Uni wins brawl for soccer pic

January 25, 2007 Universal Pictures has scored a victory in an intense multistudio bidding war for the movie rights to a New York Times article revolving around a group of soccer-playing refugee kids who settled near Atlanta. The rich deal, which sources said was $2 million against $3 million, includes the rights to the article, written by Warren St. John and published Sunday, and the life rights to the soccer team's coach, a Jordan-born woman named Luma Mufleh. The studio melee began almost as soon as the story was published, with bids coming in from DreamWorks, spearheaded by Steven Spielberg; Columbia and producer Mark Gordon; the Walt Disney Co. and Scott Rudin; Nick Movies; Sidney Kimmel; and the Weinstein Co., among others.

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