Large MPU – Page 2064

  • News

    Korea's YedangOnline acquires ShowEast

    16 May 2006

    KOSDAQ-listed games companyYedangOnline Corp has acquired a 54.6% share in Korean production anddistribution house ShowEast. YedangOnline has bought120,000 of ShowEast shares for a total of $9.5m. It stated the move was made as"the first step towards creating an entertainment portal business comprisinggames, music, films and TV dramas" in collaboration with ...

  • News

    Anne-Marie Duff signs on for Bed Blockers

    16 May 2006

    Anne-Marie Duffwill star in Alan Entwistle's UK black comedy/satire Bed Blockers. Duff previously starred in TheMagdalene Sisters andTV's Shameless and TheVirgin Queen.Entwistle willstart shooting in 2007. The film is about two Northern English mothers who takeon the system when the government threatens to withdraw health treatment forpremature babies. The film ...

  • News

    Swipe Films starts UK/Ireland student screenwriting competition

    16 May 2006

    London-based filmproduction, sales and distribution company Swipe Films has launched a newscreenwriting competition for UK and Irish students. Undergraduate andpostgraduate Students will submit an original screenplay of 80-120 pages fromany genre. The top winner will option and develop the winning script. Swipesaid that the prize will include a "five figure" ...

  • News

    Head Gear, Spice Factory start completion fund

    16 May 2006

    UK producers and financiers MichaelCowan of Spice Factory and Phil Hunt of Head Gear Films have launched a new fund for features needed completion financing.

  • News

    Starz signs multi-year sponsorship deal with Hollywood Film Festival

    16 May 2006

    Premium US cable movie service Starz EntertainmentGroup (SEG) has signed a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Carlos deAbreu's Hollywood Film Festival (HFF) kicking off with this year's event Oct 17to 23.SEG will also host the closing night party of thefestival after the Hollywood Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel inBeverly ...

  • News

    Cannes to go ahead with Summer Palace premiere

    17 May 2006

    One day before Lou Ye's SummerPalace screens in competition atCannes, the controversial film has yet to receive a greenlight from China'scensors, but according to the festival the competition screening will go ahead.The film was made in Chinathrough official channels, but according to Chinese regulations, the censorshipcommittee of the Film Bureau ...

  • News

    Hong Kong's Emperor, Sundream set to steal together

    17 May 2006

    Hong Kong's Emperor Motion Pictures (EMP) has added severalnew titles to its slate in the run-up to Cannes, including action adventure Let's Steal Together, set to star pop duo Twins.A co-production with Hong Kong's Sundream Motion Pictures, the film revolves around several gangs ofthieves chasing a religious relic. It will ...

  • News

    Memento adds two Cannes titles to slate

    17 May 2006

    French sales company MementoFilms International has picked up competition title Juventude EmMarcha as well as Un Certain Regardfilm El Violin.The first film aPortugese/French/Swiss co-production directed by Pedro Costa and will be released in Portgualby Costa Do Castelo, in France by Equation and in Switzerland byFrenetic.El Violin, from Mexico's Francisco ...

  • News

    Fortissimo closes raft of sales on Frank Gehry

    17 May 2006

    Fortissimo Films has closedseveral sales on Sydney Pollack's documentary Sketches Of Frank Gehry on the eve on Cannes.The film, which is screeningin official selection out-of-competition at Cannes, has gone to Germany's Kinowelt, Israel's United King and Wise Policy in Japan. It was previously sold to Bim for Italy and Pathe ...

  • News

    Kino picks up North American rights to Old Joy

    16 May 2006

    Boutique US distributor Kino International has pickedup North American rights to Kelly Reichardt's critically acclaimed Old Joy whichwas a hit at this year's Sundance, Rotterdam and New Directors/New Filmsfestivals.The film stars Will Oldham and Daniel London as twoold friends in their mid-30s whose long relationship has reached a crossroadsdue to ...

