New Line International has made a host of international sales on its latest slate totalling over $40m worth of business, according to NLI president Rolf Mittweg who is also the co-chairman of worldwide marketing for New Line Cinema.

The deals, clinched before, during and after the recent American Film Market include another multi-picture package with Samuel Hadida's Metropolitan Filmexport for France encompassing Rush Hour 2, Sam I Am, Simone, Life As A House, John Q, Blade 2, Sleeping Dictionary and About Schmidt.

Ernesto Di Sarro's Nexo Pictures, the new Italian player which took eight films from New Line last year including The Cell and 15 Minutes, bought six more at AFM - Simone, Unconditional Love, John Q, Blow, The Little Vampire and Hedwig And The Angry Inch.

Mittweg also sealed deals with PlayArte in Brasil for the current slate (excluding The Lord Of The Rings which went to Warner Bros, see below) as well as closing a single picture deal with Golden Scene in Hong Kong for the Jackie Chan starrer Rush Hour 2 and selling three more films to regular client Gaga Communications in Japan - About Schmidt, Bones and Love And Basketball. Late last year, NLI sold Blade 2 and Life As A House to Nippon Herald in Japan.

Meanwhile the distribution network for The Lord Of The Rings trilogy - New Line Cinema's single biggest undertaking - is now nearly closed. Medusa bought the films for Italy just prior to AFM after NLI and Nexo couldn't reach agreement on the contract. NLI's sister company Warner Bros has bought the trio for Latin America except Mexico which goes through New Line output partner Videocine.

At Cannes last year, Mittweg sold the trilogy to Nippon Herald in Japan, Metropolitan in France and Taewon Entertainment in Korea. The films will be fed through NLI's network of output deals with distributors such as Entertainment in the UK, Kinowelt in Germany, Roadshow in Australia and Svensk Filmindustri in Scandinavia.