All Screen articles in 9 March 2005

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  • News

    Film releases put on hold in India as cricket fever bites

    2005-03-09T04:00:00Z

    A string of major film releases have been postponed inIndia's film capital Mumbai because of the start of the cricket test matchseries today (March 8) between Pakistan and India.Distributors fear that the test matches, which are hugelypopular in India, will adversely affect the takings of their films in cinemas.The series, ...

  • News

    'Big Mac' index for cinema unveiled

    2005-03-09T04:00:00Z

    Research outfit Screen Digest has launched the Cinema Index,a new piece of research which it says provides a picture of the comparative costof entertainment around the world.Itlikens the Cinema Index to the Big Mac index, which helped leading economic thinkersanalyse inflation and growth rates across the world's economies.According to the ...

  • News

    Belgrade festival weathers rampant piracy

    2005-03-09T04:00:00Z

    The 33rdBelgrade International Film Festival FEST wrapped on March 5 with a screeningof Theo Angelopoulos' Trilogy 1: TheWeeping Meadow. The festivalpresented 72 films and sold 76,000 tickets, the same figure as last year.However, this was considered an impressive achievement given that rampantpiracy has caused a major slump in cinema-going in ...

  • News

    Wild Bunch launches Lennon's Locker Babies

    2005-03-09T04:00:00Z

    French sales and financing outfitWild Bunch has announced the launch of a new project starring and written inpart by Sean Lennon, son of the late Beatle John Lennon, and produced by DonMurphy.Wild Bunch will finance andhandle international sales on Coin Locker Babies, adapted from theJapanese best seller by Ryu Murakami ...

  • News

    Singapore festival throws spotlight on Asian anime

    2005-03-09T04:00:00Z

    Asian anime is akey theme for this year's Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) (Apr14-30) which will be book-ended by two Japanese animations. Katsuhiro Otomo's Steamboy opens the festival while MamoruOshii's Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence isthe closing film. The 18thedition of SIFF will screen over 300 films from 40 ...

  • News

    Investors tune into Premiere's German flotation

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    Shares in Premiere the German pay-TV operator startedtrading today on the Frankfurt stock exchange at a healthy premium to the offerprice.The strength of investor demand suggests that analystssee the business continuing to grow, a prospect which could rub off on thelocal film industry.The company yesterday announced that it would sell ...

  • News

    War epics take Japan, Russia by storm

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    WillSmith comedy Hitch ended Meet The Fockers' five week run at thetop of the international chart thanks to 19 territory launches includingGermany, Spain and Australia (see link below for full chart).Mostcountries awarded Hitch with number one positions except for Spain, where rivalopener Hide And Seek slipped in ahead with an ...

  • News

    Dunne, Leiner films get world premieres at Tribeca

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    More than 250 features from44 countries including 60 world premieres are set to play at the fourth annualTribeca Film festival, which runs in New York from Apr 19-May 1. As previously reported here,the festival kicks off on Apr 19 with the North American premiere of SydneyPollack's political thriller The Interpreter, ...

  • News

    IMAX to install screens in Guatemala, Costa Rica

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    IMAX Corporation has signedagreements to install giant-screen cinema systems in Guatemala City, Guatemalaand San Jose, Costa Rica, the first IMAX facilities in both countries. The deals are with CircuitoAlba and Repretel, leading media and entertainment companies with operations inGuatemala and Costa Rica, respectively. Both facilities will accommodate IMAXtraditional large-format fare ...

  • News

    Les Choristes controversy erupts over soundtrack singers

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    The father of one of thesingers appearing on the soundtrack of France's biggest box office hit of 2004,Les Choristes, raised questionsTuesday as to the remuneration received by the film's young stars. A lawyer for FrancisHartmann, whose daughter's voice can be heard on the award winning soundtrack,told Agence France Presse ...

