All articles by Agnes Poirier – Page 5
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News
Alliance Atlantis posts 35% increase in net earnings
Canada's Alliance Atlantis recorded improved year-end results, ending a bad run for the company with net earnings of $31m (C$47.3m), a 35% increase over the previous fiscal year. In January, the company reduced its LA office, cutting 80 staff and paring down distribution and marketing operations. A further 35 positions ...
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Canada's Remstar signs output deal with Transfilm
Canada's Remstar Distribution has signed a four-year output deal with Quebec producer Claude Leger's Transfilm that will see the Montreal company distribute all Transfilm's film and television productions in Canada. Included in the deal are the Canada-France mini-series Napoleon, starring Isabella Rossellini, Gerard Depardieu, John Malkovich, Anouk Aimee and Christian ...
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News
Lions Gate, TVA pact for Canadian distribution
Canadian entertainment companies Lions Gate Films and TVA Films have formed a joint venture to share distribution operations in English Canada. The new entity, JV Media, will handle theatrical, video/DVD and television product with a staff from both companies.Headquartered in Toronto, JV Media will be headed by Lions Gate's Brad ...
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Sony Pictures Classics snares Spider for US
Sony PicturesClassics has picked up US rights to David Cronenberg's Cannes competitionentry Spider, payingbetween $1.5m and $2m. The deal was finalized with Spider's sales agent Capitol Films onlyyesterday, according to SPC co-president Tom Bernard.Bernard told ScreenDaily he plans on releasing the $12m Canada/UKcoproduction for an Oscar-nomination run at Christmas. "It's ...
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News
US runaway productions in decline
The number of so-called runaway productions from the US to Canada is decreasing, according to a report by the Center for Entertainment Industry Data and Research (CEIDR). The 2001 Production Report, which focuses on "theatrical-length motion pictures released in US theatres", indicates that of 158 films in its 2001 study, ...
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Toronto appoints new programmers, promotes Free
The Toronto International Film Festival has appointed two new programmers for its 27th outing and promoted press office veteran Gabrielle Free to replace outgoing director of media and public relations Nuria Bronfman.Joining the programming team are Diana Sanchez, who will select Spanish-language and Latin American films, and Jane Schoettle, who ...
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News
Brazil changes Spider-Man rating in response to public outcry
Sony Pictures' money-spinning Spider-Man is gathering an extra bit of mileage in Brazil thanks to a change in the film's classification during its first week on release in the South American nation. The film, which was released May 17 through Columbia-TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI) on an unprecedented 507 prints, ...
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MDP posts near 50% revenue increase
Mark Damon's MDP Worldwide recorded a second quarter revenue increase of nearly 50% on the back of feature film The Musketeer and producing and financing fees from Christian Duguay's The Extremist. It was a company-record sixth consecutive profitable quarter. Six month income was up 90% from the same period last ...
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Fast Runner strolls past C$1m in Canada
Zacharias Kunuk's Anatarujuat: The Fast Runner has grossed more than C$1m ($650,000) at the Canadian box office. The film has been on release since April 12 through Alliance Atlantis' art house distribution arm Odeon Films. The film won the Camera d'Or at Cannes in 2001 and went on to win ...
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Reviews
REVIEW: Ararat
Dir: Atom Egoyan. Canada. 2002. 115mins. Screened in CompetitionArarat is the film Atom Egoyan has been waiting to make his entire career. All the familiar Egoyan tropes are present - the obsession with mediated images, the juxtaposition of 'truth' and 'fiction', of the 'normal' and the 'foreign', - but the ...
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Reviews
Spider
Dir. David Cronenberg, Can-UK. 2002. Screened in CompetitionDavid Cronenberg has described Spider as "pure". This is something of an understatement. An uncompromising portrait of mental disturbance, Spider makes Cronenberg's previous Competition entry Crash seem commercial; whereas the 1996 film promised attractions such as cars and sex, Spider has nothing to ...
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Reviews
Spider
Dir. David Cronenberg, Can-UK. 2002. Screened in CompetitionDavid Cronenberg has described Spider as "pure". This is something of an understatement. An uncompromising portrait of mental disturbance, Spider makes Cronenberg's previous Competition entry Crash seem commercial; whereas the 1996 film promised attractions such as cars and sex, Spider has nothing to ...
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News
Canadian ban upheld on foreign satellite signal reception
A group of Canadian satellite TV dealers has failed in its bid to delay enforcement of a ban on the unlicensed reception of foreign satellite signals. The group, which operates in the so-called grey market, whereby Canadian consumers maintain a US mailing address and receive US signals , was responding ...
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News
Loews Cineplex considers public offering
Revived North American cinema circuit Loews Cineplex is considering an initial public offering, according to the CEO of the company that engineered the refinancing of the insolvent exhibitor. Speaking at his company's annual general meeting on May 9, Onex Corp. CEO Gerald Schwartz said that exhibition was enjoying a return ...
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News
Max Film wraps Rose's debut Menopause
Canadian producers Roger Frappier's and Luc Vandal's Max Film is close to wrapping production On Comment Ma Mere Accoucha De Moi Durant Sa Menopause (which translates roughly as "how my mother gave birth to me during menopause"). The debut film by director/screenwriter Sebastian Rose, the comedy tells the story of ...
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News
Canada's Remstar signs output deal with Chesler/Perlmutter
Montreal-based distributor Remstar has signed a two-year multi-picture output deal with Toronto-based Chesler/Perlmutter, the first such deal the production company has secured in three years. The two-year pact, which includes development funds, will give Remstar first look for Canadian distribution of upcoming titles including the recently completed Tempo In Paris, ...
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Foreign films get Hollywood on the re-make
When Sony Picture’s Mr. Deeds opens in North America next month its prospects will depend largely on the appeal of its star Adam Sandler, as opposed to the fact that it’s a remake of Frank Capra’s 1936 comedy Mr. Deeds Goes To Town.Meanwhile, the development department at Sony Pictures, which ...
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Ortenberg, Pasoernek and Block sign onto multiyear deals at Lions Gate
Lions Gate Entertainment has signed its senior managers to long-term contracts and appointed James Keegan to the new position of chief administrative officer.The company has re-signed Lions Gate Films Releasing President Tom Ortenberg, Lions Gate Films president of production Michael Paseornek and Lions Gate Home Entertainment and acquisitions president Peter ...
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Rivett & Wilson get promotions at Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis has promoted two executives to the top marketing-publicity positions in its Entertainment Group. Gail Rivett has been named senior vice president, marketing and publicity, and Pam Wilson has been named senior vice president, publicity. Rivett, based in Toronto, will oversee all functions of the Entertainment Group's marketing and ...
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Canada rules on reception of US satellite TV signals
The reception of US satellite TV signals in Canada has been declared illegal by the Supreme Court of Canada, reversing previous lower court decisions and heralding a victory for the two licensed Canadian operators, Bell Expressvu and Star Choice Communications.The two local operators had complained that grey and black market ...