All articles by Jeremy Kay – Page 1354
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WBITD signs output deal with Orbit for Middle East, North Africa
Warner Bros International Television Distribution (WBITD) andOrbit Communications have signed a multi-year output deal giving Orbit the exclusivepay television rights for Warner product in the Middle East and North Africa.The deal includes such titles as Batman Begins, Harry PotterAnd The Goblet Of Fireand Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, as well ...
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UIP signs exclusive licensing agreement in Pakistan
UIP has become the first major theatrical distributor to sign anexclusive license agreement in Pakistan following the December launch of KingKong.UIP's new agent, BoxOffice Limited, is the distribution affiliate of Cinepax, the country's firstcineplex company that plans to develop 120 screens in Pakistan's larger cities.King Kongopened through Box Office Limited ...
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Sundance: Revolver buys UK rights to explicit portmanteau film Destricted
London-based Revolver Entertainment has bought UK rights to theexplicit shorts compilation Destricted, featuring contributions from Matthew Barney, Larry Clark,Gaspar Noe, and Sam Taylor-Wood, among others.Neville Wakefield, MelAgace and Andrew Hale produced the compilation, which first screened here overthe weekend.Revolver's Nick Taussig and Justin Marciano negotiated the dealwith Katapult Film Sales ...
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Lionsgate enters Sundance fray with global deal on Door
As Sundance started to wind down, Lionsgate took worldwide rightsto Chris Gorak's dirty bomb thriller Right At Your Door, which gathered rapid momentum this weekfollowing its Monday world premiere.In another deal - the first for a documentary at this Sundance -IFC acquired North American rights to Patrick Creadon's crossword documentary ...
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Disney buys Pixar in deal worth $7.4bn
Following months of speculation The Walt Disney Company hasacquired Pixar in an all-stock transaction that is expected to be finalised by thesummer.Under the terms of the deal 2.3 Disney shares will be issued foreach Pixar share. Based on Pixar's fully diluted shares outstanding, this putsthe transaction value at $7.4bn.Ed Catmull ...
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Peace Arch buys Canadian home entertainment outfit KaBOOM!
Toronto-based Peace ArchEntertainment Group has acquired Canadian home entertainment outfit kaBOOM!Entertainment.The deal gives Peace Arch a DVDplatform for its burgeoning feature slate, which is being handledinternationally by executive vice president of international sales andmarketing Penny Wolf.Under a long-term employmentagreement, kaBOOM! president Berry Meyerowitz will continue to run the companyon a ...
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Arrival picks up US rights to La Tragedia De Macario
Arrival Pictures hasacquired domestic rights to Pablo Veliz' immigration drama La Tragedia De Macario, which premiered in the Spectrum programme atSundance last week.Negotiations between ArrivalPictures president Charles Acosta and Strategic Film Partners principals AlexBarder and Lawrence Silverstein closed early Monday morning.Veliz' directorial debutfollows a Mexican's bid to cross the US ...
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Jet Li, Statham to star in martial arts thriller for Lionsgate
Lionsgate has bought Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J Bradley's screenplayRogue and will beginproduction on the thriller in spring with Jet Li and Jason Statham in theleads.Philip G Atwell is directing and Cory Yuen serves as the martialarts action designer on the tale of an FBI agent played by Statham ...
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New Vancouver producer Irreverent begins first feature Gay Like Me
Newly-formed Vancouver-based development and production company IrreverentMedia is preparing to begin shooting in spring on its first feature, the suburbanmockumentary Gay Like Me.THINKFilm has acquiredCanadian rights on the $3.4m project, which was developed with the support of BCFilm and Movie Central. The producers expect to close out financing in Berlin.Michael ...
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Miramax seals third big deal of Sundance with Night Listener
Miramax Films has made it first Sundance acquisition under theDaniel Battsek regime, paying in the region of $3m for North American rights toPatrick Stettner's Armistead Maupin adaptation The Night Listener."Night Listener is a smart thriller with commercial appeal that is bothfascinating and topical and fits perfectly with Miramax's intention todistribute ...
