All articles by Jeremy Kay – Page 1526
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Meistrich sets up Film Movement, specialised distribution by subscriber
Larry Meistrich, founder ofthe defunct New York production-distribution outfit Shooting Gallery, hasformed a new US distribution outfit called Film Movement chiefly aimed atfestival-winning independents that cannot meet rising marketing costs. FilmMovement will offer film-makers a range of platforms on which to showcasetheatrical-quality, first-run films via a subscription service. Beginning inDecember ...
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Signs returns to the top after four weekends
Disney's Signs returned to top spot over the weekend with a $14.3m haul that brings its total after four weekends to $173.m, according to studio estimates released today. The renewed surge by M Night Shyamalan's supernatural thriller spooked Columbia's XXX into second place on $13.7m and a $106.7m cumulative score ...
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Punch Drunk Love to platform straight after New York fest
Paul ThomasAnderson's Punch Drunk Love will be platform released on October 11 in New York, Los Angelesand Toronto and expand on October 18, Revolution Studios announced today. The romantic comedy, which won Anderson the Director'sAward at the Cannes Film Festival this year, will make its North American debutat the Toronto ...
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Phantom Menace dominates DVD awards in Los Angeles
Star Wars:Episode I - The Phantom Menace picked up four awards at yesterday's 5th Annual DVD Awards in LosAngeles, dominating a ceremony that saw honours go to old and new titles alike.TwentiethCentury Fox Home Entertainment's Episode I won the Viewers' Choice, Best Menu Design and BestAuthoring awards as well as ...
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IFC shuts down micro-budget production arm
IFCEntertainment announced that its low-budget Los Angeles-based production armNext Wave Films is to immediately cease operations as a separate divisionwithin the company. The closureprompted a warning from outgoing Next Wave president Peter Broderick, who saidthere was a "crisis" in independent film distribution that wasstopping most independents from reaching their target ...
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Effects gurus launch Uncharted Territory production outfit
The Academy Award-winning special effects team of Volker Engel (Independence Day) and Marc Weigert today announced the formation of their new production company, Uncharted Territory. Based in Los Angeles, the duo plan to make story-driven motion pictures with cost-effective blockbuster effects. Uncharted Territory's first feature, the action adventure Coronado,recently wrapped ...
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Moonstone to handle Kaige's Together for worldwide sales
MoonstoneEntertainment announced today that it will start representing Chen Kaige's Together for worldwide sales ahead of its galaworld premiere at next month's Toronto International Film Festival. The latestfeature from Kaige, whose previous credits include the Miramax-released Farewell,My Concubine - willshowcase under the festival's Masters Series banner on September 10 and ...
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Sundance Institute among HFPA's new beneficiaries
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) presentednearly half a million dollars in donations to the Sundance Institute and othernon-profit organisations at its annual installation luncheon in Beverly Hillsfor incoming officers. Cameron Diazaccepted a $200,000 cheque on behalf of the Film Foundation Inc while otherrecipients included: Don Cheadle on behalf of ...
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Publicity change-around at Universal, MGM
Universal and MGM separately announced a number of keyappointments today as part of a strategic restructuring of their publicitydepartments. At Universal,Jeffrey Sakson, Stephanie Kluft, Michael Moses and Greg Sucherman were namedsenior publicity executives and will report directly to Universal PicturesMarketing co-president Eddie Egan. Sakson, whojoined the studio's New York office ...
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Revolution renames Lopez, Fiennes romance
RevolutionStudios has changed the name of its romantic comedy The Chambermaid, starring Jennifer Lopez and RalphFiennes, to Maid In Manhattan. The picture wasco-produced by Shoelace Productions and directed by Wayne Wang, whose previouscredits include Smokeand The Joy Luck Club.Lopez plays amaid in a first class Manhattan hotel who is mistaken ...
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SPE smashes annual box office record
Sony Pictures Entertainment has broken its own industry record for North American ticket sales by one studio in a single calendar year, registering $1.29bn and passing 1997's previous best mark of $1.27bn with more than four months to spare.With a 2002 slate that includes such tentpole successes as Spider-Man and ...
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XXX, Signs stay atop while Blue Crush debuts big at three
On the day thatColumbia Pictures announced that 2002 was its all-time biggest year at the boxoffice, the studio's latest blockbuster-elect, the Vin Diesel actionvehicle XXX, heldonto top spot at the North American box office with an estimated $23m haul. TheRevolution Studios-produced picture averaged $6,788 from 3,388 theatres in itssecond week. ...
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Signs of a blockbuster: Disney opens Shyamalan's latest on $60.3m
Mel Gibson and director M Night Shyamalan both recorded career-high openings as the mystery-drama Signs recorded a blockbuster opening for Buena Vista over the weekend with an estimated $60.3m. It is the first number one for the studio since Monsters, Inc. last November and is almost double what executives had ...
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Austin's a Power-house at US box office
Chart-topping Austin Powers in Goldmember recorded a career-high $71.5m opening for its star Mike Myers over the weekend, becoming the biggest ever comedy and July opening, the fifth highest opening of all time and best ever opening for studio New Line, according to estimates released today. Despite this impressive figure ...
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MIIB storms Germany with $11.2m, scores $26m weekend
Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI)'s Men In Black II (MIIB) continued its impressive international run with an $11.2m opening weekend in Germany on 1,166 prints, according to studio estimates released today. When figures are confirmed this week it should establish MIIB as the sixth highest opener of all time ...
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Stuart Little 2 is big, but still disappointing, in lacklustre movie weekend
Columbia's latest box office victory was a small one. Family sequel Stuart Little 2 opened at the top of the charts over the weekend with a so-so $15.6m take, according to studio estimates released yesterday. That beat DreamWorks' adult drama Road To Perdition by a mere $0.3m.It was an uncharacteristically ...
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CTFDI scores $17.4m with MIIB, breaks all-time record with Spider-man
Men In Black II (MIIB) took an estimated $17.4m at the international box office over the weekend as Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International rolled out its sci-fi romp to 12 territories bringing its running total to $34.7m. With an unconfirmed best-ever opening in South Korea for a non-Korean language picture ...
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Scooby is Warner's second biggest all-time UK opening
Scooby-Doo continued to snap up the international competition for Warner Bros over the weekend, opening in the UK with $8.1m (£5.2m) from 474 screens, according to studio estimates released today (Sunday). If the figure is confirmed tomorrow it will be Warner's second highest UK opening behind Harry Potter And The ...
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Perdition hits big, but can't gun down Men In Black
Men In Black II (MIIB) clung on to top spot at the North American box officeover the weekend with an estimated $25m gross, although a spectacular opening for Road To Perdition on half the number of screens came close to dethroning it. The Columbia Pictures sci-fi sequel averaged $6,923 ...
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Men In Black II takes $11.7m in first five international territories
In its first international roll-out weekend Columbia's Men in Black II scored a combined gross of $11.7m from Australia, Japan, Russia, New Zealand and Columbia, averaging $10,400 from 1,129 screens. In Japan MIBII took $5.3m - coincidentally the same amount Men in Black grossed when the original came out in ...