All Americas articles – Page 321
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Transformers set to deliver best US first week for non-sequel
Paramount/DreamWorks' sci-fi action blockbuster Transformersobliterated the competition over the weekend, opening on an estimated$67.6m over three days that rose to $152.5m including previews overthe six-day July 4 holiday week.If estimates hold up this will be the biggest first week result for anon-sequel, overtaking Spider-Man's $151.6m mark set in May 2002.Michael ...
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Transformers expands to 18 new territories; set to cross $100m
Paramount/PPI's Transformers has already amassed $53.5m since opening last weekend and stands a good chance of crossing $100m over the next several days in international markets. The effects-heavy tale of warring robots touches down in 18 new territories this weekend including Russia, Spain and Sweden on July 4. PPI stablemate ...
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MARV Films: the magic touch
Matthew Vaughn and Kris Thykier of MARV Films are moving into the big league with Stardust and a new Sony deal. Wendy Mitchell reports. Anyone bemoaning the decline of the UK film industry should open their eyes to the banner year at Matthew Vaughn's Marv Films. Marv has made the ...
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Editorial opinion: chasing the tale
Story doesn't get the credit it deserves in most contemporary discussions of cinema. Or, come to it, in the industry's own categories of merit.It wasn't always so: between 1940 and 1956, a best story Oscar ran alongside that for best original screenplay; then, in 1957, it was quietly retired, and ...
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Cha cha cha: the dream team
A staggering who's who of Mexican talent is in production on Carlos Cuaron's feature directorial debut Rudo Y Cursi. Chiara Arroyo reports from the first leg of the shoot. Six years after Y Tu Mama Tambien focused international attention on Mexico's film-making scene, many of the same players involved in ...
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Documentary case study: Sicko
Michael Moore's Sicko may be drumming up hype because of its subject matter. But for The Weinstein Company, the director is the real story. Peter Bowen reports. After Fahrenheit 9/11 grossed more than $220m worldwide, it became clear that a Michael Moore film was not your everyday documentary. For his ...
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International box office: mixed signals in Argentina
Increased ticket prices have helped raise total box-office revenues in Argentina but admissions have been falling. Diego Batlle reports. Admissions figures in Argentina dropped by an estimated 7% for the first half of 2007. The period saw 18.2 million admissions as opposed to 19.5 million in 2006.However, total box office ...
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Documentary case study: Air Guitar Nation
Peter Bowen explains why a debut documentary with a jokey-sounding title was the right fit for a new distributor.The plot of Alex Lipsitz's first documentary feature Air Guitar Nation sounds like a joke. A smattering of hopeful US air guitarists, with names like Bjorn Turoque and C-Diddy, follow their dreams ...
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Oscar changes the eligibility rules for documentaries - again
Will the new Academy Awards requirements benefit films with greater resources' Peter Bowen reportsAfter altering the rules in 2005, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) is again changing the rules dictating the eligibility of documentary features.In short, a doc must have a seven-day qualifying exhibition in either ...
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Transformers breaks US July 4 box-office record with $29m
Robots have taken over the domestic box office this Independence Day as DreamWorks and Paramount 's Transformers raked in $29.08m on the US national holiday, the biggest July 4 gross to date. The film's performance beats Spider-man 2 at $21.9m in 2004. Transformers - which has a 6.5 day opening ...
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Toronto adds debuts from David Auburn and Helen Hunt
Two high-profile directorial debuts are among five films added to the Toronto International Film Festival's September Special Presentations line-up. Pulitzer Prize winner David Auburn (Proof, The Lake House) has directed his own screenplay with The Girl In The Park. The film features Sigourney Weaver as long-suffering mother who encounters a ...
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Comweb becomes equity partner in Toronto's FILMPORT studio
Toronto-based Comweb Corporation has joined as an equity partner in a new company that will control Toronto's FILMPORT studio project. The new entity, Filmport Inc, will also own Toronto Film Studios (TFS) and other FILMPORT properties. Principal shareholders will be Comweb, merchant bank The Rose Corporation and a company owned ...
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Rio favelas to host new Cine Cufa festival in September
Organisers are planning a new festival in Rio, Cine Cufa, which will run September 4-16. Non-profit group Central Unica das Favelas is planning the festival, based in the City Of God favela where Fernando Meirelles film of the same name was set. The festival is set up 'with the purpose ...
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Spike Lee's Italian project St. Anna to boast $45m budget
Director Spike Lee and the Italian On My Own Production have announced new details on Lee's new Tuscany-set film project.The film will have a $45m budget, is to be produced 50% by On My Own - the new independent production company launched by ex-Mikado founders and owners Roberto Cicutto and ...
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Participant doc to capture Live Earth spirit
Participant Productions will present a feature documentary directed by Brian Hill to be inspired by the Live Earth concerts. The film will aim to capture the spirit of the concerts, a series of eight events set to take place around the world on July 8 put together by Live ...
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LAFF honours for Gauger and Whiteley
Stephane Gauger's Owl And The Sparrow won the Los Angeles Film Festival's Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and Greg Whiteley's Resolved took corresponding documentary honours at the weekend. Stephen Walker's Young @ Heart won the Audience Award for Best International Feature, and The Audience Award for Best Short ...
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Arts Alliance signs content deal with HP's Video Merchant arm
Arts Alliance Media (AAM) has signed a deal to become the international content provider for HP's new Video Merchant Services business. HP will now offer AAM's film content to distribution partners around the world, including North America. HP Video Merchant Services powers online video web stores and provides content fulfilment ...
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Disney cooks up number one domestic opening for Ratatouille
Disney's Ratatouille bit a hefty chunk out of the domestic box office pie at the weekend and beat off the five-day debut of Live Free Or Die Hard thanks to a three-day $47.2m estimated launch.This was actually a subdued performance by Pixar's lofty standards that many attributed to the conceptually ...
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Shrek, Transformers, Die Hard deliver gigantic international numbers
Shrek The Third stayed atop the overseas charts following its biggest weekend so far and combined with the international launch of Transformers to generate a $100m-plus weekend for Paramount/PPI.The green ogre hoisted his international running total to $259m on the back of an estimated $69.6m haul from 6,489 sites in ...
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Sundance Directors Lab: a mountain of work
The Sundance Directors Lab, which took place this month at the Sundance resort in the Utah mountains, has opened its doors to a new wave of international film-makers. Mike Goodridge visited the lab and met some of the writer-directors being put through their paces. A fair amount of legend has ...