All Screen articles in 19 December 2003 – Page 5
-
News
New York Film Critics opt for The Return Of The King as best of 2003
Peter Jackson's Lord OfThe Rings trilogy finale TheReturn Of The King was named bestpicture of 2003 in the 69th annual New York Film Critics Circle awardsannounced today (Dec 15), taking pride of place among a diverse roster ofmostly independent films. Bill Murray won best actorfor his role as a disconnected ...
-
News
Sobini acquires worldwide rights to Sundance 2003's Quattro Noza
Mark Amin's Sobini Films hasacquired worldwide rights to Joey Curtis' street racing drama Quattro Noza and will serve as a producing partner and providefinishing funds for post-production. The film recently garneredtwo IFP Independent Spirit Award nominations for best first feature andcinematography and premiered in competition at Sundance this year, where ...
-
News
Canadian distribution sector posts record revenues in 2001/2
Big jumps in pay-TV and homevideo drove Canadian film distributors and video wholesales to a record $2.28bn(C$3bn) in revenues in 2001-2002 according to data released Monday by StatisticsCanada. Revenues from pre-recordedvideocassettes and DVDs reached$1.14bn in2001/02, their highestlevel ever, driven by a 23% increase in average household expenditures onsoftware. The overall ...
-
News
Sundance names 12 scripts in prestigious Screenwriters Lab in Jan
Projects from Thailand, Tajikistan andPakistan join nine from North America in the Sundance Institute's ScreenwritersLab, which takes place from Jan 9-14 at the Sundance Village in Utah. Thefive-day workshop offers writers the chance to develop their scripts withsupport from established screenwriters. This year's chosen writers willcollaborate with a roster of ...
-
News
Italian film producers threaten to shut pay-TV window
In an ultimate bid to get a reaction out of pay-TV outfit Sky Italia, Italy's national union of independent film producers and directors (API) warned that it could, in future, by-pass the pay-TV window altogether and sell films to free-to-air broadcasters before selling pay-TV rights. Heads of Rai Cinema and ...
-
News
...as festival honours Man Without A Head
With Taiwanese film production at a record low, there was some speculation whether this year's Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards would even take place. The success of Hong Kong and Chinese movies at recent Awards has embarrassed the Taiwan government, with tensions further strained over the festival's position on ...
-
News
Two Wellspring executives move over to Koch
FormerWellspring Media executives Janet Baker and Kathy Gilbert have joined US musicand video distributor Koch Entertainment Distribution, with Baker coming onboard as director of sales - video and Gilbert as regional video sales manager.Effectiveimmediately, Baker will be based in Chicago where she will oversee thecompany's expanding video sales efforts, supervise ...
-
News
Warner co-production Thief Lord wins Hamburg funding
Richard Claus' adaptation of Cornelia Funke's best-selling children's book The Thief Lord has been awarded Euros 600,000 by German funding body FilmFoerderung Hamburg.The film, which will be produced by Warner Bros. Filmproductions with Dutch-based Comet Films, will star Janet McTeer and Jim Carter.Funke's magical bestsellers have been billed as the ...
-
News
Cold Mountain partners Mirage, Miramax warm up to new deal
Miramax Films has signed a three-year-first-look dealwith Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella's Mirage Enterprises, kickingoff with the adaptation of Allison Pearson's comic bestseller IDon't Know How She Does It, the first part of Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus Trilogy fantasy, The Amulet Of Samarkand, and the family drama The MarryingGame.The deal, announced ...
-
News
Parent & Stuber promoted to production vice chairmen at Universal
Mary Parent and Scott Stuber have each been appointed to the newpositions of vice chairman of worldwide production for Universal Pictures.In their new jobs they will continue to oversee worldwideacquisition, creative development and production of all Universal's films, aswell as overseeing the studio's original made-for-video productions and creativedevelopment and production ...
-
News
Global Film Initiative gives grants to films from Uruguay, Turkey, Brazil
US-based charitable foundation The Global Film Initiative hasnamed the award recipients for its second annual granting programme. Threerecipients selected from 33 submissions representing 19 countries will eachreceive completion funds of between $20,000 and $40,000.The titles are: Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll's siblingrivalry drama Whisky(Uruguay), Reha Erdem's anarchic look at ...
-
News
Bolton launches US online one-stop-shop Really Good Films
Technology veteran Rick Bolton has launched Really Good Films, anonline one-stop shop that offers US film-goers services, editorial content andproducts and provides the company's commerce partners with a cost-effectivemarketing service.Visitors to the website will be able to read reviews andinterviews, check screening times and buy DVDs, books and soundtracks, amongother ...
-
News
Revolution controversy hits IDA awards ceremony
Kim Bartley and DonnachaO'Briain's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised shared top feature honours at the 19th InternationalDocumentary Association (IDA) awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Friday (Dec13), despite an eleventh hour request by Venezuelan protestors to withhold theaward until the facts of the film had been investigated.Protestors handed outleaflets ...
-
News
Bigas Luna readies female coming-of-age tale for Alquimia
Spanish producer Alquimia Cinema has unveiled its slate for 2004 including new films from directors Bigas Luna (Golden Balls), Marcelo Pineyro (Kamchatka) and Maria Ripoll (Tortilla Soup).The untitled coming-of-age tale scripted by Luna for an October shoot follows a twenty-something girl as she sets out to discover the world. With ...
-
News
AFI top ten list omits Mountain, Grams
The American Film Institute(AFI) announced its 10 best films of 2003 today (Dec 14), unveiling a heavilydramatic roster of mainstream and independent titles that is also distinguishedby several notable omissions.After deliberating for twodays the 13-person jury comprising academics, critics and trustees named thefollowing titles: American Splendor, Finding Nemo, The Human ...
-
News
Audiovisual/Ster acquires Europlex in Greece
Greekentertainment media group Audiovisual has acquired the two-site Europlex-GreeceCineplexes chain through its subsidiary, Ster Cinemas.The acquisitionof the two sites - an eight-screen 1,996-seater venue in Patras and aneight-screen 1.764-seater venue in Larissa - positions Ster Cinemas-Greece asthe country's second largest exhibitor with a total of 35 screens and 8,185seats.Ster willshortly ...
-
News
Miramax reaches accord with Spain's Lauren
Miramax Filmshas reached an agreement with Spain's beleaguered Lauren Films whereby Laurenwill continue to handle the 18 as yet unreleased Miramax titles it had acquiredfor Spain and also exploit the library of Miramax titles it has amassed overthe last decade in business with the US company.Miramax COO RickSands told ScreenDaily ...
-
News
Irish minister fires tax abuse broadside
The Irish Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue, has issued a stern warning to producers about abusing the film industry's Section 481 tax break.Speaking at the launch of the Irish Film Board's Annual Review, O'Donoghue said: "No-one is suggesting that the majority, or anything close to it, of ...
-
News
Samurai continues to wow in Japan with $4.6m weekend
Warner Bros International's The Last Samurai continued to slice through thecompetition in its second weekend in Japan, adding an estimated $4.6m (Yen511.9m)from 538 screens.The action epic, in which TomCruise plays a disillusioned Civil War veteran who undergoes a spiritualawakening in Japan, has now grossed $19.2m (Yeb2.1bn) in the territory.The runningtotal ...
-
News
$10m more for Love Actually as international gross soars to $87m
Universal's Love Actually grossed an estimated $10m from 2,800theatres in 28 countries through UIP at the weekend, raising its internationalrunning total to $87m.The total excludes France,where the film is distributed by Studiocanal and has taken $3m to date. Theromantic comedy is looking good to pass $100m with 13 countries still ...