All Finance articles – Page 186

  • News

    Sequel opportunities - reviving franchises

    2007-09-07T06:35:00Z

    With three sequels grossing more than $300m apiece at the North American box office and another half dozen passing $100m, summer 2007 proved the point yet again: sequels can be very big and very reliable business. No wonder the sequel rights market appears to be growing.By acquiring sequel rights to ...

  • News

    Soderbergh plans Girlfriend Experience with HDNet

    2007-09-07T06:00:00Z

    Steven Soderbergh, who directed Bubble for HDNet, has committed to making another digital film for the company. He will start shooting The Girlfriend Experience, set in the world of high-class escorts, in February 2008.Details remain skimpy on the new project. Soderbergh is currently in Latin-America filming his two Che Guevara ...

  • News

    Montreal's Park Ex readies Jacob Tierney's The Trotsky

    2007-09-07T06:00:00Z

    Montreal-based Park Ex Entertainment, producer of Canadian smash Bon Cop, Bad Cop, is readying Jacob Tierney's follow-up to Twist.Written and to be directed by Tierney, The Trotsky dives into the mind of a 17-year-old high schooler who believes himself to be the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky. Twist producer Victoria Hirst ...

  • News

    Fiennes and Pearce join cast of Iraq drama The Hurt Locker

    2007-09-07T06:00:00Z

    Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, Jeremy Renner and David Morse have boarded Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker, which is currently filming in Jordan.Brian Geraghty and Anthony Mackie also star in the ensemble drama, Bigelow's first feature since 2002's Russian submarine thriller K-19: The Widowmaker.The Hurt Locker follows the ...

  • News

    Revolver takes UK rights to Big River Man, Savage Grace

    2007-09-07T06:00:00Z

    UK distributor Revolver Entertainment has added four new projects to its release slate.They are John Maringouin's documentary Big River Man, about an eccentric Slovenian man who tries to swim the world's longest rivers. Maria Florio, Molly Hassell and Molly Lynch produced for Self Pictures/Earthworks, and Mickey Cottrell executive produced. 'Martin ...

  • News

    Jia Zhangke plans factory worker film before 2008

    2007-09-07T06:00:00Z

    Golden Lion winning director Jia Zhangke, whose new documentary Useless about the fashion industry screened in Venice's Horizons last week and in Toronto this week, has revealed further details of his next dramatic feature, which he is planning to have ready in time for the Olympic Games in Beijing in ...

  • News

    Andi Isaacs takes production job at Summit Entertainment

    2007-09-06T21:11:00Z

    Andi Isaacs has joined Summit Entertainment as senior vice president of physical production and will oversee all aspects of in-house productions for the fledgling studio. She reports to chief operating officer Bob Hayward. Isaacs recently served as a production executive for Walt Disney Pictures from 2004-06 and before that ...

  • News

    Ralph Fiennes and Hayley Atwell join Duchess' court

    2007-09-06T20:29:00Z

    Ralph Fiennes, Hayley Atwell and Dominic Cooper have all joined Keira Knightley in the cast of The Duchess, which starts shooting in London on Sept 23. Gabrielle Tana for Magnolia Mae and Michael Kuhn for Qwerty Films are producing with backing from Pathe Productions and BBC Films. Bullet Boy's Saul ...

  • News

    Jeff Daniels turns Traitor in Toronto

    2007-09-06T16:04:00Z

    Overture Films' spy thriller Traitor, which begins filming in Toronto with writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff gets added boost from Jeff Daniels who joins Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce in the cast.Neal McDonough, Archie Panjabi, Alyy Kahn and Said Taghmaoui also star in the tale of a rogue operative who helps terrorists, ...

  • News

    Sweden's TV4 fills gap for Arn: The Knight Templar

    2007-09-06T15:53:00Z

    Swedish commercial broadcaster TV4 replaces Swedish pubcaster SVT as co-producer of Svensk Filmindustri's Arn: The Knight Templar.The $30.3m (Euro 22.8m) adaptation of Jan Guillou's bestselling trilogy of Arn Magnusson lost support from pubcaster SVT because 'the material we have seen does not live up to the quality we expected.'Stepping into ...

