All articles by Jeremy Kay – Page 1385
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Sith passes $200m international and $500m worldwide
Revenge Of The Sith swept past $200m at the international and $500m atthe global box office over the weekend as it remained the runaway number onetitle across the world.Playing on 10,554 international screens through Fox International, the sci-fisaga added an estimated $64.1m for a $248.7m international running total aftertwo weekends.Added ...
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Electric Cannes for Voltage Pictures
Voltage Pictures has reported strong business at its maidenCannes, headed up by multi-territory sales on the Moscow-set horror picture After.Rightswent to Optimum in the UK, Amuse in Japan, Alpha Filmes in Brazil, CentralPartnership in Russia, Belga in Benelux, Village Roadshow in Greece, LNK inPortugal, and Gulf Films in the Middle ...
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Rudnitsky takes distribution job at Weinstein Company
Longtime Miramax veteran Mike Rudnitsky has been namedsenior executive vice president of domestic distribution at The WeinsteinCompany.The New York-based Rudnitsky has served eight years atMiramax and will continue to report directly to Bob and Harvey Weinstein.He will continue his duties at Miramax on a non-exclusivebasis until the brothers' contract with ...
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Spitfire talking 'bout My Generation with The Who
The Who's Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey are teaming up withSpitfire Picture's Nigel Sinclair and Guy East and Trinifold Management toproduce a documentary about the seminal English rock band.Production is already underway on the picture in time for a 2006release. Murray Lerner will direct and co-produce.Drawing upon exclusive materials from ...
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Star Wars looks to pass $200m international haul
Last weekend's massive international launch of Star Wars:Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith ignited the early summer season and thepicture should continue to be the main attraction this weekend.Thesixth instalment in George Lucas' sci-fi saga grossed a staggering $145.5m whenit opened day-and-date in more than 110 markets through Fox ...
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Global Film Initiative unveils latest grant beneficiaries
The Global Film Initiative has unveiled the latest batch of ninefilmmakers from the developing world to receive grants under its bi-annualallocation cycle.The filmmakers will each receive finishing funds to allowthem to complete their projects, and were chosen because their work illustrates"accomplished storytelling, artistic excellence and cultural perspective ondaily life around ...
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Broken Flowers to open Nantucket fest
The North American Premiere of Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers will open the 10th Nantucket Film Festival on Jun 15, while Andrew and Luke Wilson's romantic comedy The Wendell Baker Story will close the event four days later.The line-up of screenings includes a healthy volume of picturesthat premiered at Sundance earlier ...
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Tarantino, Rodriguez grind out horror project for Weinsteins
Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are collaborating on thehorror project Grind House for Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who will release in North Americathrough their provisionally named outfit, The Weinstein Company, in spring2006.The filmmakers will each write and direct a 60-minute feature andthe package will include trailers, special bonus materials and ...
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Sundance Institute supports six more filmmakers
The Sundance Institute has announced the second batch offilmmakers to receive training and creative suport through Annenberg Filmfellowships.The Annenberg Film Fellows Programme provides stipends,residencies and creative support to six filmmakers each year and was launchedin April 2004 with a $5m grant from Annenberg Foundation trustee CharlesAnnenberg Weingarten.The Fellows and their ...
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Wolfe Releasing swipes UK dogme drama for North America
Wolfe Releasing picked up Thom Best's Canadian thriller Ice Men and Jan Dunn's political drama Gypo in the last days of Cannes, and plansfestival engagements for both titles ahead of their North American theatricalreleases.Ice Men centres ona group of friends whose weekend getaway in their childhood cabin turns sourwhen uninvited ...
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Indie luminaries lend names to IFC art-house in Manhattan
A high-profile roster of filmmakers including Alfonso Cuaron,Steven Soderbergh and Richard Linklater will serve on the advisory board of theupcoming IFC Centre in New York.Others involved in the refurbished art-house complex,which is situated smack in the heart of Manhattan's West Village on WaverlyStreet and Sixth Avenure, are several other east ...
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Ang Lee and Focus reunited for wartime spy thriller
Hot on the heels of their global smash BrokebackMountain, Ang Lee and Focus Features are fast-trackingthe Chinese-language second world war spy thriller Lust,Caution.Bill Kong, who previously collaborated with Lee on CrouchingTiger, Hidden Dragon, is producing the projectwith Lee. Focus Features holds worldwide rights excludingAsia.Production is scheduled to begin this autumn ...
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IFC takes erotic arthouse film Destricted
IFC Entertainment has bought all North American rightsto the explicit 'portmanteau film Destricted.''IFC moved in following Monday's Critics Week screeningand plans a' simultaneous theatrical and video-on-demand release throughits First'Take division.''Destricted premiered at Sundance and comprises aseries of erotic' short films by such avant-garde filmmakers as GasparNoe, Matthew' Barney, Larry Clark ...
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Weinsteins ramp up Asian Dynasty
Bob and Harvey Weinstein have set up the Asian labelDragon Dynasty and boosted their already sizeable library by licensing 43titles from News Corp subsidiary Fortune StarEntertainment.Dragon Dynasty will release all Asian titles in TheWeinstein Company's (TWC) stable, including recent theatricalacquisitions such as Ong Bak 2, SPL, Seven Swords and Dragon ...
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SPC buys Starpai's comic-book autobiography for US
Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) has snapped up NorthAmerican rights on 'Persepolis,Marjane Satrapi's comic book autobiography set in Iran' during theIslamic Revolution.''Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud adapted and areco-directing the project 'about an outspoken nine-year-old girl whoselove-hate relationship' with her homeland eventually forces her intopermanent exile.''Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve,Danielle Darrieux and Simon' ...
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City Lights unveils $150m private equity fund
New York City-based full service entertainment entity CityLights Media Group has launched City Lights Pictures Film Fund, a privateequity fund that will acquire, develop and finance up to $150m in product overthe next three years.City Lights has set up three separate divisions specialising invarious project types, with City Lights chief ...
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Searchlight walks down the aisle with Confetti
Looking to emulate its successful collaborations on British comedies such as Bend It Like Beckham, WakingNed Devine and The Full Monty, Fox Searchlight has picked up worldwide rights toDebbie Isitt's upcoming ensemble comedy Confetti.Starring Martin Freeman, Jessica Stevenson and Alison Steadman,among others, Confetticentres on three couples who compete in a ...
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Seamless, Beautiful Country bookend Newport festival
DouglasKeeve's fashion documentary Seamless and Hans Petter Moland's post-Vietnam War drama The BeautifulCountry will bookend the 8th AnnualNewport International Film Festival, which runs from Jun 7-12 in this historichaven on the Rhode Island coast.Competitionentries include Sebastan Cordero's thriller Cronicas and Miranda July's Sundance- and Camera d'Or-winner MeAnd You And Everyone ...
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Shooting begins on heist thriller Wild Seven
Robert Forster and RobertLoggia have joined Richard Roundtree on the cast of Wild Seven, a heist thriller currently underway in Phoenix,Arizona.Writer-director James Hausler's story centres on an ex-con who plots revenge against the man who sent him to prison.The Beat Pirate Pictures production is being produced by Michelle J Vogler, ...
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Sony Classics takes up the Fight
Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) has picked up North American rightsto Eugene Jarecki's Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning documentary Why WeFight, for which it plansa late 2005 release.The film explores the seeds of American imperialism andthe military-industrial complex, citing the example of modern campaigns to advancethe theory that America's economic survival ...