All articles by Jeremy Kay – Page 1227
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US box office down with lacklustre Semi Pro opening for New Line
Box office fell for the third consecutive week as the Will Ferrell comedy Semi Pro, New Line's final release before it merges with Warner Bros, launched at number one on a lacklustre $15.3m.This wasn't as good as openings for Ferrell's previous sporting spoofs- Blades Of Glory last year ($33m) and ...
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Bohm promoted at NBC Universal International TV Distribution
Pauline Bohm has been promoted to senior vice president of marketing at NBC Universal International Television Distribution (NBC UITD).Rachel Mansson has been promoted to vice president of the marketing for the division's international new media unit. She is based in London and reports to Los Angeles-based Bohm.Bohm will continue to ...
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Dano and Deschanel star in Gigantic for Killer, Epoch
Principal photography on the Killer Films and Epoch Films comedy Gigantic starring Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman and Jane Alexander is set to commence in New York on Mar 3.Mindy Goldberg of Epoch and Christine Vachon of Killer Films are producing and first-timer Matt Aselton will direct from a ...
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Jason Isaacs joins Damon, Kinnear in Greengrass' Iraq thriller
Jason Isaacs has joined the cast of Paul Greengrass' untitled Green Zone thriller for Working Title Films and Universal Pictures.Based on the non-fiction book Imperial Life In The Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the film is set in and around the Green Zone, the base of operations for US troops ...
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Mike Leigh to receive Directing Award at San Francisco in May
Mike Leigh, riding high following the enthusiastic critical response to Happy-Go-Lucky at the Berlinale, will receive the inaugural Founder's Directing Award at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival, which runs from Apr 24-May 8.The Founder's Award will be presented to Leigh at the Film Society Awards Night benefit gala ...
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Noeltner's CMG picks up Mexican drug cartel doc Drug Wars
Edward Noeltner's Cinema Management Group (CMG) has acquired worldwide sales rights to Renavatio Productions' Drug Wars.Gary A Fleming Jr's documentary explores the world of Mexican drug cartels and features first-hand accounts from victims, law enforcement officers, border patrol guards and former FBI agents.Noeltner brokered the deal with producer's rep Page ...
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Highmore signs to voice Astro Boy for Imagi Studios
Freddie Highmore has signed to voice the title character in Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based Imagi Studios' CGI animated feature Astro Boy.Based on Osamu Tezuka's manga creation, which was serialised on television in the 1960s, 1980s and again in 2003, Astro Boy centres on a young robot's odyssey to gain ...
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Universal strikes four year financing deal with Relativity Capital
Relativity Capital, a brand new investment partnership between Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media and New York-based hedge fund Elliot Associates, has signed a deal with Universal Pictures to co-finance a significant portion of Universal's slate - approximately 45 films - through 2011.This will be the first deal in which Relativity acts ...
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Magnolia buys worldwide rights to Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
Magnolia Pictures has picked up worldwide rights to Christopher Bell's steroid abuse documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster*. The film, which premiered at Sundance in January, explores the use of steroids among competitive sportsmen and women against the backdrop of America's win-at-all-costs culture.The film features interviews with athletes whose careers have been ...
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First Cinema Eye Nonfiction Filmmaking Awards set for March 18
The inaugural Cinema Eye Nonfiction Filmmaking Awards will take place in New York at the IFC Center on Mar 18.The event has been put together by online distributor IndiePixFilms.com, producer A J Schnack and Toronto International Film Festival documentary programmer Thom Powers to celebrate what they call the new wave ...
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Then She Found Me, American Teen bookend Cleveland
Helen Hunt's feature directorial debut Then She Found Me and Nanette Burstein's hit Sundance documentary American Teen bookend the 32nd Cleveland International Film Festival, which runs from Mar 6-16.John Sayles, whose first film Return Of The Secaucus Seven screened at the fifth Cleveland International Film Festival in 1981, will receive ...
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Meistrich's NEHST Studios to stage Aspiring Filmmakers Boot Camp
Larry Meistrich's NEHST Studios will stage the Aspiring Filmmakers Boot Camp pitch session in New York from Mar 7-9.The three-day event will cover pitching, producing, financing, distribution and career opportunities and give participants an opportunity to pitch their projects and possibly sign a deal on the spot.'We are working hard ...
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Laguna buys domestic DVD rights to Chapa's thriller Fuego
Los Angeles-based Laguna Productions has picked up exclusive North American DVD rights from Amadeus Pictures to Damian Chapa's English-language spy thriller Fuego.Chapa stars as an incarcerated special forces veteran who signs up for a suicide mission to save the Mexican President's daughter. David Carradine also stars.'We are thrilled to add ...
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Jaap Brujnen takes over as head of Warner Home Video Benelux
Jaap Bruijnen has been promoted to managing director of Warner Home Video Benelux following yesterday's announcement that Ruud Lamers will leave the company at the end of April.Bruijnen, who currently serves as deputy managing director of Benelux, will assume his new role effective May 1.'I take great pride in my ...
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Film Movement buys domestic rights to Puenzo's XXY
Film Movement has picked up Lucia Puenzo's Argentinean coming-of-age drama XXY from Pyramide International.The Spanish-language film centres on a 15-year-old hermaphrodite living with her family in Uruguay whose life becomes endangered when her secret is exposed. Ines Efron and Martin Piroyansky star.The film won the Critics Week Grand Prize and ...
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Arthouse Films signs US deal with iTunes
Arthouse Films has a signed a deal to make its films available for purchase and download on iTunes.The deal was negotiated by David Koh and Lilly Bright on behalf of Arthouse Films and Curiously Bright Entertainment and Mark Kashden on behalf of New Video Group.Films will be available for $9.99 ...
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Sunshine Cleaning finally lands at Overture in US
Overture Films acquired US rights to Big Beach and Back Lot Pictures' Sundance entry Sunshine Cleaning at the weekend, one month after the festival ended.The approximately $2m deal is Overture's second pick-up from Sundance following Henry Poole Is Here and ended more than a month of negotiations between sales agent ...
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SPWAG picks up international rights to Terminator 4
Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group (SPWAG) has picked up international rights excluding South Korea and select territories in the Middle East to The Halcyon Company's Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.The first episode in the revived franchise will be directed by McG and produced by Moritz Borman and Halycon co-CEOs Derek ...
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Magnolia's Magnet buys domestic on Sweden's Let The Right One In
Magnolia Pictures' genre arm Magnet has acquired North American rights from Bavaria Film International to Thomas Alfredson's romantic horror film Let The Right One In.Negotiations commenced immediately after the film's first market screenings in Berlin earlier in the month on the story of a 12-year-old boy's friendship with a vampire ...
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AFI Dallas festival adds two cash & services awards
The AFI Dallas International Film Festival will bestow two new awards at its upcoming event, which runs from Mar 27-Apr 6.The Best Texas Film and Best Environmental Film will be sponsored by MPS Studios and Current Energy, respectively, in addition to the existing $25,000 Target Filmmaker Awards for Best Narrative ...