  • News

    Beta Cinema reps Stoehr's Berlin Calling

    2007-09-06T12:37:00Z

    Germany's Hannes Stoehr's third feature Berlin Calling which shoots in Berlin this week, is to be sold internationally by Beta Cinema. Stoehr's third feature pivots on DJ Ickarus, aka Martin Karow who tours clubs around the globe with his manager and girlfriend. On the eve of their largest album release, ...

  • News

    Johnnie To set to produce Ghost trilogy for Meridian

    2007-09-06T10:27:00Z

    Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To will produce a trilogy based on the popular Chinese online novel series Gui Chui Deng, about grave-robbing, treasure-hunting and ghosts, for Shanghai-based Meridian Pictures. 'We have bought the rights of the four books and plan to make three films,' Meridian 's director of int'l distribution ...

  • News

    Maximum and Fortissimo strike Canadian-Asian partnership

    2007-09-06T06:41:00Z

    Robert Lantos' new Toronto-based distribution and sales company Maximum Films has created an unusual partnership with Hong Kong-based Fortissimo Films whereby Maximum will distribute Fortissimo's films in Canada and Fortissimo will represent the sale of Maximum's projects in Asia. The deal, for an initial term of two years, was unveiled ...

  • News

    Cirrus dives into Surfing In Newfoundland

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Fresh from its latest Quebec smash Nitro, Montreal-based Cirrus Communications is setting up its next film, Surfing In Newfoundland.Quebecois filmmaker Eric Tessier (Sur Le Seuil) will make his English-language debut, directing the screenplay by Newfoundland writer Andrew Youngblood based on his own experiences surfing the frigid north Atlantic waters. With ...

  • News

    Canada's Triptych readies High Life with Garry Yates

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Toronto-based Triptych Media, co-producers of TIFF Closing Night title Emotional Arithmetic, is readying its next feature, High Life, with director Garry Yates (Seven Times Lucky).Triptych's Robin Cass is setting the project up as an Ontario-Manitoba coproduction with plans to begin principal photography later this autumn. Based on the darkly comic ...

  • News

    Tom Green, Crispin Glover chill out with comedy Freezer Burn

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Tom Green and Crispin Glover have joined Film Bridge International and Panacea Entertainment's action comedy Freezer Burn.Principal photography is set to begin in October in Alberta, Canada, with Grant Harvey directing and Film Bridge's Ellen Wander producing alongside Panacea president and executive producer Josh Miller.Santa Monica-based Film Bridge is overseeing ...

  • News

    Graham King takes on pitch from Brave One writer Mort

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Graham King's GK Films has acquired a murder mystery pitch from Cynthia Mort, one of the screenwriters on the Jodie Foster crime drama The Brave One that gets its world premiere today.King will produce the project, which is styled as a fast paced morality tale 'in keeping with what was ...

  • News

    Ryan Phillippe and Abbie Cornish join the fight for Viking epic

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish and Sean Bean have come on board Menno Meyjes' next film Last Battle Dreamer.The $20m Viking epic adventure will shoot starting Nov 19 for eight weeks in the UK and Germany, backed by Future Films with Handmade Films International handling international sales.Phillippe stars as Thorfinn, a ...

  • News

    Jim Harvey takes Media 8 VP post after leaving Element

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Jim Harvey has joined Los Angeles-based production, financing and sales company Media 8 as vice president of worldwide distribution after exiting the now defunct Element Films International (EFI).Harvey will be in Toronto to oversee all sales, licensing and distribution on a slate that includes the historical drama Eichmann starring Thomas ...

  • News

    Slingshot strikes 12-film development deal with BBC Films

    2007-09-05T19:40:00Z

    The UK's new low-budget digital studio Slingshot Studios is workingwith BBC Films to co-develop and co-finance four projects in 2007 and afurther eight projects in 2008.The projects will be shot using Slingshot's micro-budget model, with UK theatrical release through Slingshot and a TV platform on the BBC.BBC Films and Slingshot ...