Large MPU – Page 2125

  • News

    Mixed reactions greet Weinstein, Le Lay announcement

    2002-05-18T04:05:00Z

    While rivals saluted TF1 yesterday for its grand ambitions with Miramax welcoming a new competitor on the local theatrical distribution scene, there was also unease at the prospect of ever more films cluttering up French cinemas because of television's encroaching influence over cinema. Some even suggested that French regulators should ...

  • News

    John Sayles aims high and low for next films

    2002-05-18T04:05:00Z

    John Sayles has announced a full cast for his half-Spanish language Casa De Los Babys, which starts shooting this August at a knock-down budget of $1m - while aiming high for his next production, between $24 and $32m for the Robert Carlyle-starrer Jamie MacGillivray.The IFC-backed Casa De Los Babys, set ...

  • News

    UA bowled over by Bowling For Columbine

    2002-05-18T04:05:00Z

    United Artists (UA) has acquired US rights to Michael Moore's gun control documentary Bowling For Columbine, marking the first domestic deal of this year's festival. The studio division of MGM beat out a clutch of distributors bidding for the film including Miramax and Fine Line, paying a reported $1.5m.The deal ...

  • News

    Paul Cox unveils The Human Touch

    2002-05-18T04:05:00Z

    Cannes favourite Paul Cox, who challenged stereotypes with his story of an elderly couple's passionate affair in Innocence, has unveiled his next production, The Human Touch.The picture, scheduled to shoot in Australia and France in October, sees the Australian director exploring themes of sexual inhibition on a larger scale than ...

  • News

    Christopher Lee rides with The Last Unicorn

    2002-05-18T04:05:00Z

    Continent Film's Michael Pakleppa is assembling a starry cast for The Last Unicorn, a fantasy film billing itself as Europe's answer to The Lord Of The Rings.Christopher Lee, Angela Lansbury and Rene Auberjonois have already committed to the picture. Producer and co-director Pakleppa is in advanced talks with Mia Farrow, ...

  • News

    Vivendi, News Corp Italian pay-TV row intensifies

    2002-05-18T04:05:00Z

    A row between two of the world's biggest media players has intensified this week, with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp saying it will hold Jean-Marie Messier's Vivendi Universal to an agreement to merge their Italian pay-TV businesses.According to UK paper The Financial Times, News Corp is expected to go to court ...

  • News

    First Look takes Luther International

    2002-05-18T04:05:00Z

    First Look Media has acquired international rights excluding Germany to Luther, a biopic of Martin Luther currently shooting in central Germany, Bavaria, Italy and the Czech Republic with Joseph Fiennes playing the title character.Alfred Molina, Peter Ustinov and Bruno Ganz co-star in the film which is directed by Eric Till ...

  • News

    Studio Canal unveils Italian film production unit

    2002-05-18T04:05:00Z

    StudioCanal, the production and distribution subsidiary of Canal Plus and Vivendi Universal, has set up StudioCanal Urania, a new Rome based company that will produce up to three Italian films per year.The move comes despite rumours of Studiocanal shrinking its foreign operations. "This reflects the group's commitment to strengthening its ...

  • News

    Michael Jackson to produce and star in werewolf movie

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    In the first movie being made under his Neverland Pictures banner, Michael Jackson will play a werewolf in a project he will also produce called Wolfed. Rick Baker, Oscar-winning makeup expert who created the werewolf effects for An American Werewolf In London and Thriller, is already on boardNeverland's financing and ...

  • News

    Zentropa launches Industrial revolution

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    First there was Dogme. Now Danish maverick outfit Zentropa has a launched a new label - this time with even more confining rules. Industrial Films DK will champion ultra-low budget films from new directing talent. In a bid to keep cost right down, one of the requirements of the new ...

  • News

    Kilmer horror helps scare up Helkon slate

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    Helkon Media's sales, production and distribution arm Helkon International Pictures (HIP) has revealed the first fruits of its new LA operation under former Warner Bros executive Clifford Werber. The company has boarded Anthony Waller's long-gestating $22m horror movie Nine Miles Down with Val Kilmer now attached to star and has ...

  • News

    Intermedia, Metropolitan team on Tristan & Iseult

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    Intermedia is teaming up with Samuel and Victor Hadida of French independent Metropolitan Filmexport to finance and sell their new production Tristan & Iseult, a retelling of the classic story to which Rupert Wainwright (Stigmata) is attached to direct. The film is being produced by Samuel Hadida through his production ...

  • News

    Fox looks to steal Jordan's Good Thief

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    Fox Searchlight Pictures is in final negotiations to acquire US rights to The Good Thief, Neil Jordan's completed contemporary remake of Jean-Pierre Mellville's Bob Le Flambeur which stars Nick Nolte, Tcheky Karyo, Emir Kusturica and Ralph Fiennes. The deal marks the end of a long quest for the film's financier ...

  • News

    Korea's KM Culture launches first Cannes slate

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    Korean investment group KM Culture has launched a new sales operation, boasting a slate of big budget pictures. The new sales outfit is headed by Judy Ahn, former sales executive at Tube Entertainment, the investment and distribution combine that late last year was absorbed by the powerhouse CJ Entertainment. With ...

  • News

    Samuelson Productions to bring Stormbreaker to Isle of Man

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    Marc and Peter Samuelson's Samuelson Productions has optioned the bestselling series of Stormbreaker childrens' books as the first projects in a groundbreaking development deal with the Isle of Man's newly-launched£125 million film scheme. The six-title series about a 14 year-old orphan trained as an MI6 secret agent is written and ...

  • News

    Christopher Lee rides with The Last Unicorn

    2002-05-18T04:05:00Z

    Continent Film's Michael Pakleppa is assembling a starry cast for The Last Unicorn, a fantasy film billing itself as Europe's answer to The Lord Of The Rings.Christopher Lee, Angela Lansbury and Rene Auberjonois have already committed to the picture. Producer and co-director Pakleppa is in advanced talks with Mia Farrow, ...

  • News

    Michael Jackson to produce and star in werewolf movie

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    In the first movie being made under his Neverland Pictures banner, Michael Jackson will play a werewolf in a project he will also produce called Wolfed. Rick Baker, Oscar-winning makeup expert who created the werewolf effects for An American Werewolf In London and Thriller, is already on boardNeverland's financing and ...

  • News

    Korea's KM Culture launches first Cannes slate

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    Korean investment group KM Culture has launched a new sales operation, boasting a slate of big budget pictures. The new sales outfit is headed by Judy Ahn, former sales executive at Tube Entertainment, the investment and distribution combine that late last year was absorbed by the powerhouse CJ Entertainment. With ...

  • News

    Zentropa launches Industrial revolution

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    First there was Dogme. Now Danish maverick outfit Zentropa has a launched a new label - this time with even more confining rules. Industrial Films DK will champion ultra-low budget films from new directing talent. In a bid to keep cost right down, one of the requirements of the new ...

  • News

    Samuelson Productions to bring Stormbreaker to Isle of Man

    2002-05-19T04:05:00Z

    Marc and Peter Samuelson's Samuelson Productions has optioned the bestselling series of Stormbreaker childrens' books as the first projects in a groundbreaking development deal with the Isle of Man's newly-launched£125 million film scheme. The six-title series about a 14 year-old orphan trained as an MI6 secret agent is written and ...