  • News

    EastWest on board for Yarik sales

    16 May 2006

    Austrian/UK sales companyEastWest Filmdistribution has acquired international sales rights to Russian dramaYarik. First-time feature directorsKlaus Hundsbichler and Cecile Henry direct the story about a Russian child whois abducted and sold on the black market. MBI, Fischer Film and OrkenFilm are the co-producers.EastWest will be invitebuyers to screen the project as ...

  • News

    TWC seals multi-year deal with Roadshow

    16 May 2006

    Roadshow Filmshas become the exclusive distributor of The Weinstein Company's (TWC) upcomingfeatures in Australia and New Zealand under a multi-year deal announced todayon the eve of Cannes.TWC recentlyclosed a similar exclusive deal in France with TF1, an investor in the companywhich was previously partnered with the Weinsteins when they ran ...

  • News

    Intandem on board for sales of new Carry On film

    17 May 2006

    Bawdy British comedyfranchise Carry On is beingrevived. Here in Cannes, London-based Intandem Films is introducing buyers to CarryOn London, the 32nd and latestinstalment in the long-running series that began way back in 1958 with CarryOn Sergeant.The film, now inpre-production, is being produced by Chris Chrisafis and directed by PeterRichardson. Shane ...

  • News

    Liberty Media moves in on IDT Corporation

    16 May 2006

    US entrepreneur John Malone's Liberty Media isplanning to buy IDT Corporation for $186m in cash and the assumption ofundisclosed existing debt.The strategic move marks an ideal marriage between carrier and content.Under a five-year output deal Liberty-owned cable operator Starz EntertainmentGroup will carry select IDT Entertainment CG animated releases and live ...

  • News

    Woody Allen signs McGregor and Farrell for UK film

    17 May 2006

    French sales, distribution and financehouse Wild Bunch has confirmed casting on Woody Allen's upcoming Summer 2006 Project. Colin Farrell and EwanMcGregor will co-star alongside Tom Wilkinson and an as-yet unannounced female.The film, budgeted at $20.7m (Euros 16.2m),will begin shooting in London in June and should be ready in time for ...

  • Reviews

    The Da Vinci Code

    17 May 2006

    Dir: Ron Howard. US.2006. 152 mins.If Dan Brown's soaraway bestseller The Da Vinci Code wasclumsily written but a page-turning guilty pleasure, Ron Howard's film versionis well-made but chronically devoid of the guilty pleasures it needs to make itsucceed as first-rate popcorn entertainment. Howard and screenwriter AkivaGoldsman have remained rigidly faithful ...

  • News

    Dubai sets third festival dates for December 10-17

    17 May 2006

    The DubaiInternational Film Festival has announced the dates for its third edition,which will be held December 10-17, 2006. The festival will inaugurate theSheikh Zayed Lifetime Achievement Award to honor a film industry personalitywho has built "cultural bridges on the world stage." Three otherlifetime achievement awards will be presented to artists ...

  • News

    Mike Leigh picked for Heart of Sarajevo award

    17 May 2006

    Mike Leigh will receive this year's honourary Heart of Sarajevo awardat the Sarajevo Film Festival. Leigh has previously visited the festival to show Topsy-Turvy in 2000, to receive a tribute in 2002, andto serve on the competition jury in 2004. 'His presence and support has done a great deal in ...

  • News

    Optimum starts music, audio books division

    18 May 2006

    UK distributor Optimum Releasing, which was recentlyacquired by France's StudioCanal, has launched a new division devoted tocompilation albums, audiobooks and soundtracks.Optimum Sounds will issue its first release, tripleCD Extended Seventies - The Dawning of the the 12" Era, in May. Feel The Spirit - Other Worldly FolkSongs & Psychedelics will ...

  • News

    FilmFour backs Winterbottom's Italy-set Genova

    18 May 2006

    FilmFour hasannounced plans to continue its relationship with Michael Winterbottom andAndrew Eaton's Revolution Films by financing Winterbottom's next feature Genova. Eaton said theproject's budget would be around $3.9m (£3m) and shooting is likely to start inthe autumn. Laurence Coriat,who also collaborated with Winterbottom on 1999's Wonderland, wrote the screenplay. The ...