Large MPU – Page 1433
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News
Film tracking set to become easier with ID plan
Films are set to get an unique identification number - which will function in similar fashion to ISO numbers for books and music - allowing easier tracking and better anti-piracy protection.The International Standard Audiovisual Number (ISAN) has been launched by a consortium of producers' and authors' associations in conjunction with ...
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Premiere secures new owner and Hollywood films
German pay TV platform Premiere has signed film package deals with another two Hollywood studios - Paramount Pictures and Columbia - securing programming directly from seven of the eight majors from 2003. At the same time Premiere has become the first part of Leo Kirch's collapsed media empire to close ...
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France's Xilam lines up 3-D Stupid Invaders
Xilam Animation is moving forward on a 3-D feature version of Stupid Invaders, a film company founder Marc du Pontavice calls "a Shrek-like family" entertainment. The ambitious project is budgeted at Euros18m and will start production in June of 2003. Du Pontavice, an animation guru who left Gaumont four years ...
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Swank to be star at ShoWest
Hilary Swank, the Golden Globe-winning actress who is leading the Oscar race for her portrayal of Brandon Teena, has been named "Female Star Of Tomorrow" at this year's ShoWest 2000.She will receive the award at the event's March 9 ceremony at the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, joining ...
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LOTR sequel Towers over first in smash worldwide bow
New Line Cinema's The Lord Of The Rings: The TwoTowers has fully lived up to itsblockbuster expectations, reeling in $41.7m worldwide on its firstday on release. The figure represents a staggering 45% leap above thefirst episode's $29m one-day opening gross last year. Debuting in the US and 13 international territories ...
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Ice Age cracks $200m overseas
Fox International's Ice Age has passed $200m in international box office ticketsales, the distributor said yesterday. The hit animation was released in the US last spring, eventually generating $174.8m at thedomestic box office, a figure that has been complemented by impressive totalselsewhere. In Germany, Ice Age opened on March 21 ...
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Jean-Jacques Annaud begins shooting Two Brothers
After his 1988 film The Bear, Veteran French director Jean-Jacques Annaud is returning to the animal kingdom with a tale of two tigers. The veteran filmmaker, whose recent efforts include last year's Enemy At The Gates and 1997's Seven Years In Tibet, is currently shooting Two Brothers - a tale ...
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Denmark's Ole Bornedal joins Thura Film
Danish filmmaker Ole Bornedal has joined long-time collaborator Michael Obel's Thura Film, which was behind his debut hit thriller Nattevagten in 1994. The duo also made the English-language version for Miramax with Ewan McGregor and Nick Nolte in 1998, and worked in the US together for a while. Bornedal's position ...
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Veteran French sales company, Mercure in liquidation
France's veteran sales company Mercure Distrbution has been liquidated and will cease its activities in January. One of the last true independent sales agents in France, Jacques Le Glou had recently been rumoured to be selling his catalogue as a way to raise cash but was unable to stave off ...
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Berlin Talent Campus attracts more than 2,000 applications
Over 2,000 young filmmakers from 70 countries have applied to take part in the Berlin International Film Festival's first Berlinale Talent Campus which will be held from February 10-14.The Talent Campus, which is being organised by Master School Drehbuch Berlin in co-operation with Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the UK's Film Council and ...
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2002: the united states of cinema
When the year began it still seemed that Europe, cinema's ancestral home, was pulling its historical weight again. Jean Marie-Messier was at the helm of Franco-American entertainment conglomerate Vivendi-Universal, Germany's Neuer Markt listed companies were still in the game, and UK mini-studio FilmFour was mounting star-studded productions aimed at the ...
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Berlinale announces first Panorama titles
The Panorama section at the forthcoming Berlinale will be welcoming back several filmmakers who have had films screened in past editions.Returning directors include: Israel's Eytan Fox, the UK's Richard Kwietniowski, Hong Kong's Peter Chan, Spain's Isabel Coixet and Japan's Hideo Nakata, whose chilling thriller Dark Water opened the 2002 Panorama.After ...
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Reviews
Star Trek: Nemesis
Dir: Stuart Baird. US. 2002. 117mins. After four years in space dock, Paramount's Star Trek franchise is back with a solidly entertaining 10th big-screen instalment, whose disappointing US debut nevertheless casts doubt over the future of the 23-year-old movie series. An opening weekend gross of $18.8m from 2,711 US sites ...
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Reviews
Nicholas Nickleby
Dir: Douglas McGrath. US. 2002. 130mins.Having captured the spirit of Jane Austen with his 1996 debut Emma, American writer-director Douglas McGrath now delivers a warm and engaging, though necessarily breezy version of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby that features an enticing, mainly British ensemble cast. The cast has already won the ...
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Wiser to drive Modern Times int'l expansion
MTG Media Properties, part of Sweden's Modern Times Group conglomerate, has upped its international expansion drive by appointing Michael Wiser as its new chairman and CEO.Under Wiser, MTG Media is expected to increase its acquisition of contemporary English-language films and to buy companies involved in distribution, production and film library ...
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Alain Resnais prepares musical comedy for New Year shoot
After a five year hiatus, veteran filmmaker Alain Resnais is back with his next project, Pas Sur La Bouche. True to form, Resnais returns with a musical comedy since his last effort, the phenomenally well-received On Connait La Chanson.Pas Sur La Bouche is an adaptation of an operetta originally written ...
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Three Swedish features get state funding greenlight
Three feature films have been greenlighted after receiving funding from the Swedish Film Institute (SFI).One of Sweden's most popular TV comedy production outfits, Killingganget, will celebrate its ten-year anniversary by making its first feature film. The as yet untitled film, was awarded $668,000 (SEK 6m) from film commissioner Lena Hansson ...
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95 titles selected for Rotterdam festival main programme
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2003Main Programme Features Historias Minimas - Carlos Sorin - Argentina/Spain A Cold Summer - Paul Middleditch - Australia Blue Moon - Andrea Maria Dusl - AustriaNosotros - Diego Martinez Vigna - BelgiumepHop - Dominique Standaert - BelgiumLe Fils - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne - Belgium/FranceMeisje - ...
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Alliance Atlantis, Focus Features renew distribution deal
Toronto-based Alliance Atlantis and Universal's boutique outfit Focus Features have agreed to renew their distribution agreement to December 31, 2005. The deal covers all media in Canada and will include such upcoming titles as Neil LaBute's The Shape Of Things, starring Gretchen Mol, Paul Rudd, Rachel Weisz, and Frederick Weller, ...
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Two Towers runs Rings around competition
Thesecond instalment of New Line's The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, TheTwo Towers, stormed to the top of the North American box office over thethree-day weekend (Dec 20-22) with an estimated $61.5m. Theepic fantasy sequel opened on Wednesday (Dec 18) with $26m and has claimed apowerful estimated $101.5m in its ...