All Screen articles in 9 March 2000
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Macquarie launches fresh bid to lure investors
Macquarie Film Corporation (MFC) launched its second prospectus this week in a bid to entice Australian investors to tip A$18.4m into film and TV production before the deadline of June 21. MFC is one of two Film Licensed Investment Companies (FLICS) awarded licences by the Australian government to raise up ...
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Brazil's SBT fights ratings battle with movie slot
Competition is hotting up in the Brazilian free TV market with number two broadcaster SBT taking on leading station Globo by launching a prime-time film slot on Friday evenings, to be fed with product from its recently-signed output deals with Warner Bros and Disney.The slot will be in addition to ...
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Mother selected to kick off Istanbul fest
Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother has been selected to open the International Istanbul Film Festival (Apr 15-30), the region's premiere film event.The festival will close with Turkish-UK title Mozart In Turkey, while the UK is also represented by an eight-film spotlight including East Is East, The War Zone and ...
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Serbian comedy sets local box office record
Serbian comedy The Secret Of The Family Treasure has set a record for the first quarter of 2000 at the Serbian box office by racking up admissions of 126,000 in just 12 days across ten cities. The film, based on a popular TV series of the same name, is distributed ...
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Antena 3 wipes out debt; posts 75% rise in profit
Private Spanish broadcaster Antena 3 has eradicated its debt and posted its best ever financial results, according to CEO Juan Jose Nieto. The broadcaster reported year-end profits of $131m (pts20,887m), a whopping 73% rise over the previous year's results.Celebrating its ten-year anniversary this year, Antena 3's remarkable success is attributed ...
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ShoWest: P&A costs down in 99, says Valenti
The average cost of making and releasing a major studio picture was a massive $76m in 1999, but for the first time in several years, prints and advertising costs were down and for the second year in a row negative production costs were also down.The figures were released by Jack ...
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Internet and mobile services boost Telstra profit
Australian telco Telstra has reported a record after-tax profit of $1.27bn (A$2.1bn) for the six months to December 31, an increase of 15.6% on the corresponding period last year. The result was on turnover of $2bn (A$3.3bn) before tax and interest.Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski said non-traditional services such as ...
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Telepiu, net operations add to Canal Plus loss
Michael Haneke, the Austrian director whose film The Piano Teacher (La Pianiste) scooped three of the top awards at Cannes last week, has set his next project as a series for television. The series Das Weisse Band (literally The White Band) will be produced for state broadcaster ORF and shot ...
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ShoWest: Exhibitors forecast digital revolution
International exhibitors at this week's ShoWest convention in Las Vegas (March 6-9) are talking of a global revolution in the cinema industry where projectionists and box office cashiers will be a thing of the past. New technology - such as digital projection and e-commerce - is driving the next generation ...
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Producer takes legal action against Southern Star
Australian producer Hal McElroy's family-owned company Eden Productions has commenced legal proceedings against Southern Star Entertainment and the Southern Star Group, claiming it is owed more than $6.4m (A$10.5m). But McElroy's former employer has moved quickly to say it is Eden which owes money to Southern Star.The issue has been ...
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Universal takes Winchester's Harry for Oz, UK
London-based entertainment company Winchester Films has sold UK romantic comedy Wild About Harry to Universal Pictures for the UK and Australia.Universal is also in talks to take the film, produced by Scala Pictures and BBC Films, for the US, Italy, Scandinavia and Benelux. The title has already gone to Senator ...
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Toho kickstarts DVD outing for Japanese films
Japan's leading distributor-exhibitor Toho plans to start releasing Japanese films in the DVD format starting with Saimin (Hypnosis), a psycho thriller featuring pop idol Goro Inagaki, which is set for release in June.Toho has been releasing foreign films on DVD since last summer, but has not offered domestic titles in ...
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TVE renews output deal with Warner Television
Spain's Television Espanola (TVE) renewed its agreement this week with Warner Bros International Television (WBIT), in a move that gives the public broadcaster rights to WBIT feature film and television product through 2004. TVE and WBIT have maintained an ongoing output agreement since 1990.Included in the deal are feature film ...
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HBO to launch Spanish-language channel in the US
HBO plans to launch a Spanish-language multiplex channel, HBO Latino, in the US by autumn 2000.The new channel is aimed the growing Spanish-speaking audience in the US. According to the network, 19% of Hispanic households subscribe to HBO and Latinos make up 11% of its subscriber base."HBO Latino fits perfectly ...
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Svensk Filmindustri enters Finnish video market
FS Film Oy, the joint Finnish distribution venture between Twentieth Century Fox and Scandinavia's Svensk Filmindustri (Screendaily Jan 19), plans to expand from its theatrical base into video distribution. The outfit plans to handle video distribution of all Svensk Filmindustri (SF) productions and acquisitions with The Sixth Sense earmarked as ...
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Telefonica, Sogecable end year on high note
Flush from their successes on Spain's explosive stock market, La Bolsa, telecommunications conglom Telefonica and its audiovisual rival, the Prisa Group-owned Sogecable, both reported top-notch year-end results for 1999.The strong performance of these two giants on La Bolsa demonstrates the need in Spain for a planned "New Market" index listing ...
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Post Mortem scoops top Quebec awards
Post Mortem, a drama directed by Louis Belanger and produced by Lorraine Dufour of La Coop Video de Montreal, walked away with five prizes at Quebec's second annual Prix Jutra.Fresh from victory for best first film, best original screenplay and best actress at Canada's 1999 Genie Awards, Post Mortem, distributed ...
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Senator adds Le Studio titles to shopping basket
Germany's recently floated distributor Senator Films has revealed that it bought rights to 13 features with a total production value of $150m during the recent American Film Market and Sundance and Berlin festivals, including the highly sought after Nicole Kidman-starrer The Others from Le Studio Canal Plus.Senator also grabbed hot ...
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Cinar co-founders quit company over funds scandal
The once squeaky-clean image of family programming provider Cinar Corp has been further tarnished as husband-and-wife co-founders Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg resigned yesterday following revelations that about $122m of its funds were invested without the knowledge or authorisation of its board of directors.The sum, which exceeds Cinar's own annual ...
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Hamilton-Shaw to head development at Rocket
Elton John and David Furnish's London-based film production company Rocket Pictures has appointed Steven Hamilton-Shaw as head of development.Hamilton-Shaw will oversee the development of all Rocket films and source material and talent for the company. He has served stints at Fine Line Features, Lions Gate Films, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and ...