Celebrity Assets: How the stars manage their brands: The Troublemakers: Primadonna stars put studios in jeopardy with eRratic behavior

Movie-studio executives may be pining for the good old days of the"morals clause."

Walt Disney Co. quickly tried to limit its damage from MelGibson's arrest on recent drunken-driving charges. A few days afterthe incident in Malibu, Calif., Disney said it would drop a Holocaustminiseries project Gibson was planning for the studio's ABC network.But there is little Disney can do about its other entanglement withthe actor: its agreement to distribute his next movie, "Apocalypto."

Studios have little recourse these days when a star implodes. WhenTom Cruise entered the danger zone with public tirades aboutpsychiatry, Scientology and postpartum depression, executives …