All articles by Jeremy Kay – Page 1173
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Katyn, Moscow Belgium among winners at Denver Film Festival
Andrzej Wajda's Polish wartime drama Katyn won the best narrative feature in the Starz People's Choice Awards as the 31st Starz Denver Film Festival came to a close last week.Daniel Junge's They Killed Sister Dorothy was named best documentary and Nicky Phelan's Granny O'Grimms Sleeping Beauty won the best short ...
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New Line's Four Christmases leads Thanksgiving box office parade
Ticket sales over the Thanksgiving weekend climbed 3.7% on last year as Warner Bros' comedy Four Christmases - a New Line hand-me-down following the merger earlier this year - starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn dethroned Twilight on an estimated $46.7m over five days and $31.7m over three.Buoyed by excellent ...
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SPRI's Quantum stays top in international with $20.1m weekend
Bond stayed on top of his game as Sony Pictures Releasing International's Quantum Of Solace added a further $20.1m from 8,755 screens in 73 markets to raise the estimated tally to $340.1m.The $482m worldwide running total will cross the half-billion mark by next weekend. The only new overseas release was ...
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Fox launches Australia in Australia day-and-date with North America
Sony/MGM's Quantum Of Solace remains the one to beat heading into the weekend although the James Bond saga can expect to get shaken and stirred by several new arrivals.The 007 tale has raced to $312m through Sony Pictures Releasing International and should finish the weekend close to $340m through strong ...
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Awards countdown Golden Globes - Back to business
In a tumultuous year for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Hfpa), president Jorge Camara anticipates business as usual as the group prepares to announce its Golden Globe nominees on December 11.As the second oldest awards body in Hollywood, after the Academy Awards, the Hfpa has seen and done a lot ...
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Sundance Documentary Film Program banks on 20 projects
The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program has announced the 20 projects awarded financial and creative support from the Sundance Documentary Fund.Nearly 800 film-makers working in more than 70 countries submitted projects in what amounted to twice as many entries as there were last year.The grant recipients include six first-time feature ...
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CP Global signs first-look deak with Japan's Formula Entertainment
CP Global, the parent company of Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters' Cerenzie-Peters Productions, has signed a first-look deal with Japan's Formula Entertainment.CP Global and Formula chief Daisuke 'Dais' Miyachi and CP are preparing to adapt John Woo's 1986 crime drama A Better Tomorrow and are in talks on developing two ...
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Rich Raddon resigns as director of LA Film Festival
Rich Raddon has resigned his post as director of the Los Angeles Film Festival in the wake of his much publicised $1,500 donation to the Yes On 8 campaign in support of the ban on same-sex marriages in California.Raddon, a devout Mormon who has served as director since 2000, issued ...
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Alan Zhang opens US offices in LA for his Red Maiden Entertainment
Alan Zhang, the film-maker and CEO and founder of Beijing-based Red Maiden Entertainment, has opened the company's Los Angeles offices in Beverly Hills.The move coincides with the theatrical release in China of Zhang's directorial debut Waiting In Beijing, a romance that will open in the US on December 12 through ...
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du Toit named director of programming at Palm Springs
Helen du Toit will serve as director of programming at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), set to run from January 8-19.Du Toit recently served as co-director with Carl Spence, who has segued into the role of lead programmer.She served in the festival's programming department in 1991 for ...
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Twilight's international numbers bigger than first thought
Twilight grossed $9.6m from 1,275 venues in five international territories in a significant rise from initial estimates released by Summit International over the weekend.The vampire romance stormed to number one in Italy in the sixth biggest launch of the year on $5.8m from 601 prints and topped the charts in ...
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SAG call for strike authorisation even as economic crisis deepens
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) said on Saturday [Nov 22] that it will ask its 120,000 membership to authorise a strike after negotiations with the studios collapsed despite the assistance of a federal mediator.The vote would take more than a month and require more than 75% approval to pass. The ...
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Quantum leads international pack, but Twilight draws blood in four markets
Sony Pictures Releasing International's Quantum Of Solace remained the number one overseas title as an estimated $40.6m from 10,400 screens in 72 markets raised the running total to $309m.Combined with the $109m running total in North America the James Bond saga stands at $418m worldwide. Key international drivers were number ...
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Summit exceeds expectations with $70.6m opening for Twilight
Summit Entertainment's Twilight exceeded grand expectations to deliver the biggest pound-for-pound launch of the year with an estimated $70.6m three-day debut that will instill confidence in an independent sector rattled by the financial crisis and the renewed prospect of an actors strike.Tween power turned out en masse for Catherine Hardwicke's ...
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Weinstein Company lays off 24 employees, 11% of workforce
The Weinstein Company has become the latest prominent Hollywood business to cut staff in the economic crisis, laying off 24 employees or approximately 11% of the workforce.Sources did not name individuals or specify which departments have been hit, although it is understood the redundancies affect all departments and go across ...
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Summit greenlights New Moon after spectacular Twilight opening
Buoyed by spectacular opening day results for Twilight, Summit Entertainment has taken the widely anticipated step of greenlighting the sequel New Moon. The vampire romance is estimated to have grossed $35.7m on Friday, an astonishing amount driven by record pre-sales. Approximately $7m of that amount comes from Thursday midnight screenings. ...
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Summit's Twilight arises in Russia, Italy, Mexico, Sweden
Quantum Of Solace should cross $300m this weekend after racing to $267.4m through Sony Pictures Releasing International (SPRI).The latest James Bond saga opens in Australia on November 19 followed by Spain on November 21 and is expected to deliver strong holds in all its territories. Casino Royale amassed more than ...
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Image Entertainment merges with Nyx Acquisitions in $100m deal
Nyx Acquisitions and Image Entertainment have merged in a $100m deal whereby Image stockholders will receive $2.75 per share in cash.The parties said the acquisition price represented a 299% premium to Image's closing share price of $0.69 on November 20 and a 267% premium to the 30-day average closing price ...
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Mila Kunis joins Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman in The Book Of Eli
Mila Kunis has joined Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman on Alcon Entertainment and Silver Pictures’ $85m action thriller The Book Of Eli.Albert and Allen Hughes, whose last feature From Hell was released in 2001, will commence principal photography in New Mexico in February and Warner Bros has earmarked the North ...
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Columbia acquires comedy pitch by Perez for Happy Madison
Columbia Pictures has acquired a comedy pitch by Mark Perez that Happy Madison Productions will develop at the studio.The story centres on a man in a troubled marriage who discovers a new way to create the perfect wife.Doug Belgrad, who is president of Columbia Pictures along with Matt Tolmach, will ...