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Branagh's Magic Flute starts shooting at Shepperton
Principal photography got underway on Jan 19 at Shepperton Studiosoutside London on Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Mozart's The Magic Flute.Conceived and directed byBranagh, the $27m production features a newly-adapted libretto by Stephen Fryand takes place on the eve of the first world war as a pair of lovers hold thedestiny ...
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Paltrow, Wigmore sign deal with Moxie to direct commercials, music videos
Gwyneth Paltrow and Mary Wigmore have signed an exclusive dealwith Moxie Pictures to co-direct commercials and music videos.The move follows the Sundance premiere of their short film Dealbreaker, which is causing a buzz here in theshorts programme."We look forward to working with such talented filmmakers notonly here in the US ...
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UK distributors start spending at Sundance
UK deals dominated Sundancetoday [Tuesday] as the BBC announced it had bought Kirby Dick's documentary ThisFilm Is Not Yet Rated, Momentumpicked up Jody Hill's comedy The Foot Fist Way, and Pathe UK took Luc Jacquet's upcoming The Fox& The Child.The BBC will air ThisFilm Is Not Yet Rated to UKaudiences ...
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IFC launches 24 films for simultaneous theatrical/cable release
As 2929 Entertainment prepares to launch its experimentalday-and-date release of Steven Soderbergh's hi-def picture Bubble this week, IFC has entered the fray witha similar initiative.This year the New York-based company plans to simultaneouslyrelease in theatres and on cable 24 pictures that would typically struggle inthe cut-throat and overcrowded world of ...
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Picturehouse buys North America on Pan's Labyrinth
Picturehouse has picked up allNorth American rights to Guillermo del Toro's dark fairytale Pan's Labyrinth.Set in 1944 rural Spainduring Franco's facist regime, the story centres on the young daughter of anofficer who concocts an imaginary world to deal with the realities of post-warrepression. Mirabel Verdu, Sergi Lopez, Ivana Baquero and ...
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Kacandes joins Paramount specialty arm as head of physical production
Producer Georgia Kacandeshas joined John Lesher's new-look Paramount specialty division as executivevice president of physical production.Kacandes, who is currentlyserving as executive producer on New Line's Jack Black comedy Tenacious D InThe Pick Of Destiny, will overseeall aspects physical production and report directly to Lesher."I have known Georgiafor many years and ...
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Weinstein Co takes English-speaking world on Factory Girl
The Weinstein Company hasacquired North American, UK, Australian, New Zealand, and South African rightsfrom L.I.F.T. Productions to George Hickenlooper's Edie Sedgwik biopic FactoryGirl.The picture is currently inproduction in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is being financed by L.I.F.T. andproduced by Holly Wiersma and Aaron Richard Golub.J Malcolm Petal, Kimberly CAnderson and Morris ...
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Fortissimo picks up international rights to Kirby Dick doc
Fortissimo Films has pickedup worldwide rights excluding the US to Kirby Dick's film ratings documentary ThisFilm Is Not Yet Rated, whichreceives its world premiere at Sundance this week.The Independent Film Channel(IFC) production explores the MPAA's ratings system and asks whether it favoursaffiliated studios. The ratings system's wildly divergent attitudes over ...
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IFC takes North American rights to Hamer's Factotum
IFC Films has picked up all North American rights to Bent Hamer'sCharles Bukowski adaptation Factotum, which had originally been bought after its Cannes worldpremiere by Picturehouse but which was returned to the market last week.The picture, which screened at Sundance this weekend, has earnedMatt Dillon plaudits for his portrayal of ...
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Sundance launches arthouse anniversary initiative
The Sundance Institute has launched The Sundance Institute ArtHouse, a partnership with national arthouse theatres that will screen filmsfrom the festival past and present as part of the year-long celebration of theInstitute's 25th anniversary.14 theatres in cities ranging from Orlando, Florida, to Nashville,Tennessee, and Bellingham, Washington, are among those that ...