All articles by Jeremy Kay – Page 1177
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Rachel, River, Ballast lead Spirit Award nominations with six apiece
Sony Pictures Classics' (SPC) Frozen River and Rachel Getting Married and Alluvial Film Company's Ballast lead the way in the Film Independent Spirit Awards race with six nominations apiece, followed by Focus Features' Milk on four.Today's nominations ceremony in Los Angeles [December 2] rewarded many of the season's smaller films ...
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Katzenberg continues rallying cry for 3D cinema growth
3D represents the biggest economic opportunity to the film industry in three decades, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg told delegates at the 3D Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles on Monday [December 1].In a typically passionate sermon Katzenberg, Hollywood's 'high priest' of 3D who announced last year that starting in 2009 ...
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Farrelly, Wessler produce comedy of shorts for Overture, A Bigger Boat
Peter Farrelly and Charles Wessler will produce a comedy comprised of 24 short films for in a deal announced today by Overture Films and A Bigger Boat Films.The untitled project is described as being in the vein of the 1970s comedy hits Kentucky Fried Movie and Groove Tube and Farrelly ...
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here! Films acquires North American rights to Sex Positive
To commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1 here! Films announced it has acquired North American rights to Daryl Wein's documentary Sex Positive.The company plans a March 13 limited theatrical release through sister company Regent Releasing on the film about AIDS activist Richard Berkowitz. Wein and David Oliver Cohen produced.Sex ...
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SPHE and United Entertainment Korea Co strike distribution alliance
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) and United Entertainment Korea Co Ltd (UEK) have formed a distribution alliance whereby the South Korean company will distribute SPHE titles on DVD and Bu-ray in the territory.UEK sprung from the closure of SPHE's South Korean office and is headed by SPHE's former managing director ...
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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 ...