All Screen articles in 4 July 2003
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OpenPictures and Intertainment seal strategic partnership
Intertainment and Munich-based development, production and distribution company OpenPictures have concluded a strategic partnership which includes a co-operation on jointly financing and marketing international feature films with US major studios and legal financing against Franchise Pictures and other parties involved in a $100m litigation.In a statement, Intertainment said "OpenPictures concurs ...
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New UK distributor, Georgia Films, launched
UK-based tax financier Lucky UKFS, headed by Philippe Martinez of US production-sales outfit Bauer Martinez Studios and Alan Latham, has appointed distributor Martin Myers to launch a new UK distributor, Georgia Films.The venture is kicking off with a September release for Citizen Verdict, Bauer Martinez's thriller about a reality TV ...
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Czech producers plan private film commission
Czech film producers have started a working group to establish a Czech film commission and are prepared to move ahead with the project even without financial support from local and national governments. "The commission we are setting up at this stage is essentially a private one," said Matthew Stillman, head ...
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Korea's Taewon and Cinema Service may end partnership
South Korean import/production company Taewon Entertainment has announced that it is transferring local distribution rights for Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King from Cinema Service to rival distributor CJ Entertainment. The switch virtually guarantees CJ Entertainment a third smash hit for 2003, following Memories Of ...
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Indian box office heats up for the summer
Seven local box-office hits released over the last few months have brought much-needed relief to the Hindi film industry of Mumbai. Raj Kanwar's Andaaz, Ken Ghosh's Ishq Vishk, Aziz Mirza's Chalte Chalte, Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot, Tigmanshu Dhulia's Haasil, Sujoy Ghosh's Jhankaar Beats and Sooraj Barjatya's Main Prem Ki Diwani ...
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Battle Royale II storms Japanese box office
Battle Royale II - Requiem, the sequel to Kinji Fukasaku's 2000 hit Battle Royale, had a better Japanese opening weekend than the original - and for that matter than any other film in the history of distributor Toei. Released on 261 screens on July 5, BR2 earned $2.8m (Y337m) from ...
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German distributors pay back subsidies
Thanks to the commercial success of such releases as the Oscar-winning Nowhere In Africa, scifi horror pic Resident Evil and 2002's top local film Bibi Blocksberg, producer-distributor Constantin Film has been able to pay back more than Euros 1.5m in production and distribution subsidies to the Bavarian public fund FFF ...
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Germany's Helkon Media sells remaining assets
German media group Helkon Media is now practically nothing more than a name after the insolvency administrator Axel W. Bierbach sold the bulk of the film library to the Hamburg-based investment company Aurum Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs GmbH. The asset deal was greenlit by Helkon's creditor banks and the creditors ...
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Australian strike action threatens film production
A breakdown in negotiations between Australian performers and producers over the new film and television agreements could lead to strike action - but only a long-running dispute is likely to affect Australian films because of how few are heading into production. Offshore films shooting in Australia are covered under a ...
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French strike action results in temporary concession
In their fight to quash a change in unemployment benefits, France's "intermittents du spectacle" - or part-time showbiz workers - won a temporary reprieve when culture minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon agreed to maintain the current system until the end of 2003. The workers are rallying against an agreement signed by all ...
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Universal takes in another $16.4m from The Hulk
Universal's TheHulk took $16.4m from 3,316 printsin 21 territories over the weekend, bringing its total so far to $38.73m with27 countries to open. It opened number one in both France, Spain and Belgiumand is set to open in the UK on July 18, in Japan on Aug 2 and China ...
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UK's Metrodome reduces losses by 30%
UK media concern Metrodome Group slashed its losses over the last financial year, largely driven by its UK release of US indie film Donnie Darko.The company, which has been refocusing on distributing film and TV product, posted losses for the full year after taxation of $1.8m (£1.1m), almost a third ...
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Poland's Era New Horizons film festival returns for 3rd edition
The Era New Horizons Film Festival is back in Poland with its third edition to celebrate innovative arthouse films.The festival, which runs from July 17-27 in Cieszyn, southern Poland, sold almost 40,000 tickets last year. This year it is set to showcase over 100 screenings of the latest productions that ...
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Eurimages backs 10 co-productions
New features by Thomas Vinterberg (Dear Wendy), Auli Mantila (Ystavani Henry) and Robinson Savary (Bye-Bye Blackbird) are among ten projects supported with a total of Euros 3.8m by the pan-European co-production fund Eurimages in its latest round of funding decided at a committee meeting in Riga.The complete list of projects ...
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French film production on the increase
Despite the overall malaise affecting the French cinema sector this year, with box-office down for the first half compared to 2002, film production is on the rise. According to French weekly trade Le Film Francais, figures released by the National Cinema Centre (CNC), reveal that 82 films were greenlit between ...
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UK's Script Factory launches training programme for writers
Lawless Heart director Neil Hunter and producers Andrea Calderwood, Robyn Slovo and Kate Ogborn are to act as mentors for young writers on a new teaching programme launched by writers training The Script Factory.The week-long workshop kicks off on July 14 and will benefit ten up-and-coming young screenwriters.The writers will ...
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Stuttgart film festival reveals competition line-up
Paula van der Oest's Zus & Zo, the opening film of this year's Filmfest Stuttgart Ludwigsburg (July 10-15, 2003), Lukas Moodysson's Lilya 4-ever, Karim Dridi's Rage and Sandra Goldbacher's Me Without You are among 14 films from 14 European countries competing for around Euros 70,000 in prize money.The international jury ...
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New Zealand producers seek new chief executive
Jane Wrightson has resigned from her post as chief executive of New Zealand's Screen Production and Development Association to take up the role of chief executive of the Broadcasting Standards Authority from mid-August.Wrightson, former chief executive of New Zealand On Air, former chief film censor and one-time commissioning editor for ...
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Hong Kong box office succumbs to Twins Effect
Two diminutive vampire-slayers are kicking Charlie's Angels' butts at the Hong Kong box office.Emperor Multimedia Group's The Twins Effect, starring Hong Kong pop sensation Twins and a special appearance by Jackie Chan, grossed $2m in the week ending July 2 - more than four times the opening week gross of ...
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High Hopes Award goes to French producing duo
French producers Jean-Philippe Andraca and Christian Berard of Paris-based Les Films A4 have received the Euros 25,000 High Hopes Award, donated by the German collection society GWFF, for their production of Robert Kechichian's feature debut Aram, which was co-produced with StudioCanal and BAC Films.In its decision, the jury of distribution ...