All Screen articles in 25 February 2003 – Page 3
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US turns up the heat on Asian remakes
Hollywood's fervour for remaking Asian genre titles is reaching fever pitch. Dimension Films has acquired North American and remake rights to Cinema Service's comedy-drama that has the working title Teacher Mr Kim. And separately, Cineclick Asia is finalising a deal with Los Angeles-based production and distribution group Mosaic Media for ...
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Bollywood's most ambitious film unveiled
With a budget of $22m, Indian film Director Rajkumar Santoshi's version of Mahabharat is likely to be the most expensive Indian film ever made.Although shooting is not scheduled to start until 2004, pre-production has been underway for some time. The sets started being built at Hyderabad's Ramoji Film City midway ...
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Italy tests product placement as film financing alternative
Rome's Blue Star Movie has sealed a landmark multi-million dollar product placement deal with Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, with the multinational agreeing to fund an international short film and potentially a European feature-length picture. Blue Star Movie head Pete Maggi said Johnson & Johnson is investing "over Euros 10m" ...
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AFM conference assesses film funding jigsaw
In the wake of Germany's Neuer Markt collapse, global television's retreat from film buying and the general economic downturn, independent production and distribution companies are being forced to reassess their business models and rely on a funding jigsaw from an ever broader and enterprising array of sources, a wide-ranging AFM ...
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Celestial to launch 24-hour Chinese movie channel in March
Hong Kong's Celestial Pictures is set to roll out its 24-hour Chinese movie channel, Celestial Movies, in Malaysia and Brunei on March 3, with launches in other territories around the world to follow over the coming year. The channel will be carried on Malaysian satellite platform Astro, which is majority ...
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Mukta Arts plans $18m Indian film school
Mumbai-based film Production Company Mukta Arts is launching a film school named Whistling Woods International. "Today most of us in the industry are products of individual and instinctive talent without much professional training," Mukta Arts' Subhash Ghai told Screendaily. "We want to change that. If the Hindi film industry needs ...
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Daredevil still flies high
Fox/Regency's Daredevil heroically held off the competition and clung on top spot over the weekend with an $18.9m haul that took its running total after 10 days to $70.3m, according to studio estimates released today (Feb 23). The Marvel Comics adaptation, which stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, is set ...
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Polanski's The Pianist triumphs at the BAFTAs
Roman Polanski's The Pianist completed a dazzling weekend last night, winning the best film and director trophies at the British Film Academy Awards in London. On Saturday night in Paris, the film swept the Cesar awards taking best film, director and actor prizes. Brody, who won the Cesar but lost ...
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Dario Argento set to shoot The Card Player
Cult Italian director Dario Argento is lining up a new thriller, entitled The Card Player. Produced by Medusa, the film starts shooting in March with hot Italian actress Stefania Rocca (Casomai, Resurrection) in the lead role. Worldwide distribution rights are being handled by Adriana Chiesa Enterprises. Argento's last film, Sleepless ...
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Pianist waltzes off with Cesar sweep
Roman Polanski's Palme d'Or winner, The Pianist, swept the 28th Cesar Awards in Paris Saturday night. In the major categories the film took Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in what ended up to be a trouncing of odds-on favorite 8 Women. Francois Ozon's musical murder mystery had ...
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Arclight's Twins Effect secures multiple berths
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment has picked up North American and Latin American rights in all media on The Twins Effect, the made-in-Hong Kong martial arts vampire picture sold by sales newcomer Arclight Films.The Twins Effect is directed by Dante Lam and features Hong Kong teen singing sensations Charlene Choi and ...
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Spanish gov't plans to monitor TV investment in film
The Spanish government has said its plans to clarify and regulate television investment in local films more strictly in the future.The move could help appease the film sector, which last week released a seven-page statement detailing a series of measures urgently needed to boost the Spanish film sector, including stricter ...
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Lagaan director signs Shahrukh Khan for next feature
Ashutosh Gowarikar, director of India's Oscar nominated cricket epic Lagaan, is lining up a new $6m film starring Shahrukh Khan.Called Swades, the film will be funded by Mumbai's UTV Motion Pictures and produced through Ashutosh Gowarikar Productions. Billed as a patriotic film set in contemporary times, it is being targeted ...
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Japanese director set for Grudge re-match
Japanesedirector Takashi Shimizu is to remake his horrorflick The Grudge (Ju-On) for GhostHouse Pictures, the newly hatched genre label formed by Sam Raimi, Rob Tappertand Senator International. TakaIchise, who produced Ringu (successfully remade by Dreamworks SKG as The Ring) and Ju-On, will produce for Ghost House. The pictureis being fast ...
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Theron, Townsend put heads in Duigan's Clouds
Reallife couple Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend have joined Penelope Cruz andThomas Kretschmann in the cast of John Duigan's next film Head In The Clouds which Gary Hamilton'sArclight Films is representing for worldwide sales. NataliePortman was originally attached to star in the lead role with Cruz, but Theronhas taken her ...
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Icelandic Film Foundation drafts in new chief
The Icelandic Film Foundation, the new name for The Icelandic Film Fund, has appointed Laufey Gudjonsdottir as its new managing director. .The appointment of Gudjonsdottir, a former buyer from the Icelandic national broadcaster, has meant that the former managing director of the Film Fund, Thorfinnur Omarsson, has been forced to ...
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Seafood director cooks up second feature with Century Hero
The second feature from award winning Chinese director Zhu Wen - South Of The Clouds - is scheduled to start shooting in Tianjin in northern China next week, with backing from state-owned studio Century Hero Film Investment. The US$363,000 (RMB3m) film, also scripted by Zhu, tells the story of a ...
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More spanking sales business for Secretary
Lions Gate Internationalhas closed two of last unsold territories on Steven Shainberg'ssado-masochistic relationship drama Secretary, selling the Sundance prize-winning film to ArsenalFilmverleih in Germany and Manga Films in Spain.StarringJames Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal, in the role that earned her a Golden Globenomination this year for best actress in a comedy ...
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Entertainment croons with Spacey's Darin biopic
Leading UK distributor Entertainment Film Distributors(EFD) has emerged as the first international buyer for Kevin Spacey's BobbyDarin biopic, Beyond The Sea.The story of the legendary American crooner, which Spaceywill direct and star in, was unveiled yesterday at the AFM by sales agent MDPWorldwide. Spacey will produce with Arthur Friedman, Bernie ...
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Helkon throws money behind zombie shocker
UK distributor Helkon SK has picked up Boll KG'szombie feature House Of The Dead.The film, which had already been sold France and Spainbefore the American Film Market this week, has, as part of the Helkonacquisition package, an aggressive P&A commitment of EUR(Eu)1.5million. The sale was made with sales agent Interactive ...