Large MPU – Page 1237
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News
UK Film Council unveils training initiatives
UK support body The Film Council has unveiled training initiatives targeted at script writing, script reading and development.Roughly half the total investment of $783,000 (£549,000) goes to project development workshops to provide training for writers with active projects. The National Lottery-supported schemes also include short courses for script readers and ...
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Miramax acquires Bridget-style diary of its own
Has MiramaxFilms found the next Bridget Jones' The New York film studio appears to have the recent Working Title transatlantic smash firmly in mind when it acquired the film rights yesterday to Allison Pearson's upcoming novel, I Don't Know How She Does It, based on her popular weekly newspapercolumns in ...
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James Cameron is going back to Titanic
James Cameron is going back to Titanic. Teaming up with Cary Granat's recently launched Walden Media, his EarthShip Productions is producing Ghosts Of The Abyss, an underwater exploration project which will examine the respective sinkings of the Titanic and Bismarck. The six-week expedition to look at the wreckages which will ...
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Warner releases Osmosis Jones in dual formats
Osmosis Jones will become the first Warner Bros release to premiere in both an all-digital and conventional 35mm format this weekend.A handful of the theatres in the US and Canada that are projecting the Farrelly brothers' latest comic invention, a PG-rated blend of live action and animation, will do so ...
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French audiences smitten by Kiss Of The Dragon
The latest Jet Li martial arts thriller Kiss Of The Dragon high-kicked its way into the French charts this week. Released by Europa Distribution, the film, which also stars Bridget Fonda and Tcheky Karyo, achieved 506,000 admissions in its first seven days from 612 screens. Dethroning last week's top spot ...
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Sequel weekend: Pie 2 takes $45m, Rush Hour 2 $31m
The domestic box office continued to roar over the weekend. Not only did Universal's third sequel of the summer American Pie 2 open to a massive $45.1m but New Line Cinema's Rush Hour 2 took $31.5m in its second weekend bringing its ten day total to a spectacular $131.9m.Meanwhile Miramax ...
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Italian road movie wins Locarno's Golden Leopard
Italian director Maurizio Sciarra's Alla Rivoluzione Sulla Due Cavalli (pictured) - a road movie about three friends who travel to witness Portugal's 1970s revolution - won both the Golden Leopard and Best Actor Bronze Leopard at this year's Locarno International Film Festival.Headed by US writer and film critic Janet Maslin, ...
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Renny Harlin to shoot Finnish WWII movie
Finnish expatriate and Hollywood director Renny Harlin is set to return to his homeland, to direct a World War II drama, for the first time since making his US debut as director of A Nightmare On Elm Street 4 in 1988. Harlin, seen here directing Sylvester Stallone in his last ...
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Danish Feltwave goes into receivership
Feltwave, the Danish-based sister operation of Increasingly prolific London-based post operation WAVEpictures, has gone into receivership, citing a downturn in the TV sector.Torsten Leschly,(pictured) who owns the two companies, may look to ease financial problems by selling a stake in the UK company, which invests equity in films and has ...
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India relaxes exhibition entertainment tax
India is set to become the next major growth opportunity for the international exhibition industry, following a ruling by the chief minister of the state of Maharashtra exempting multiplexes from the punitive entertainment tax for the next three years, with a 75% discount for the following two years.The announcement was ...
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Four more join Meera Syal's Anita & Me
Max Beesley, Kathy Burke, Ayesha Dharker and Lynn Redgrave have joined the cast of Anita & Me, an East Is East-style comedy adapted from the book of the same name by UK writer, actress and comedian Meera Syal.Icon Film Distribution has UK rights for the film, budgeted at under $4.3m ...
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Fox and Nokia take Apes mobile
20th Century Fox International has agreed a deal with Nokia, the mobile communications company, to promote the international release of Tim Burton's Planet Of The Apes. The deal will offer owners of Nokia mobile phones in Germany, the UK and Italy unique screensavers and film logos on their phones via ...
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Canal Plus gets 75% of Polish sat-TV platform
Canal Plus is to end up owning three quarters of a new Polish satellite-TV platform, according to the terms of an agreement signed today (Aug 10) with Dutch cable empire UPC.The widely anticipated deal (Screendaily, Aug 6) sees UPC's Wizja TV platform merged with Canal Plus' Cyrfa+ platform and the ...
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Online cinema ticketing takes off
US online ticketing service MovieTickets.com has announced that it has sold over 2 million online movie tickets since the service launched in spring 2000. The company, which sells tickets for leading theater chains throughout the US and Canada, represents approximately 80% of North America's online movie screens. It is also ...
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Russia's Vyborg Film Festival kicks off
The director's chair of the 9th Vyborg Film Festival (11-18 August) has been left vacant this year in homage to former festival director and highly respected Russian film director Savva Kulish who passed away in June of this year. Kulish whose career spanned more than 30 years had lately turned ...
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Tube and Talisman announce co-production deal
Tube Studios of Montreal and Talisman, a U.K.-based entertainment company, announced Aug. 8 that they are about to finalise an international co-production agreement to co-develop, finance and produce a slate of film and television properties valued at an estimated US$200 million."Both Tube and Talisman share a common vision and commitment ...
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Reviews
American Pie 2
Dir: JB Rogers. US. 2001. 105 mins.The fine balance between sweetness and grossness achieved in American Pie is tipped entirely in favour of the latter in this disappointing sequel - the ultimate exercise in oversexed frat boy preening which will disgust as many as it delights. Universal Pictures, already on ...
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Bac Majestic sees first half revenues jump 21.2%
Bac Majestic has seen its 2001 first-half revenues jump 21.2% to Euros 39.7m. This is good news for the French distributor and exhibitor which was floated on the French equivalent to the Nasdaq a year ago and has seen its shares dip 80% since then.Distribution and sales, which represent 85% ...
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Reviews
The Bank
Dir: Robert Connolly. Australia. 2001. 106 mins.This quality thriller's super-villain doesn't threaten the world from the usual fortified island - but although he's merely CEO of a profits-obsessed Melbourne bank, global domination is still his evil aim. Former successful producer (The Boys, The Monkey's Mask) Connolly's first feature as writer/director ...