With New Line Cinema and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment ending their relationship, Universal pounced on the crime drama, Alpha Dog.

Written and directed by Nick Cassavetes, the film is based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood, who was a drug dealer wanted by the FBI. According to The Hollywood Reporter, New Line and the film's producer disagreed over how widely the film should be released, with Sidney Kimmel arguing for a wider release than the studio proposed. Sources familiar with the situation say Universal has promised to put the film into more than 1,000 theaters, though Universal did not immediately confirm that.

New Line had scheduled Alpha Dog as a spring release; no word on when Universal will set the new release.

Alpha Dog was released January 12th, 2007 and stars Bruce Willis, Matthew Barry, Emile Hirsch, Fernando Vargas, Vincent Kartheiser, Justin Timberlake, Shawn Hatosy, Alex Solowitz. The film is directed by Nick Cassavetes.