All articles by Jeremy Kay – Page 1513
-
News
Guirgis heads acquisitions job at Wellspring after Katsoolis exit
Marie ThereseGuirgis has been named head of acquisitions at US independent distributorWellspring, where she will be responsible for acquiring films and programmingfor US theatrical and home video release and sourcing finished films forWellspring's worldwide sales unit, which will handle co-production projectsseparately.Guirgis willreport directly to Wellspring president and CEO Al Cattabiani, ...
-
News
Warner celebrates fourth weekend atop German box office with Lenin
Local language comedy Good Bye,Lenin! kept up the pace in Germany inits fourth weekend, holding on to top spot with a powerful $3.7m (Euros 3.4m)from 570 prints and dropping a mere 14.5% from last week. It finished ahead ofopener Maid In Manhattan by 44.6%and has an $18.4m (Euros 17.2m) running ...
-
News
Major Russian movie retrospective unveiled for LA
The first majorretrospective of Russian cinema is set to take place in Los Angeles from Apr17-24, featuring 100 years of film-making and more than 30 titles from theRussian archives comprising features, shorts, documentaries and animated films.The event willbe presented by the Russian Federation's Ministry of Culture and is beingcoordinated by ...
-
News
Lilo & Stitch has top 2-D animated opening for US film in Japan
Buena Vista International (BVI)'s Lilo & Stitch grossed an impressive $2.8m on 481 screens in its pre-holiday Japanese opening over the weekend, raising the animated feature's international running total to $103m. The Japanese bow was the biggest ever traditional US-produced animated opening and the fourth biggest ever opening for a ...
-
News
Fox hits all-time bullseye with Bond's 20th film
Fox International's Die Another Day has become the highest international grossing James Bond picture of all time with a $246.9m international cumulative score, overtaking the $242m set by GoldenEye.The 20th Bond title passed the record mark with a mighty opening in Japan over the weekend, taking $3.4m from 325 screens ...
-
News
Cecile de France lands key female role in 80 Days
Cesar award-winner Cecile de France (L'Auberge Espagnole) and Jackass star Johnny Knoxville have joined Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan and Jim Broadbent in Walden Media's Around The World In 80 Days, which is due to begin principal photography in mid-March in Thailand and Berlin.Frank Coraci, whose credits include The Wedding Singer ...
-
News
Mic Kramer gets senior vp stripes at Warner Bros
Mic Kramer has been promoted to senior vice president of international publicity at Warner Bros Pictures, it was announced today (Mar 10) by Sue Kroll, the company's president of international marketing. Based in Burbank, Kramer will continue to report to Kroll and be responsible for creating and overseeing publicity campaigns ...
-
News
Disney and Hyde Park champion with Bringing Down The House
Buena Vista's comedy BringingDown The House did just that over theweekend, opening number one on a superb $31.7m that marked the third biggestMarch opening of all time behind last year's Ice Age and Blade 2.It was also Steve Martin's best opening and proved too much forthe rest of the pack, ...
-
News
J Lo's Maid makes her an international movie star
Jennifer Lopez confirmed her status as an international star overthe weekend as Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI) scoreda powerful $11.5m weekend gross for Revolution Studios' Maid In Manhattan.In a series of excellent openings, the romantic comedy wentstraight to number one in the UK, Australia, Mexico, the German-speakingregions of Switzerland, ...
-
News
Hoffman gets top honour at San Francisco Film Festival
Dustin Hoffman is to receive the Peter J Owens Award at the 46th San Francisco International Film Festival, which runs from Apr 17 - May 1. The Owens Award, named after the local cultural benefactor and longtime festival board member, will be presented to Hoffman at the Film Society Awards ...
-
News
IFM has Grim Weekend at MIP-TV
IFM World Releasing, the distribution associate of US/Australian international film and TV sales company IFM Film Associates, has picked up worldwide distribution rights on the horror title Grim Weekend. The picture will premiere at the upcoming MIP-TV in Cannes.Grim Weekend centres on a real estate agent who invites friends and ...
-
News
Studio production costs soar to record levels
Jack Valenti's state-of-the-industry address at ShoWest today (Mar 4) was startling not only for the fact that 2002 admissions were the highest in the US since 1957. Despite stabilising production costs over the past few years, negative cost of films released by members of the Motion Picture Association Of America ...
-
News
IMAX launches new system for use in multiplexes
IMAX Corporation today (Mar 3) announced a deal with US cinema chain Jack Loeks Theatres to install its first large-format theatre system specifically designed for use in multiplex theatres. The move is a departure from the traditional IMAX format, which required construction of a new theatre. Under the new IMAX ...
-
News
Goodbye, Lenin tops German box office for third week running
Warner Bros-distributed pictures Goodbye Lenin and Two Weeks Notice held on to first and second place respectively in the German charts at the weekend, claiming an impressive 65% market share. Goodbye Lenin, an X-Verleih presentation of an X-Film Creative Pool Production that Warner Bros is distributing in the territory, added ...
-
News
Producers and directors toast Chicago
First-time director Rob Marshall was the surprise winner of the Director's Guild of America (DGA) feature film directing award on Saturday night for his musical Chicago. The DGA honour is regarded by awards watchers as a key indicator of Academy Award success: since 1949 only five winners have not gone ...
-
News
Cradle 2 The Grave hip hops to the top
Warner Bros' action thriller Cradle 2 The Grave opened in first place over the weekend on $17.1m, according to studio estimates released today (Mar 2). The martial arts-hip-hop picture was the only major bow of the weekend as the studios pace themselves in the run-up to the Academy Awards on ...
-
News
Digital cinema and piracy top ShoWest 2003 agenda
The roll-out of digital cinema and the growing threat of piracy are to be among the chief talking points when industry delegates convene in Las Vegas for ShoWest 2003. With domestic admissions reaching record levels in 2002 and the relatively low 2.5% hike in ticket prices compared to other entertainment ...
-
News
IMAX records first profitable year since 1999
IMAX Corporationhas reported its first profitable year since 1999, with annual revenues (endingDec 31 2002) of $130.7m compared to $118.7m in 2001. Fourth quarter revenueswere $37.3m compared to $33.9m for the same period the year before.Thecompany's co-chairmen and co-CEOs Richard L Gelfond and Bradley JWechsler said they expected IMAX to ...
-
News
Palm signs on for Assayas Cannes pic demonlover
Chris Blackwell's PalmPictures has acquired all US and Caribbean rights to Olivier Assayas'thriller demonlover, with plansfor a theatrical release in the autumn followed by a DVD release in 2004.The multi-layered storycentres on a corporate mole who discovers an online torture chamber. ConnieNielson (Gladiator, One Hour Photo),Chloe Sevigny (Boys Don't Cry),Gina ...
-
News
Warner Bros signs Indonesian free TV deal
Warner BrosInternational Television Distribution (WBITD) has signed a multi-year deal withIndonesia's Pt Duta Visual Nusantara Tivi Tujuh for free televisionrights to a raft of pictures, television series, animated series, TV movies,miniseries and documentaries for broadcast on the company's channel TV7.The dealincludes broadcast rights to Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, ...