Large MPU – Page 1808
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News
German solution looms as Kirch prepares insolvency
German media giant Kirch could file for insolvency today following the failure of weeks of refinancing talks. The company's bankers are expected then to outline details of a "German solution" that would keep parts of the company going and leave out Kirch's foreign minority investors News Corp, Mediaset and Kingdom ...
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New Emperor chief sets out on twin-track course
Taking over last week as chief executive of Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG) Carl Chang has set out a twin track strategy stressing regional Asian film-making and smaller Hong Kong productions."We will be making big-budget action pictures, but I cannot promise to greenlight another Highbinders inside the next six months," said ...
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High Crimes shut out by Panic Room
Thriller queen Ashley Juddcouldn't beat out Jodie Foster to the top spot at the North American boxoffice over the weekend, as Panic Room reigned for the second weekend in a row with an estimated $18.5m take.Judd's latest High Crimesin which she is reteamed with Kiss The Girls co-star Morgan Freeman ...
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Indian Int'l awards rain down on Lagaan
Epic historical drama Lagaan was the big winner at the third annual InternationalIndian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards at a glitzy ceremony held in Malaysia onSaturday night. Ashutosh Kovariker's film, which was nominated for a foreignlanguage film Oscar recently, won ten trophies including best film, bestdirector and best actor (Aamir Khan) ...
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Singing Horse strikes right note with China Star
Singing Horse Productions, a company owned by director Joe Ma Wai Ho International Pacific Artists head Thomas Leong and producer Ivy Kong, has struck a deal to produce three pictures for Hong Kong powerhouse China Star Entertainment.All three will be directed by Ma, who has notched up a string of ...
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News
Kirch declares insolvency, seeks
German media giant KirchMedia this morning (Monday April 8) filed for insolvency following the failure of weeks of refinancing talks. While the company itself has yet to comment, North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Wolfgang Clement said that KirchMedia had made a court filing for insolvency. The company will now be managed by ...
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News
Refinanced Senator favours one Joe over another
German producer-distributor Senator Entertainment's deal with Joe Roth's Revolution Studios is likely to be revised as part of a wide-ranging review of its financial and production strategies. Joe Drake's Senator International sales arm is likely to be expanded.The news emerged as Senator signed a three-year Euros230m syndicated loan agreement with ...
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News
Signpost in tax deal with Atlantic Screen Capital
Stewart Till's Signpost Films has unveiled an exclusive deal with Andrew Somper's Atlantic Screen Capital to structure tax and European financing.Somper was previously managing director and chief operating officer of tax-based financier Grosvenor Park Media and head of the media finance group at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner."This whole financial ...
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Monrak Transistor first confirmation for Quinzaine
Monrak Transistor, the third film by Thai new wave director Pen-ek Ratanaruang is the first film to have been officially confirmed to screen in the Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine Des Realisateurs) section at Cannes.The film, a genre-defying odyssey of self-discovery is a contemporary tale of a young man from rural ...
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News
Xilam buys into French animated pic Kaena
French animation production house Xilam has acquired the rights to fully computer-animated feature film Kaena -- co-financed and handled worldwide by StudioCanal -- following the bankrupcy of the original producer, Chaman Production.StudioCanal has already widely sold the Euros12m title -- which is scheduled to be completed by year-end -- ...
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News
Microsoft readies new films on the net offensive
Software giant Microsoft has set its sights on the movie and TV distribution business, backed by an enhanced version of its Windows Media Player that will allow feature films to be delivered via the internet. The software behemoth made the announcement at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in ...
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News
Abril appointed new Via Digital head
Luis Abril was named president of Spanish digital satellite TV operation Via Digital, by parent company Admira.Abril is also president of Admira, the multimedia arm of telecoms giant Telefonica, which he took over from Juan Jose Nieto in January.The appointment is the latest in a series of top level executive ...
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News
Ulrich Thomsen to star in Fly's Arven for Zentropa
One of the most well-known Danish actors working abroad, Ulrich Thomsen, has returned to home turf to play the lead in Arven (literal translation The Inheritance), the eagerly awaited new film from writer-director Per Fly.Fly swept the national film awards last year with his strong social-realist drama The Bench. The ...
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News
Bad Eggs smell good to Village Roadshow
While the comedy thriller Bad Eggs does not have a particularly large budget in terms of the norm in Australia, it has attracted the single biggest financial commitment to an independent feature in entertainment conglomerate Village Roadshow's long history. "Mass audiences demand big laughs and we believe that Bad Eggs ...
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News
Insolvent KirchMedia begins rights renegotiations
Debt-ridden media mogul Leo Kirch finally filed insolvency proceedings for the KirchMedia division of his KirchGroup empire yesterday morning (April 8).A provisional insolvency administrator Dr. Michael Jaffe was appointed by the Munich administrative court. Shortly after, consultants Wolfgang van Betteray and Hans-Joachim Ziems were named as a "turnaround management" team ...
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Ford, Spielberg to present Lucas BAFTA/LA honour
Harrison Ford and StevenSpielberg will both serve as presenters at this Friday's 11thannual Britannia Awards held by the British Academy Of Film & TelevisionArts/Los Angeles (BAFTA/LA) in Los Angeles.They will honour GeorgeLucas, who will receive the BAFTA/LA Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for excellencein film at the event. Both Ford and ...
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News
Duchovny stars in Myriad/Zoetrope's My Dark Places
David Duchovny has taken thelead role in Robert Greenwald's upcoming film of James Elroy'sautobiographical novel My Dark Places which is being produced by Francis Ford Coppola's AmericanZoetrope and financed by Myriad Pictures.The film, originally set upby Myriad and then taken over by Zoetrope under the two companies' jointventure to produce ...
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Buyers back Gangs move to Dec 2002
International buyers ofMartin Scorsese's Gangs Of New York are all supporting the shift of the film to a Christmas US release dateand many are expected to go day-and-date with the US, according to InitialEntertainment Group (IEG) president Graham King who majority financed the filmto the tune of $67m."Itnever really warranted ...
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Scorsese to head Cannes Short & Cinefondation jury
Martin Scorsese will preside over the Short Film and Cinefondation jury during the upcoming Festival de Cannes (15-26 May), the festival announced today (Apr 9).Scorsese, who has been honorary president of the Cinefondation since it was formed four years ago, has been a vigorous supporter of youth development programmes. Last ...
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Reviews
Big Trouble
Dir: Barry Sonnenfeld. US. 2002. 84 mins. Delayed from last September because of its stolen bomb and plane hijacking plot points, Barry Sonnenfeld's Big Trouble arrives belatedly on US screens as a lightweight but pleasantly zany farce with a never-ending supply of gags and a more than capable ensemble cast ...