Ifilm had been close to an agreement to acquire Pop, the as-yet unlaunched Web entertainment site that DreamWorks and Imagine have been planning for more than a year. Ifilm Friday morning sent an e-mail to employees explaining that "these discussions have ended and have not resulted in a transaction." DreamWorks confirmed that the talks are off.

Pop.com was supposed to launch last spring with short-form movies in both animated and live-action forms. The plan was for some of those films to be created by the company's high-profile backers, including DreamWorks' Steven Spielberg and Imagine's Ron Howard. (The Wall Street Journal) But the companies backers have admitted that they have struggled to create a viable business plan for the site, and Pop.com still has not debuted on the Web.

Ifilm (www.ifilm.com) meanwhile, operates a film portal and directory service on the Web. The potential acquisition of Pop.com was intended to bring original content to Ifilm's operation.