Los Angeles — Online entertainment firm Ifilm said Thursday it was in talks to acquire Pop.com, a would-be Web site backed by filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and other Hollywood moguls.

“We're in talks and that's all there is to say right now,” said Melissa Zuckerman, a spokeswoman for Hollywood-based Ifilm. Pop.com also confirmed the talks were in progress.

Some industry sources said several issues, in particular price, still remain unresolved.

Under the deal, Ifilm, a film portal and directory, would likely fold in Pop.com's library of content and hammer out a working relationship with some of the founders, a source familiar with the situation said. Many layoffs among Pop.com's 90 employees would also be likely, sources said.

Industry observers said the deal provided the founders of Pop.com, which has never aired a single show or launched its Web site, with a graceful exit strategy.

The formation of Glendale, Calif.-based Pop.com was announced in October with much fanfare by its famous founders, which included Dreamworks' Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen; Imagine Entertainment's Howard and Brian Grazer, and Vulcan Ventures, the investment vehicle for Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen.

In forming Pop.com, Spielberg and his colleagues had planned to draw on top Hollywood stars to create content, but infighting and uncertainty about the company's direction and business plan muddled these efforts, sources said.

“Even if you produce content for the Web and get millions of visits, it doesn't create revenues. We're well past the novelty of the Internet and big names alone are not a business model,” said Bruce Forest, director at Viant Corp, a developer of digital businesses.

Ifilm is one of the most popular film sites on the Web and its chairman, Skip Paul, is said to be friendly with Spielberg and the other Dreamworks executives. Many other entertainment Web sites are less fortunate, however.

“There are a lot of dot-coms with a lot of creative people who are finding out they should have approached this with a different business model,” said Richard Diamond, attorney for Todd Neilson, who is the bankruptcy trustee for Digital Entertainment Network (DEN).

DEN is a high-profile entertainment Web site that filed for bankruptcy in June and is being investigated for possibly fraudulent assets sales prior to its filing. Its site failed to sustain an audience to cover its costs and canceled plans for an initial public offering.

“The problem is that some people with entertainment Web sites are trying to be all things to all people,” said Eric Eisner, the son of Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner.

The younger Eisner is a co-founder of an entertainment Web site called Romp.com, which features youth-oriented edgy, rowdy animation and content aimed people who watch “Southpark.”

“We know how difficult it is. A lot of companies are looking for more money or shutting their doors, but we're very frugal and our costs are well below the average,” he said.

Eisner expects Romp.com to succeed because it has a specific game plan.