Large MPU – Page 1403
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News
RAI sees new life in Pinocchio classic
Riding on the current wave of excitement over Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio, Rome sales company Rai Trade has bought international rights to Luigi Comencini's critically-acclaimed 1972 version of the Italian classic - and the newly-relaunched picture has already proved a fast seller.Rai Trade bought all international rights to the restored ...
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News
Real Thing joins Irish low-budget craze
A six-week location shoot will begin today in Limerick city on The Real Thing, a 1.5m Euro feature that marks the fifth low-budget feature to go into production in Ireland this year.Being made as an Irish/German/UK co-production by Wide Eye Films in association with Peter Stockhaus Filmproduktion, Grosvenor Park Productions ...
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News
Dutch tax credit system grinds to bureaucratic halt
Bureaucracy may have killed off The Netherlands' attractions for foreign producers and potential film investors alike.The famously lucrative tax credit system which allowed production investors to shelter their income and avoid capital taxes was put on temporary hold this July when the tax authorities decided to review the system yet ...
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News
Indian studio strikes US first-look deal with Lions Gate
A multi-picture deal with Lions Gate Entertainment is first evidence of the ambitions of India's Ramoji Studios to become a world scale player.The multi-year, first-look arrangement with Lions Gate enables Ramoji to offer US distribution to a number of films that shoot at its Hyderabad facilities, or are co-produced with ...
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News
CLT-Ufa signs five-year output deal with Fox
Luxembourg-based broadcaster CLT-Ufa has signed a five-year output deal with 20th Century Fox as part of an on-going strategy to consolidate its position in the German free TV market as a competitor to Leo Kirch's family of channels.The deal secures CLT-Ufa rights to Fox features such as Anna And The ...
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News
Veggie empire goes on global Odyssey
Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato are talking vegetables that have spawned a $500m kids entertainment franchise that has been nipping at Walt Disney's heels in the market for direct-to-video children's series. Now the Christian-themed US animation phenomenon VeggieTales is recruiting distributors to expand into the international market for ...
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News
Warner marries into Korean Mafia family
Continuing Hollywood's recent infatuation with Korean remakes, Warner Bros has bought English-language remake rights to Cinema Service's romantic comedy Marrying The Mafia.The deal sees Warner pay Cinema Service a 'mid six figures' dollar sum and a share of the profits from the remake. US rights to the original film are ...
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News
European distributors form six way buying alliance
Six European distributors have teamed up to form a buying alliance, that is the re-working of a similar deal announced this time last year. The companies involved include pure distributors Switzerland's Frenetic, Spain's Alta Films and Cinelibre-Cineart and producer-distributors Haut Et Court from France, Fu Works-A-Films from The Netherlands and ...
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News
Sweet Sixteen takes Golden Spike at Valladolid
Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen went home Saturday night with the top Golden Spike award from Spain's 47th annual Valladolid International Film Week.The film also won best photography for Barry Ackroyd. Loach was unable to attend the festival for health reasons. Paul Laverty, who won a best script prize for Sixteen ...
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News
Multiple sales for Saura's Salome
Spanish director Carlos Saura's musical Salome has sold to Japan, Benelux and much of South America.After winning a prize for best artistic contribution at the recent Montreal World Film Festival, Salome screened last week in the official section out of competition at Spain's Valladolid International Film Week.Florence Stern of international ...
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News
XXX thrills Italy, battles 28 Days Later in UK
XXX is expected to pass the international $100m mark by the end of the week after a $12.4m weekend haul that gives the Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI) action thriller a $96m running total. The picture opened in Italy with $2m from 330 screens, comparing favourably to previous openings ...
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News
Christmas comes early as Santa Clause 2 flies atop the box office
Disney's The Santa Clause 2 brought some advance Yuletide magic to the North American box office over the weekend with a number one $29m opening, according to studio estimates released today (Nov 3). The debut was more than double that grossed by Columbia's action-comedy opener I Spy, which disappointed with ...
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News
Christmas comes early as Santa Clause 2 flies atop the box office
Disney's The Santa Clause 2 brought some advance Yuletide magic to the North American box office over the weekend with a number one $29m opening, according to studio estimates released today (Nov 3). The debut was more than double that grossed by Columbia's action-comedy opener I Spy, which disappointed with ...
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Reviews
The Santa Clause 2
Dir: Michael Lembeck. US. 2002. 98 mins.Eight years after the original family comedy became, in the US at least, a surprise Christmas smash, The Santa Clause 2 finds star Tim Allen back in the red and white suit for a pleasantly warm 'n' fuzzy - if typically overstuffed - holiday ...
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News
European distributors form six way buying alliance
Six European distributors have teamed up to form a buying alliance, that is the re-working of a similar deal announced this time last year. The companies involved include pure distributors Switzerland's Frenetic, Spain's Alta Films and Cinelibre-Cineart and producer-distributors Haut Et Court from France, Fu Works-A-Films from The Netherlands and ...
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News
American Beauty scores at Golden Globes
American Beauty now officially leads the Oscar race after walking away with the Best Picture (Drama), Best Director and Best Screenplay prizes at the Golden Globe awards ceremony in Los Angeles last night. The DreamWorks SKG-produced film, which only cost $15m to produce, won prizes for producers Bruce Cohen and ...
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News
Miramax goes BVI route in Germany
Miramax Films' newly-promoted chief operating officer Rick Sands (pictured) has confirmed that Miramax Films will no longer be selling its films to independents in Germany, but will instead set up its own marketing operation and partner with sister company Buena Vista International (BVI) to handle physical distribution. Miramax already has ...
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News
London screenings funk primes MIFED pump
Any international film acquisitions executive who by-passed what's left of the London Screenings last week missed one key world premiere: Hanway's To Kill A King. The large-scale period piece starring Dougray Scott and Tim Roth screened to cast, crew and a strong turn-out of buyers - although no US deal ...
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Cecchi Gori arrest fuels monopoly fears in Italy
The arrest of former Italian movie mogul Vittorio Cecchi Gori throws one big question into sharp relief: what will happen to his film interests if - as is looking increasingly inevitable - his once-formidable empire disintegrates' To many, the answer could rock the landscape of the Italian film industry - ...
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News
Splendid lifts Veil on Stratus debut film
Splendid Pictures has signed on to represent international sales on The Painted Veil, the first film from Stratus Film Co, the independent production outfit unveiled recently by Hollywood super-producer Mark Gordon, former Miramax LA president Mark Gill and financier Bob Yari. Edward Norton and Naomi Watts are to star in ...