All Finance articles – Page 251

  • News

    Barrandov Studios to expand in 2006

    2005-12-19T06:00:00Z

    Barrandov Studios has announcedthat its owners have approved plans to build new stages to handle increasingdemand at the Prague studios. Work is expected to begin in the spring and willcost roughly $4.2m (3.5m Euros). The new complex will include severalsoundproof studios, one of which will be completed in 2006. Other ...

  • News

    Peter La Terriere to produce Quiver

    2005-12-15T00:00:00Z

    Ex-Trainspotting hardman and former Bond villain RobertCarlyle is to star as Cupid in a new romantic comedy, Quiver, being set up by London-based First Foot Films. Frenchactress Virginie Ledoyen (The Beach) will play the woman whobreaks his heart. Also in the cast is James McAvoy.Scripted by Liam Gavin, Quiver is ...

  • News

    Disney unveils first China co-production

    2005-12-14T00:00:00Z

    Disneyhas unveiled its first Chinese co-production - family-themed feature The Secret Of The Magic Gourd - which iscurrently shooting in Hangzhouin southern China. The film, which wasannounced at the CineAsia conference today in Beijing, is a co-production between Disney's internationaltheatrical arm Buena Vista International, Hong Kong-based visual effects houseCentro Digital ...

  • News

    Two films of comic book Witchblade to shoot in China

    2005-12-13T08:00:00Z

    Platinum Studios, Relativity Media, IDG Films and Arclight Filmshave jointly arranged financing on back-to-back stories adapted from Top CowProductions' comic book Witchblade.Principal photography is set to begin in 2006 in China on the twopictures, with Platinum, Relativity and IDG producing and Arclight handlinginternational sales. The parties will announce a domestic ...

  • News

    Memoirs star signs on for Penal Colony Of Love

    2005-12-13T00:00:00Z

    Koji Yakusho, lately seen inMemoirs Of A Geisha, is set to starin an adaptation of hit serial novel AiNo Ryukeichi (Penal Colony Of Love)for Japanese major Toho. The novel - which is writtenby Junichi Watanabe and is currently running in Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) - has become notorious ...

  • News

    Girl power boosts Japanese comic-book shoots

    2005-12-13T00:00:00Z

    It often seems as though everyproducer of commercial films in Japan is playing follow the leader, chasing afterhot novels, comic-books and TV shows - while seldom developing originalmaterial themselves.It's all for one reason. Mostof these films are financed and produced by media consortiums - and it's easierand usually more profitable ...

  • News

    Cast firms up for Ira & Abby: A Divorce Comedy

    2005-12-08T00:00:00Z

    Jason Alexander and Judith Light have joined the cast of RobertCary's comedy Ira & Abby: A Divorce Comedy, which began principal photography inNew York last month.Based on a screenplay by Kissing Jessica Stein writer and star Jennifer Westfeldt, Ira& Abby charts thefall-out of an impulsive marriage between a neurotic loner ...

  • News

    Italian industry looks overseas for production

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    While Italianfilm-makers continue to struggle with trickling government funds for homegrownprojects, Italians producers and financiers are becoming more and more involvedin international productions.Foremost among themis Massimo Pacilio's Rome-based Movieweb, a co-producer on Oliver Parker's Fade To Black, an atmospheric thrillerthat follows Orson Welles' exploits in seedy post-World War Two Italy.The ...

  • News

    Zentropa sign deal with producer Regnar Grasten

    2005-12-02T00:00:00Z

    Zentropa has invited a new partner into Filmbyen, Copenhagen. Local producer RegnarGrasten has moved his production facilities from DetDanske Filmstudie where many popular classics were made to Zentropa.Zentropa will produce Grasten'snext three films, one of which is a fourth sequel to the popular Anja & Viktor series, a Christmasfilm for ...

  • News

    Foxx to star in Universal's Middle East actioner The Kingdom

    2005-12-02T00:00:00Z

    Jamie Foxx will star in The Kingdom for Universal Pictures based on anoriginal idea brought to the studio by Peter Berg and Michael Mann.As previously announced,Berg will direct the thriller based on a screenplay by Matthew MichaelCarnahan. Mann will produce through his company Forward Pass, along with ScottStuber. Mary Parent ...

