All Screen articles in 5 May 2004 – Page 2
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News
Alliance Atlantis acquires leading Spanish distributor
Canada'sAlliance Atlantis Communications has agreed to buy Spanish distributor AurumProducciones for about $54m.Thedeal will extend the Canadian firm's reach in Europe, where it already alreadyowns Momentum Pictures in the UK."Thisacquisition is part of our clearly articulated strategy to expand intocontinental Europe," said Patrice Theroux, president and chief operatingofficer. "We believe ...
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Sunshine has sunny opening in UK for Momentum
Strong weekend performancesraised the early international running total of Focus Features' offbeat romanceEternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind to $3.8m.The picture opened in secondplace in the UK through Momentum, grossing a mighty $1.8m on 343 screens by theend of Sunday (2).Fuller figures for thefour-day weekend featuring Bank Holiday Monday will ...
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Silver City goes to Cannes through Myriad
Myriad Pictures will bringJohn Sayles' political satire Silver City to Cannes after acquiring international rights to the all-star ensemblecomedy from production company Anarchists' Convention.Newmarket Films acquired USrights in spring and plans a September 17 release ahead of the Presidentialelection in November.Written and directed bySayles, Silver City takes placeduring an imagined ...
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Dates opens top in Brazil, Turkey, still rules Germany
Powered bynumber one bows in Brazil and Turkey, the romantic comedy 50 First Dates grossed $7.1m on 2,560 screens to raiseits international running total to $46.1m.The picture,released through Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI),opened in Brazil on $705,000 on 169 screens and grossed $216,000 on 75 inTurkey.Dates stayed top in ...
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Horizon picks up international rights to Cosmic Africa
Rob Straight's Canadianproduction and international sales company Horizon Entertainment has picked upinternational rights to Craig and Damon Foster's South African documentary CosmicAfrica.The 72-minute Americanco-production with US-based Cosmos Studios will get its European premierescreening in Cannes as part of a retrospective celebrating the tenthanniversary of the end of Apartheid.Cosmic Africa purports ...
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Bill 2 adds $10m in week two in 27 territories
Miramax's Kill Bill Vol 2 reigned supreme in the UK, Taiwan and a host of smaller territories atthe weekend as it added an estimated $10m on 2,562 screens in 27 territoriesthrough Buena Vista International for a $36.1m total.In its secondweekend in the UK the Quentin Tarantino sequel took $2.5m on ...
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Scooby takes $4.1m to pass $80m for Warner
Scooby-Doo 2 passed $80m at the international boxoffice at the weekend following an estimated $4.1m haul with 876,500 admissionsfrom 3,998 screens in 58 territories for Warner Bros.Opening fifth in Russia on $139,000 from 108 screens andopening on $118,400 in Korea, the Warner Bros Pictures International releaseraised its international running total ...
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Reviews
Van Helsing
Dir/scr:Stephen Sommers. US. 2004. 132 mins.Thrillseekers looking for the maximum number of effects shots for their box officedollar (or pound, euro or yen) will get their money's worth fromwriter-director Stephen Sommers' $150m summer action-adventure Van Helsing. Which is just as well,because there's not much else to be got from this ...
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Reviews
Godsend
Dir:Nick Hamm. US. 2004. 100 mins.Humancloning ought to make a juicy subject for a psychological horror film (not tomention a topical marketing hook for distributors). But the cloning premiseturns out to be more intriguing than the execution in Godsend, adisappointingly generic PG-13 thriller from Lions Gate that marks the US ...
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IFC picks up Toback film
IFC Films has acquired NorthAmerican rights in all media to James Toback's thriller When Will I Be Loved starring Neve Campbell and plans to release thepicture in August.Campbell (Scream, TheCompany) plays a strong-willed womanwho exacts revenge on a couple of men whose conniving and sexist ways havebelittled her for too ...
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Ontario film censor loses power to cut
An Ontario judge has ruled that the province's film reviewboard does not have the right to require cuts to films submitted forclassification prior to distribution.Overturning a previous judgment, Mr. Justice RussellJuriansz of the Ontario Superior Court said the province's censorship rules runcontrary to the nation's freedom-of-expression statutes.Justice Juriansz said the ...
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MPAA Asian piracy strategist Ellis gets senior vp stripes
Mike Ellis, the MPAA's topanti-piracy strategist for the Asia-Pacific region whose hands-on approachresulted in the seizure of roughly 44m illegal optical discs from 13 countrieslast year, has been promoted to senior vice president and regional director,Asia-Pacific.Ellis will continue todirect strategic control of regional operations - as he has done since ...
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New sales company Hybrid to debut at Cannes with Argentinian thriller
Los Angeles-based HybridPictures principals P J Pettiette and Claudie Viguerie have launchedinternational sales and distribution arm Hybrid Pictures International (HPI).The new unit, which willoperate out of Los Angeles, is preparing to bring the psychological thriller Jennifer'sShadow starring Faye Dunaway toCannes, where it will receive its world premiere.Going forward, Pettiettewill handle ...
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HONG KONG 4 May
FilmkoEntertainment's Koma - a thriller starring acclaimed up-and-comingactresses Karena Lam and Lee Sin-je - opened in top position at the Hong Kongbox office this week, grossing $513,815 from 36 screens.Meanwhile,Wong Jing's Moving Targets, based on the popular 1984 TVB series PoliceCadet, opened in second position with $331,057 from 36 screens. ...
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DENMARK 4 May
As noneof the new releases at the Danish box-office chart really impressed on theiropening weekend, Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol.2 stayed on top ofthe chart despite dropping 40%. Starsky & Hutch, which opened muchbetter in the neighboring Nordic countries, was a close competitor for the topspot, but its screen average ...
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NEW ZEALAND 4 May
Kill Bill: Volume 2opened on the weekend and claimed the top spot from another BVI/Miramax film, Starsky& Hutch, just as it did in Australia on the previous weekend. KillBill took NZ$364,251 from 32 screens while Starsky & Hutch, inits second weekend on release, snapped at its heels with A$347,516 from ...
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SWEDEN 4 May
Nothingmuch happened at the Swedish chart this week, as positions one through fiveremained unchanged with Kill Bill Vol.2 as a strong leader with a solid$3,217 screen average on its 39 prints.The newrelease of Angelina Jolie's serial killer outing Taking Lives did lessimpressively with just its $1,949 screen average on 17 ...
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JAPAN 4 May
Disney's TheHaunted Mansion led the weekend before the start of the Golden Weekholiday. Family fare usually goes over well this week-long period -- one of thefew times of the year when the millions of workaholic dads take in a movie withtheir kids. Also, nearly every sentient and ambulatory Japanese has ...
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SPAIN Production Listings - May 4 2004
SPAIN - MAY 4PREPRODUCTIONAlgoHabran Hecho(Ibarretxe & Co, Dale Candela [Arg], OM Films [Fr]) Based on the true storyof a nun who was kidnapped and went missing in Buenos Aires in 1977. Prods:Eduardo Carneros, Maria Cabrejas, Olivier de Bannes. Ed: Luis CesarD'Angiolillo. Music: Pablo Velez. Dir: Fernando Oscar Nogueira. Scr: MariaCabrejas. ...
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New Diagonale team named
German-born film academic and journalist Birgit Flos(pictured) has been appointed as the new director of the Diagonale for threeyears from 2005.She will run the annual showcase of Austrian cinema in athree-person team together with critic Robert Buchschwenter (managing director,production) and financial consultant Georg Tillner (managing director, finance)and intends to continue ...