  • News

    Anger, Ballroom top and tail Bermuda Film Festival

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    The Bermuda InternationalFilm Festival will open on Mar 18 with Mike Binder's family drama The UpsideOf Anger starring Joan Allen andKevin Costner, and closes on Mar 24 with Marilyn Agrelo's Slamdance hitdocumentary Mad Hot Ballroom.Michael Winterbottom is thefilmmaker in focus and festival organisers will showcase four of his pictures 9 ...

  • Reviews

    Adam & Paul

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    Dir:Lenny Abrahamson. Ire. 2005. 8s6mins.Imaginea full-length Laurel and Hardy film set in Dublin's junkie netherworld andscripted by the bastard son of Samuel Beckett. If you like the sound of that,then you'll love Adam & Paul, Irish commercials director LennyAbrahamson's first feature.Abrahamsondoes a grand job, but it's scriptwriter and co-star Mark ...

  • News

    GERMANY 9 March

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    Sony Pictures Releasing's (SPR) Hitchentered the charts at the top of the pile with an impressive $11,145 screenaverage from its 796 screens and became the first release so far this year tohave attracted more than 1m cinema-goers in its first weekend. SPR also proudlyreported that the Will Smith comedy garnered ...

  • News

    AUSTRALIA 9 March

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    Sony Pictures' Hitch opened on the weekend andshot straight to the top of the box office chart, grossing nearly three timesmore than the next most popular film. Hitch took A$3,507,820 from 370screens to clock up a screen average of A$9,481, the biggest in the chart.The rest of the top five ...

  • News

    NEW ZEALAND 9 March

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    Roadshow's opening film Constantine was sent inon the weekend to challenge the box office supremacy of UIP's Meet TheFockers, which is only on its second weekend on release. But it failed: Fockergrossed NZ$500,991 from 60 screens compared to the NZ$421,541 taken by Constantinefrom 65 screensThe onlyother opening film, Closer, came ...

  • News

    Bacon's Loverboy to open Gen Art festival on Apr 6

    2005-03-09T00:00:00Z

    The Tenth Annual Gen ArtFilm Festival will open on Apr 6 with the New York premiere of Kevin Bacon's directorialdebut Loverboy, which receivedits world premiere at Sundance recently. Loverboy stars Kyra Sedgwick, Bacon, Matt Dillon, and MarisaTomei, among others, in the story of a woman who received little affection fromher ...

  • News

    Strauss named president of Skoll's Participant

    2005-03-08T04:00:00Z

    Production and marketingveteran Ricky Strauss has been named president of Participant Productions, thecompany founded by eBay pioneer and philanthropist Jeff Skoll.Reporting directly to Skoll,Strauss will be responsible for overseeing production, marketing and businessdevelopment, and working closely with studio and production partners on titlesthat further Participant's mandate of making pictures that ...

  • News

    here! picks up gay horror pic HellBent

    2005-03-08T04:00:00Z

    here! Films haspicked up worldwide rights from Sneak Preview Entertainment to Paul Etheredge-Ouzts'horror picture HellBent,which is scheduled to open in North America in June in association with RegentReleasing.HellBent is billed as one of the firsthorror/slasher projects to feature lead gay characters, who must fight forsurvival amid the backdrop of a ...

  • News

    Malaga festival unveils market initiatives

    2005-03-08T04:00:00Z

    The Spanish Film Festival of Malaga (April 22-30) will hostfour industry-oriented markets this year, adding two new three-day events toits calendar of activities.On top of the now established feature film Market Screeningsfor international buyers (April 24-26) and documentary market Mercadoc (April24-26), the festival has unveiled a new TV Market (April ...

  • News

    Dream teams with Motley Crue on Disaster!

    2005-03-08T04:00:00Z

    LosAngeles-based Dream Entertainment has scored a promotional tie-in deal withlegendary rock band Motley Crue on its upcoming satirical claymation picture Disaster!Each show on the recentlyreformed Crue's upcoming Red White & Crue world tour will begin with aspecially made claymation short featuring band members saving the world fromimminent destruction.Highlights fromRoy Wood's ...