Large MPU – Page 1952
-
News
Hong Kong develops taste for comedy
Hong Kong's reputation as a voracious market for action films may be set to change - a faltering economy and widespread distaste for violence post-September 11 means that light-hearted films are expected to outperform traditional action fare during the all-important Christmas and Chinese New Year holiday season.Six of last year's ...
-
News
Advanced revises 2001 sales forecast
Less than two weeks after Germany's Advanced Medien announced the closure of its theatrical operations at the end of the year, the rights trader has now reforecast its consolidated sales for 2001 from Euros 23m to between Euros 18m-Euros 20m.Although sales in the third quarter, at Euros 4.2m were up ...
-
News
Italy's Eagle Pictures gets huge cash boost
Ambitious Italian distributor and producer Eagle Pictures has secured a major cash injection from leading financial group Interbanca, which has acquired a 13.79% stake in the film outfit for a value of Euros 10.3m. In addition, the bank has also awarded the company a Euros 50m fund to be invested ...
-
News
New pan-regional Cibermedia fund launched
Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American producers will soon have a fresh source of financing available for projects integrating "new technologies" through a new pan-regional funding initiative known as Cibermedia. The initiative was formally approved this week by the Conference of Iberoamerican Film Authorities (CACI). It will launch in January 2002 ...
-
News
Last call for leading festival calendar entries
On January 11 Screen International publishes its 2002 festival calendar. This will incorporate more film and TV events than any other film and TV industry calendar. If you have not already sent us details of your event, be aware that time is rapidly running out. The deadline for entries is ...
-
News
Japan's Softbank posts $411m net losses
Softbank Corp., a Tokyo-based Internet and computer software company with extensive media interests, has posted a group net loss of $441m (Y54.3 billion) for the first half of fiscal 2001, ending in September. This compares with a $295m (Y36.3 billion) profit for the same period the previous fiscal year. Despite ...
-
News
Iberoamerican co-prod forum wins approval
The second annual Iberoamerican Co-Production Forum came to a close Tuesday (Nov 20) midway through a quiet Iberoamerican Film Festival of Huelva, with both events emphasising the Latin American industry. The Forum earned positive marks by participants, both for the quality of the projects being pitched and the good turn-out. ...
-
News
Universal crosses $1bn in international grosses
Universal Pictures became the first Hollywood studio this year to cross the $1bn mark in international grosses over the weekend. It is only the second time in the studio's history - 1999 was the first - that the milestone was crossed and continues a blisteringly successful year for the company ...
-
News
Fat Girl distributors lose Ontario appeal
The North American distributors of Catherine Breillat's controversial film Fat Girl (A Ma Souer!) have lost an appeal to the Ontario Film Review Board (OFRB). Given that joint distributors Cowboy Pictures and Lions Gate Films have chosen not to make the cuts requested, the decision effectively bans the film from ...
-
Reviews
The Royal Tenenbaums
Dir Wes Anderson. US 2001. 108mins.The same distinctive sensibility that informed Wes Anderson's first two innovative films, Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, is very much in evidence in his new serio-comedy, The Royal Tenenbaums, except that the scope is more ambitious, the budget bigger and the cast more glamorous. With ...
-
News
Mira Nair named Berlinale 2002 jury president
Indian director Mira Nair has been named as president of the International Jury of the 52nd Berlinale 2002. Nair's feature debut, Salaam Bombay, won the Camera d'Or in Cannes, as well as 25 other international awards. It was also nominated for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film. Nair's ...
-
News
Assumption Of The Virgin becomes doubtful
Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella's Mirage Enterprises is battling to save Assumption Of The Virgin, one of the highest-profile UK productions on the market, after being forced to shelve plans to start production in March. The Benicio Del Toro-Juliette Binoche drama, which Mirage developed with BBC Films and Intermedia, first ...
-
News
Germany's Road Movies relocates to London
German production outfit Road Movies is to relocate from Berlin to London from 2002 as part of a restructure by the Das Werk Group in order to generate savings of around Euros 5m next year.Das Werk spokesman Wolfgang Borgfeld stressed that the move did not mean the closure of the ...
-
News
Italy's Eagle feathers its nest with books
Italy's Eagle Pictures, which recently received substantial acquisition and production funding from financial group Interbanca (Screendaily Nov 20, 2001), is just one of the internationally-minded Italian companies filling its production slate with screen adaptations of literary masterpieces.In particular, hot on the heels of last year's Oscar contender Chocolat, Eagle scooped ...
-
News
The New Hollywood style: Part II
Abstracted from Screen International - Part IITo read the previous article, enter: Mike Goodridge into the Screendaily search barPivotal to the symbiotic relationships developing between the US studios and independent production companies lies the purchasing power of TV. "What international broadcasters want is big-budget movies," explains Jay Firestone, chairman and ...
-
News
Danish film institute appoints new consultant
The Danish Film Institute has appointed the 66-year-old Morten Grunwald as film consultant in charge of new projects in collaboration with Vinca Wiedemann, film consultant since 1999, who, at the same time, has had her contract extended another two years. Between them, the consultants manage some $8.9m (DKR75.5m) annually.Grunwald is ...
-
News
German cultural film funding gets boost
German Minister for Culture Julian Nida-Ruemelin will have Euros 1.5m more to spend on film funding measures in 2002 as part of a global 3% increase in Gerhard Schroeder administration's arts budget.The budget for culturally-oriented film funding will increase from Euro 9.7m to Euros 10.7m while German contribution to EURIMAGES ...
-
News
Artisan gets Kushner-Locke rights in North America
Artisan Entertainment has secured the North American rights to service the library assets of The Kushner-Locke Company. Subject to bankruptcy court approval, Artisan will become the sales agent controlling North American TV and home entertainment rights to over 300 Kushner-Locke titles.The titles produced or licensed by Kushner-Locke include feature films, ...
-
Reviews
The Simian Line
Dir: Linda Yellen. USA 2000. 106mins The cast members in this uneven ensemble comedy might as well be in different pictures; in fact, it's a pity they're not since the film starring Lynn Redgrave is worth watching, while the one featuring William Hurt and Samantha Mathis is not. Given that ...
-
News
Europeans appreciate Training Day
Denzel Washington is proving his star appeal once again across Europe with his latest film Training Day. The crime drama in which Washington plays against type as a corrupt Los Angeles cop, opened this week to strong figures in Italy and Scandinavia as well as continuing to perform with gusto ...