• February 3, 2006

It may pay to wait. Magnolia Pictures, the studio partly owned by Mark Cuban, snapped up a Super Bowl spot this week at about $1.75 million, a person familiar with the matter said. That would mark a 30 percent discount off the $2.5 million sticker price.

The lesser price may have to do with the last-minute timing and the fact that the spot is in the third quarter, when viewers may desert a lopsided game. ABC declined comment on inventory availability and price. Magnolia will promote the new film "The World's Fastest Indian," starring Anthony Hopkins. Hopkins plays Burt Munro, a New Zealander on a quest to set a land speed record on a motorcycle at the Bonneville Flats in Utah.

--David Goetzl