In Business This Week

ORION STILL DANCES WITH BANKRUPTCY

No number of hit films seems enough to pull debt-plagued Orion Pictures out of its doldrums. Despite two recent blockbusters, Dances with Wolves and Silence of the Lambs, the New York-based film company acknowledges that it is one step away from a bankruptcy filing. After failing to sell the company or find new investors, Orion now is asking holders of $285 million in subordinated debt to swap their paper for stock and zero-coupon paper.

Billionaire media mogul John Kluge, who holds a 68% stake in Orion, says he will vote his shares in support of the plan. The restructuring would trim the company's debt service by $400 million. Orion lost $62.9 million in the latest fiscal year on revenues of $584 million.EDITED BY HARRIS COLLINGWOOD