ENTERTAINMENT

General Cinema May End Merger Agreement: General Cinema Corp. warned that it will drop its proposed $1.5-billion merger with Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc. unless a small group of Harcourt bondholders agree to the deal within a week. “We’re not going to allow it to string out any longer,” said Peter Farwell, a spokesman for General Cinema. General Cinema, a major theater chain, has been trying for months to seal a merger with Harcourt, a debt-burdened publishing and insurance firm based in Orlando, Fla. Without a buyer, Harcourt officials say they could face bankruptcy. These bondholders rebuffed an earlier bid from Newton, Mass.-based General Cinema.