Large MPU – Page 1472
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News
Verite opening is second biggest in French history
Warner Bros' French outpost has scored its best opening day ever with a local film, La Verite Si Je Mens 2: La Grande Distribution, which has also become the second biggest opener in French box office history, with 503,582 tickets sold on February 7.The sequel to the 1997 hit comedy, ...
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US strike rules pave way for international bonanza
International acting talent and non-US movie companies are set for a boom time later this year as The Screen Actors Guild guidelines to shooting outside the US should an actors strike take place in June became clear yesterday.The Screen Actors Guild Board of Directors issued the following position on work ...
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GMI to sell Ed Burns' next film Ash Wednesday
Good Machine International (GMI) has acquired international rights to Ash Wednesday, the fifth film to be directed by Edward Burns. Burns has written, will direct and star in and co-produce the film with Margot Bridger, producer on his last film Sidewalks Of New York.Set in 1983 New York, Ash Wednesday ...
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Film Council's Premiere Fund to park with Altman
UK film superbody the Film Council is close to investing in iconic US indie film-maker Robert Altman's UK-set satire Gosford Park which will be distributed domestically by USA Films and internationally by Capitol Films.The body is negotiating to board the 1930s-set satire, for which Altman aims to secure an ensemble ...
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Reviews
My First Mister
Screened at Sundance (Opening night premiere). Dir: Christine Lahti. US. 2001. 109mins.My First Mister, actress Christine Lahti's feature directorial debut, is a decent, mildly-engaging melodrama about the unlikely bond that develops between a rebellious high-school graduate and a sensitive, dying older man. Strong acting by both the up-and-coming Leelee Sobieski ...
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Reviews
Battle Royale
Screened at Rotterdam (main programme). Dir: Kinji Fukasaku. Japan. 2000. 113mins.With its story of teenagers killing each other in a government-sponsored murder game, Battle Royale generated an unprecedented brouhaha following its December release in Japan, with members of parliament and even the minister of education decrying its ultra-violence as a ...
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Reviews
Mortal Transfer
Screened at Berlin (Panorama). Dir: Jean-Jacques Beineix. France-Germany. 2000. 122mins.Marking Jean-Jacques Beineix's return to theatrical features after an eight-year absence, Mortal Transfer is a disappointingly minor excursion into black comedy-cum-psycho-thriller territory. Taken at its most undemanding level of entertainment, the film's macabre farce and its cast of eccentrics are mildly ...
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News
UK's Hit Entertainment acquires Lyrick
UK licensing and merchandising company Hit Entertainment has acquired US rival Lyrick in a $275m reverse takeover that unites the companies behind popular children's characters Bob The Builder and Barney The Dinosaur.Hit is to help fund the deal by placing new shares to raise $106m, most of the cash payment ...
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News
Murath, Brunckhorst share German Script Prize
Two scripts - Clemens Murath's Schatten Des Jaguar and Natja Brunckhorst's Wie Feuer Und Flamme - were awarded this year's German Script Prize, worth a total $47,000 (DM100,000), by Germany's state minister for culture Julian Nida-Ruemelin.Murath's thriller is to be made as a European co-production, with Filmline's Arno Ortmair ...
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Leading German producers form lobby group
Constantin Film's Bernd Eichinger, Kinowelt's Rainer Koelmel and Road Movies' Uli Felsberg are among 16 leading German film and TV producers banding together to form a producers lobby group.Dubbed FILM 20, the group will focus on representing the film and TV production sector when dealing with broadcasters, public funding bodies, ...
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News
Hannibal cannibalises US box office with $58m
It was a sensational weekend for Hannibal Lecter at the North American box office. The long-awaited sequel to 1991 classic The Silence Of The Lambs mesmerised the country with an estimated $58m opening weekend gross, giving director Ridley Scott another megahit after last year's Gladiator and MGM, which has domestic ...
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News
Showtime, Zone Vision launch Showtime Turkey
US cable giant Showtime Networks has entered into a joint venture with Zone Vision, a UK-based broadcaster and distributor of thematic channels throughout Europe, to launch Showtime Turkey. Launched on Jan 15, 2001, the channel is available on the new direct-to-home platform DigiTurk, which is currently available in Turkey.The announcement ...
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News
Manager John Carrabino joins Catch 23
Catch 23 Entertainment, the newly formed LA production outfit formed by financier and philanthropist Robert B Sturm, has hired talent manager John Carrabino as executive vice president of Catch 23's as yet unnamed talent management division.In his new position, he will help build and oversee the division which plans to ...
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News
Lions Gate buys US theatrical rights to Liam
Lions Gate Releasing has acquired US theatrical distribution rights to Stephen Frears' drama Liam, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year. Starring Ian Hart, Claire Hackett, Anne Reid and introducing Anthony Burrows, the film is set in the Irish Catholic quarter of Liverpool in the 1930s and examines ...
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News
Liv Ullmann to replace Jodie Foster at Cannes
Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann will head the jury of the 2001 Cannes film festival, replacing Jodie Foster who pulled out to take the lead role in David Fincher's The Panic Room."I am both honoured and deeply appreciative that I am now given the pleasure of being the president ...
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News
Miramax snaps up Italian For Beginners
Miramax has acquired Lone Scherfig's dogme title Italian For Beginners, one of the hottest titles in the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival since its screening on Friday, for release in the US, Mexico and English-speaking Canada. Miramax is understood to have paid $600,000 for the romantic comedy, beating ...
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News
Pinewood, Shepperton complete merger
Pinewood Studios and Shepperton Studios, the UK's two leading film production facilities, have finalised a merger that will create a European super studio.Pinewood will take control of Shepperton, which is co-owned by directors Ridley and Tony Scott. Pinewood chief Michael Grade will become executive chairman of the new group, while ...
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Villalonga joins Univision board
Juan Villalonga, the former chairman and CEO of Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, has been appointed to the board of directors of US-based broadcaster Univision Communications Inc.Villalonga was forced to resign his post at Telefonica last July amid accusations that he benefited from insider information when he bought and sold stock ...
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News
Lenormand confirmed as new StudioCanal chief
As expected, Richard Lenormand has been appointed chairman and CEO of StudioCanal to replace Vincent Grimond who has resigned following his appointment as senior executive vice president, operations and finance, at Universal Studios Group. The board of directors at StudioCanal unanimously appointed Lenormand. The 38 year-old was most recently senior ...
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News
Greenberg omitted from Oscar documentary shortlist
The moment that this year's Academy Award nominees are revealed to the entire world at a pre-dawn ceremony broadcast live from Los Angeles tomorrow morning, there will be the usual gasps at some of the omissions and more questions raised about why some of the year's best-known documentary features have ...