  • News

    High Point invests in thriller The Front Line

    2005-12-01T00:00:00Z

    London-based sales company High Point Films has invested "a substantial sales guarantee" against world rights for The Front Line, a feature film being directed by David Gleeson. Nathalie Lichtenthaeler's Wide Eye Films is producing.The thriller is shooting now in and around Dublin and Hamburg. Eriq Ebouaney (Kingdom of Heaven), James ...

  • News

    Hong Kong's Focus turns to Father And Son

    2005-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Hong Kong's Focus Films has picked up international rights toPatrick Tam Ka-ming's Father And Son,starring Aaron Kwok (Divergence) andCharlie Young (Seven Swords), whichstarts shooting this month in Malaysia. The film marks Tam'slong-awaited return to directing after a stint teaching screenwriting anddeveloping the story of Father And Son.Regarded as one of ...

  • News

    Pang brothers sign to direct The Darkness for Platinum

    2005-12-01T00:00:00Z

    LosAngeles-based Platinum Studios and Blue Star Pictures have signed Danny andOxide Pang to direct The Darkness, based on the Top Cow Productions comic book.Platinumwill finance 50% of the production that is at Miramax with a progress toproduction clause through January 2006. The project is currently out towriters.Platinum is alsoteaming up ...

  • News

    Promising signs for Singapore digital animation

    2005-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Singapore is boasting a first in digitalanimation with the release of Zodiac, The Race Begins, the city-state's first 3D animation feature.The $2m animation which is about themythical race of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, is the debut film project ofCubix International, initially a branding consultancy firm in Singapore beforebranching out ...

  • News

    Lago weighs in on Lynch's Surveillance

    2005-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Jennifer Lynch's long-gestating project Surveillance will go into production with Germany's Lago Film backing the $10m production.Previously announced for a 2004 start date, the filmco-written by Kent Harper tells the story of an FBI agent who is tracking aserial killer with the help of three would-be victims, all of whom ...

  • News

    Andrea makes something of Big Nothing as filming begins

    2005-11-28T00:00:00Z

    Jean-BaptisteAndrea will start principal photography on December 4 for the black comedy BigNothing. The cast featuresJoining David Schwimmer, Simon Pegg, Natasha McElhone, Mimi Rogers, MauryChaykin, and Alice Eve. The film is about a frustrated teacher who embarks on ablackmailing scheme with two con artists. Big Nothing is a Pathe Pictures ...

  • News

    Hong Kong lines up Chinese New Year blockbusters

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    A live-actiontake on popular animated character McDull, martial arts legend Huo Yuanjia and a comedy about shopping are set to battle itout in Hong Kong and other Chinese-speaking territories next Chinese New Year.Peter Ho-sun Chanand McDull creator Brian Tseare producing McDull, The Alumni,which combines live-action and animated sequences to recount ...

  • News

    Torres, Pardue star in Gossner's South Of Pico

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Gina Torres andKip Pardue are heading the cast of US drama South Of Pico, which has started shooting on LosAngeles under first-time feature director Ernst Gossner.Inspired by trueevents, the story tracks four seemingly ordinary people in Los Angeles whoselives are changed when they witness the accidental death of an 11-year-oldgirl.Paul ...

  • News

    Greengrass starts shooting 9/11 re-enactment at Pinewood

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Director Paul Greengrass has started principal photography on his9/11 feature film Flight 93 for Universal Pictures and Working Title Films in associationwith Sidney Kimmel Entertainment.Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, The Bourne Supremacy) started shooting Flight 93 at the UK's Pinewood Studios on November14, and shooting will continue on location in the UK ...

  • News

    Verhoeven steers new course for shipwreck tale

    2005-11-21T00:00:00Z

    Paul Verhoeven and his regularscriptwriter Gerard Soeteman are pushing ahead again with Batavia's Graveyard, their blood-curdlinghistorical epic about the shipwreck of the Bataviain 1629. The film was previously set up at FilmFour."It's a story in the directionof the Bounty but it's much more about the development of a fascist regime," ...