• Germany's Senator Film has become the first international distributor to sign up to the highly anticipated package of studio-level films being put together by former Disney chief Joe Roth. The five-year deal initially gives Senator all media rights in all German-speaking territories. It is promised a minimum of six films per year with budgets in the $10m-$100m range. Julia Roberts has a non-exclusive deal with Roth to star in three of the films over the next five years. The first film to be delivered under the deal will be $10m-$20m comedy Tomcats.
  • The UK's J&M Entertainment has boarded four titles including Cloudstreet, an adaptation of the Australian best-seller for which Geoffrey Rush, Judy Davis, Anna Paquin and Heath Ledger are in talks to star. Peter Duncan (Children Of The Revolution) is to direct. J&M is also handling $8m UK comedy Guns, Money & Homecooking; Wild Horses, which Marc and Peter Samuelson will produce; and Mark Rydell direct from a script by Karen O'Toole, and low-budget UK drama Small Time Obsession.
  • Momentum Pictures, the UK joint venture of Canada's Alliance Atlantis and Germany's Kinowelt, has confirmed it has picked up The Adventures Of Rocky & Bullwinkle and O Brother, Where Art Thou' for the UK.
  • TF1 International has picked up Sans Titre (Untitled) a second film by Jean-Francois Richet (Ma Cite Va Craquer) which stars Virginie Ledoyen. The revenge tale, produced by Why Not Productions - the producers of Arnaud Desplechin's main competition title Esther Kahn - is currently in post-production and will be distributed in France by Bac Films.
  • Sogepaq, the rights and acquisitions arm of Spanish media group Sogecable, has picked up world rights on Fugitivas, a feature film currently in production at Seville-based Maestranza Films. Sogepaq is also understood to be negotiating international rights on Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone (El Espinazo Del Diablo), a Tequila Gang/El Deseo co-production to which Sogepaq sister outlet Warner Sogefilms owns rights in Spain.
  • UK-based Capitol Films has sold its Cannes competition film A One And A Two to Diaphana for France. Capitol has also acquired international rights to the $20m Deuces Wild from The Basketball Diaries director Scott Kalvert. The Martin Scorsese executive-produced period gang story re-unites Capitol with MGM, the US studio that is also handling US on Capitol's Ghost World. Before Capitol came aboard, MGM had sold German, UK and Benelux rights to VCL. Capitol has also sold Ghost World to Germany's Advanced and Italy's Key Films
  • Lions Gate Film International has acquired worldwide rights to Too Smooth, a comedy starring and directed by Dean Paras. Paras also stars with Neve Campbell, her brother Christian Campbell, Katie Wright and Rebecca Gayheart. Paras also executive produced with cast members the Campbells and Wright.
  • Kushner-Locke International has sold its James Toback-directed thriller Harvard Man starring Sarah Michelle Gellar to Metropolitan Filmexport in France, KirchMedia in Germany and eastern Europe, RCV in Benelux and Filmax in Spain.
  • IFM Film Associates has acquired worldwide sales rights to two new pictures - revenge thriller Sweet Revenge starring Richard Grieco and Brigitte Bako which started shooting in Western Canada this week and Dead Evidence starring Kevin Smith which will start shooting in Auckland, New Zealand, on June 15. Dead Evidence is one of two pictures produced by New Zealand's South Pacific Pictures which IFM has acquired. The other, also starring Kevin Smith is called Beyond Justice.
  • Hilltop Entertainment has sold North American rights to its action thriller Ignition starring Bill Pullman and Lena Olin to Lions Gate Films, and has boarded Andrei Konchalevsky's The Royal Way - a movie which has been on the market for nine years and finally looks set to start shooting in October.
  • Fine Line Features has confirmed it will take North American rights to three titles from Denmark's Zentropa Internationale which are being co-financed by German film giant Kinowelt: sci-fi picture Last Born, to be directed by Denmark's Niels Arden, Moments Of Clarity, written by newcomer Mikael Colville Andersen, and an adaptation of Jostein Gaarder's Through A Glass Darkly from hot Danish director Susanne Bier.
  • In an innovative use of UK financing structures worth an estimated $149m in tax write-offs, recently-formed London financing house Future Film Group has acquired all UK rights to a 14-strong slate to be released through its partnership with distributor Metrodome Distribution. The package includes two titles from LA-based sales and production outfit Hilltop Entertainment that are currently in production - Kevin Of The North and Ignition.
  • Meanwhile, Hilltop has cut a deal with France's TF1 to represent worldwide rights on French-language comedy Jet Set directed by Fabien Ontieniente and starring Lambert Wilson, Ornella Muti, Ariadna Gil and Samuel Le Bihan. The deal is unusual in that not only does it bypass TF1's own sales operation but gives Hilltop remake rights to the populist film
  • Lolafilms UK has sold Girl From Rio to UK distributor Redbus Film Distribution for the UK. Kinowelt has the picture for Germany, Switzerland and Eastern Europe, while Lolafilms will release the picture, currently in post, in Spain in the autumn. Lolafilms has also sold John Malkovich's directorial debut, The Dancer Upstairs to Mexican distributor Nu Vision for all of Latin America. The film will be handled by a group of distributors put together by Los Angeles-based buyers rep ABLO including Art Films & Filmark for Brazil and Eurocine in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
  • Recapitalised Italian distributor Eagle Pictures has sealed another package of pictures - with Seven Arts International - to go with the two picture deal with Summit and a three picture deal with Intermedia which it concluded at AFM. Eagle has taken theatrical rights to seven movies from Seven Arts including Rules Of Engagement, A Shot At Glory, Cletis Tout, Shadow Hours, Interstate 60, Morton Orwell and The Descent.
  • Germany's Atlas International has picked up world sales rights to a trio of new films including Constantin-produced Der Grosse Bagarozzy, now renamed The Devil And Ms D, Bunnyguards (aka Ercan & Stefan), co-produced by Hofman & Vosges and Constantin and Star Force, a US sci-fi production from the same stable that delivered one of Atlas' previous hits LA Wars.
  • US distributor Strand Releasing has acquired two titles from Australia's Southern Star Film Sales which it plans to release in New York in June. John Curran's Praise will open at New York's Screening Room on June 30 while Craig Monahan's The Interview opens at The Cinema Guild on June 16. Meanwhile, Southern Star has sold free-to-air television rights for Germany to both titles to ZDF.
  • Artist View Entertainment has acquired international rights to comedy Luminarias which is being released theatrically in the US on a regional basis under the aegis of Kit Parker. Starring Scott Bakula and Cheech Marin, the movie revolv