Warner Bros. President and COO Alan Horn has announced the closure of studio specialty divisions Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures today. The striking news follows the recent move to severely scale back New Line Cinema and incorporate it into the WB studio apparatus, cutting hundreds of jobs at the company. "With New Line now a key part of Warner Bros., we're able to handle films across the entire spectrum of genres and budgets without overlapping production, marketing and distribution infrastructures," Horn said, continuing, "We're confident that the spirit of independent filmmaking and the opportunity to find and give a voice to new talent will continue to have a presence at Warner Bros." [Eugene Hernandez]

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