertainment made a bid of its own as did Savoy Pictures.

Mr. Friedman said he had left after a disagreement about his next producing job and had since been developing new projects for Savoy Pictures.

Savoy Pictures controlled the day-to-day operations of the four stations.

For unknown reasons the film never went further into production, but by December 1992, Wes Craven signed to write and direct, with Savoy Pictures distributing.

Independent studios have struggled in recent years, with even well-financed companies like Savoy Pictures running into financial trouble.