Large MPU – Page 1825

  • News

    Paramount takes territories on Crusader's Sahara

    2002-05-12T00:00:00Z

    Paramount Pictures has acquired rights in UK, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand to Crusader Entertainment's action-adventure Sahara which is set to start shooting on Oct 28. Paramount already had North American rights to the film through a previous arrangement with Crusader. Patrick Wachsberger's Summit Entertainment is selling remaining territories ...

  • News

    Cinemavault acquires worldwide rights to hit Quebecois thriller Savage Messiah

    2002-05-12T00:00:00Z

    Toronto-based Cinemavault Releasing has acquired worldwide rights outside Canada to Quebecois psychological thriller Savage Messiah which opened in Quebec on April 26 through Christal Films and looks set to gross over $1m in its first month.The film stars Polly Walker and Luc Picard and is the directorial debut of Mario ...

  • News

    Cannes develops digital film screenings

    2002-05-12T00:00:00Z

    There is more to digital cinema than just Star Wars: Episode II at Cannes this year, with the festival planning a multitude of digital screenings. The operation will kick off with Attack Of The Clones, which will be the first film ever to be screened digitally in the Grande Theatre ...

  • News

    Cannes develops digital film screenings

    2002-05-12T00:00:00Z

    There is more to digital cinema than just Star Wars: Episode II at Cannes this year, with the festival planning a multitude of digital screenings. The operation will kick off with Attack Of The Clones, which will be the first film ever to be screened digitally in the Grande Theatre ...

  • News

    European Commission challenges French advertising laws

    2002-05-12T00:00:00Z

    France's film marketing and distribution sector could be in for a radical shake-up with a new aspect of the country's cultural exception coming under attack from the European Union (EU).The European Commission, the EU's executive wing, last week asked the French government to justify its laws on television advertising, which ...

  • News

    New-look Good Machine continues to focus on Almodovars' El Deseo

    2002-05-12T00:00:00Z

    Good Machine International (GMI), newly renamed Focus International, will handle worldwide sales on the forthcoming My Life Without Me, produced by the Almodovar brothers' Madrid-based El Deseo.The Almodovars look set to continue their ongoing relationship with a redefined Good Machine following its acquisition last week by Universal Studios. GMI handled ...

  • News

    Government to close one of Portugal's national TV stations

    2002-05-12T00:00:00Z

    Portugal's public broadcaster looks set to get cut in half if the government follows through on a promise to close down one of its two nationwide channels. The broadcaster has amassed a multimillion dollar debt which in recent months led to accusations in the local film and TV industry of ...

  • News

    Spider-Man swings past $200m in record time

    2002-05-12T00:00:00Z

    Displaying the kind of gravity-defying antics one would expect from Spider-Man, Columbia's smash hit held on to top spot with a weekend gross of $72m, racing past $200m on Saturday in a record nine days. This weekend's $72m haul - the highest second-weekend gross ever - is the fourth highest ...

  • News

    Spider-Man takes Japanese box office opening record

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    In what is regarded as its most important international territory, Spider-Man smashed yet another opening record at the weekend when it was released in Japan on Saturday (May 11).With a massive estimated weekend gross of $9.6m (¥1.23bn) and 820,000 admissions from 412 screens, the blockbuster recorded the best figures ever ...

  • News

    Winning combination guarantees hot international summer

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    The continued jaw-dropping success of Spider-Man, combined with widespread and eager anticipation for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones, has made irrelevant any speculations about whether Summer 2002's international box office will beat that of 2001.But even before the big hitters came into the equation, early indications ...

  • News

    Tequila Gang takes Lost In La Mancha to Cannes

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    The Tequila Gang, the London/Mexico City-based production and distribution entity founded by founded by Mexico's Guillermo del Toro, Bertha Navarro, Laura Esquivel, Alejandra Moreno Toscano and London-based Rosa Bosch will be presenting Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe's documentary Lost In La Mancha to buyers at the Cannes film market. ...

  • News

    Tequila Gang takes Lost In La Mancha to Cannes

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    The Tequila Gang, the London/Mexico City-based production and distribution entity founded by founded by Mexico's Guillermo del Toro, Bertha Navarro, Laura Esquivel, Alejandra Moreno Toscano and London-based Rosa Bosch will be presenting Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe's documentary Lost In La Mancha to buyers at the Cannes film market. ...

  • Reviews

    Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    Dir: George Lucas. US. 2002. 143mins.It must be thankless being George Lucas. He may be wading in money, but critics and fans have treated his new Star Wars prequels with such intense scrutiny and disappointment that he has to realise his reputation as a legendary film-maker of 1970s classics American ...

  • Reviews

    The City Of No Limits (En La Ciudad Sin Limites)

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Antonio Hernandez. Sp-Arg. 2001. 118minsAntonio Hernandez's ensemble feature is a dramatic gem, a beautifully scripted and acted film with a glossy look and universal tale that has the capacity to move audiences anywhere. It represents a marketing challenge to distributors due to its complex storyline and straddling of genres, ...

  • News

    Sean Connery closes his LA-based Fountainbridge Films

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    Sean Connery has shut down his Los Angeles-based production company Fountainbridge Films, throwing into doubt plans for a Scottish studio facility as well as threatening the future of period epic Mary, Queen Of Scots.Established in 1992, the company had produced such films as Just Cause and Entrapment with Catherine Zeta ...

  • News

    San Sebastian to honour Schlondorff, Powell for 50th edition

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    The San Sebastian International Film Festival will honour multifaceted filmmakers Volker Schlondorff and Michael Powell with retrospectives at this year's 50th anniversary edition, to be held September 19-28 in the northern Spanish coastal town.The festival, Spain's premiere competitive event, has also organised a thematic sidebar in honour of its anniversary, ...

  • News

    Harry Potter video release becomes fastest-selling title in the UK

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone has become the UK's fastest-selling release on video and DVD, with 1.25 million copies being snapped up within 24 hours of going on release on May 11.The previous record was held by Titanic, with first-day sales of 1.1 million. Warner Bros home video has ...

  • News

    African Media Entertainment sells Moonlighting film subsidiary

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    South African media company African Media Entertainment (AME), has sold its film entertainment subsidiary Moonlighting Filmmakers, in an effort to reduce its heavy debt burden. Moonlighting Filmmakers, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AME Commercial Filmmakers, was sold to Philip John Key, the subsidiary's original owner and CEO, for $1m (R10.2m) in ...

  • News

    Berlinale names Eastern European delegate

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    The Berlin International Film Festival has named Nikolaj Nikitin, editor-in-chief and publisher of the film magazine Schnitt as its new foreign delegate for Eastern Europe, covering: Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Nikitin will advise the Film Festival in the selection of films ...

  • News

    Loews Cineplex considers public offering

    2002-05-13T00:00:00Z

    Revived North American cinema circuit Loews Cineplex is considering an initial public offering, according to the CEO of the company that engineered the refinancing of the insolvent exhibitor. Speaking at his company's annual general meeting on May 9, Onex Corp. CEO Gerald Schwartz said that exhibition was enjoying a return ...