All articles by Jeremy Kay – Page 1453
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The Notebook, Intimate Strangers bookend Seattle
Nick Cassavetes' romance The Notebook starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams will openthe 30th SeattleInternational Film Festival and Patrice Leconte'sromantic thriller Intimate Strangers starring Sandrine Bonnaire andFabrice Luchini closes the event, which runs from May 20-Jun 13 and boasts 10 world premieres.All in all 224 features and 84 shorts from ...
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Van Helsing opens summer with record weekend for Universal, UIP
The summer has begun. Universal's Van Helsingscored a record-breaking $53m on 5,000 screens in 41 countries at the weekend,dominating the market and ushering in what is shaping up to be a monsterinternational season for the studios.It was Universal and UIP's biggest opening weekend ofall time, beating director Stephen Sommers' The ...
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Bird flies to Yakin-scripted satanic ritual
Raw Nerve, the production horror house affiliated with New York's GreeneStreet Films, has signed AntoniaBird to direct Abraham's Daughter, which is out to casting and scheduled to begin filming thissummer.Written by Raw Nerve principal Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt, Abraham'sDaughter centres on a recently widowedwoman whose recurring visions of murdered ...
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Lightning Entertainment picks up blues biopic Lightning In A Bottle
Lightning Entertainment haspicked up international rights to Antoine Fuqua's blues documentary LightningIn A Bottle, which was executive produced by Martin Scorsese and will bereleased in the US through Sony Pictures Classics in October.The picture spotlights abenefit tribute concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall in February 2003featuring such luminaries ...
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BV horror quartet shoots for Hollywood Wizard
Horror titles Preggers, Serpent's Kiss, Spider People and Doom Town are scheduled to begin production this summer in a joint venturebetween Kenneth Hall's Los Angeles-based production house B V Entertainment andTony Kandah's sales outfit Hollywood Wizard.Kandah will handle foreign sales on all four titles at Cannes,along with B Vús first ...
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Here come the global juggernauts
This weekend, Universal's monsterfest Van Helsing will open day-and-date with the US in 40territories around the world, raising the curtain on what could become the mostlucrative summer season ever for the studios' international divisions.The sheer volume of heavy hitters lining up on the runways ismind-boggling with Van Helsing just one ...
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Publicity veteran Pflug lands at Universal Pictures
Fresh from his one-yearstint at Miramax, industry veteran Paul Pflug has landed at Universal Pictureswhere he will serve as senior vice president of media relations and play a keyrole in boosting the company's corporate profile.In his new post Pflug willserve as the primary strategist for the company's external corporate andexecutive ...
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Dream acquires sex comedy ManFast
Dream Entertainment hasacquired all international rights to Kali Films' comedy ManFast, which recently won the audience award anddirectorial debut honours for Tara Judelle at the New York InternationalIndependent Film and Video Festival.The story follows fourhedonistic women who must give up men for 100 days in order to receive a cashinjection ...
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Lightning acquires Russian thriller Moscow Heat
RichardGuardian's Lightning Entertainment has picked up international rights to JeffCelentano's Russian-themed thriller Moscow Heat, purportedly the largest budgetedindependent picture ever made in Russia.Moscow Heat stars rising Russian star Alexander Nevsky,whose credits include Time Of Change and Red Serpent, and centres on the efforts of a retired diplomat, LA detectiveand Russian ...
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White, Hewitt join sales team at First Look International
First LookInternational has ramped up its sales team ahead of Cannes with the hiring of MoniqueWhite as vice president of international sales and Susan Hewitt as Europeantelevision sales consultant.Both will reportdirectly to First Look International co-heads Liz Mackiewicz, the senior vicepresident of worldwide sales and distribution, and Dina Vangelisti, thecompany's ...
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Lindsay, Seldin get senior vp stripes at Miramax
Miramax Filmshas made two key promotions, with Mark Lindsay elevated to senior vicepresident of distribution and head of sales for Miramax International andColleen Seldin moving up to senior vice president of worldwide operations atMiramax Films.Lindsay will beresponsible for overseeing the company's international sales activities andwill continue to work out of ...
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Warner launches dedicated worldwide anti-piracy unit
Warner Bros,which has arguably taken the fight to piracy with more zeal than any otherstudio, has stepped up operations with the launch of the industry's firstdedicated worldwide anti-piracy unit.Darcy Antonelliswill head up the unit following her recent appointment to the new position ofsenior vice president of worldwide anti-piracy operations at ...
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State and Clearing bookend LA Film Festival
Zach Braff's hotSundance comedy Garden State will open the 10th Annual Los Angeles Film Festival on Jun 17,while Richard Linklater's romance Before Sunset is the Centrepiece Premiere and PieterJan Brugge's kidnapping drama The Clearing will close the event on Jun 26.Overall nineworld premieres, three North American premieres and two US ...
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Ford leaves Miramax after six years
Stuart Ford has resigned hisposition as executive vice president of Miramax International and will leavethe company at the end of May to pursue other opportunities.During his six-year tenureat Miramax the 34-year-old executive played an active role in internationalsales and distribution operations and acquisitions.He previously served asco-head of acquisitions, where his ...
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Nelson named to brand management position at Warner.
Diane Nelson has beenpromoted to the newly created position of executive vice president of globalbrand management at Warner Bros Entertainment, where she will work with thecompany's divisions to promote existing franchises and develop new brands.Nelson and her team willcollaborate with all the business units to develop non-theatrical propertiesalongside the major ...
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Offhollywood Digital signs deal with Cinecitta as studio's NY representative
Cinecitta Studios has signeda deal with New York's Offhollywood Digital effectively turning the productionhouse into Cinecitta's East Coast representative.The agreement will enableNew York producers to meet with Offhollywood Digital staff to discuss theirfilming needs, which will then be relayed to Cinecitta executives with a viewto filming in Rome and using ...
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Scooby takes $4.1m to pass $80m for Warner
Scooby-Doo 2 passed $80m at the international boxoffice at the weekend following an estimated $4.1m haul with 876,500 admissionsfrom 3,998 screens in 58 territories for Warner Bros.Opening fifth in Russia on $139,000 from 108 screens andopening on $118,400 in Korea, the Warner Bros Pictures International releaseraised its international running total ...
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Bill 2 adds $10m in week two in 27 territories
Miramax's Kill Bill Vol 2 reigned supreme in the UK, Taiwan and a host of smaller territories atthe weekend as it added an estimated $10m on 2,562 screens in 27 territoriesthrough Buena Vista International for a $36.1m total.In its secondweekend in the UK the Quentin Tarantino sequel took $2.5m on ...
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Horizon picks up international rights to Cosmic Africa
Rob Straight's Canadianproduction and international sales company Horizon Entertainment has picked upinternational rights to Craig and Damon Foster's South African documentary CosmicAfrica.The 72-minute Americanco-production with US-based Cosmos Studios will get its European premierescreening in Cannes as part of a retrospective celebrating the tenthanniversary of the end of Apartheid.Cosmic Africa purports ...
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Dates opens top in Brazil, Turkey, still rules Germany
Powered bynumber one bows in Brazil and Turkey, the romantic comedy 50 First Dates grossed $7.1m on 2,560 screens to raiseits international running total to $46.1m.The picture,released through Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI),opened in Brazil on $705,000 on 169 screens and grossed $216,000 on 75 inTurkey.Dates stayed top in ...