Large MPU – Page 3829
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News
Six LA managers team for new management outfit
Influential LA managers Suzan Bymel, Guymon Casady, Eric Kranzler, Evelyn O'Neill, Daniel Rappaport and David Seltzer have joined forces to create an as yet unnamed powerhouse management outfit. A brief group statement issued today read: "The six of us were drawn together by our shared philosophy, values and sensibilities." Before ...
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News
Lakeshore puckers up for The Last Kiss remake
Gabriele Muccino's Italian blockbuster, The Last Kiss, has found new love in the US and the UK.Tom Rosenberg's Lakeshore Entertainment has acquired US remake rights to the romantic comedy which grossed more than $1m for North American distributor THINKFilm in the US and $10m for local distributor Medusa when it ...
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News
Moritz de Hadeln confirmed to head next year's Venice - at the very least
The Biennale has confirmed that Moritz de Hadeln will head next year's Venice International Film Festival - leaving open the possibility of the former Berlin chief retaining the position for an extra two years.'We are currently re-thinking the position of the Mostra and its relationship to the film industry,' festival ...
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News
Europe wakes up to Insomnia
Insomnia, British director Christopher Nolan's follow-up to his acclaimed Memento, was launched into three of its final European territories last weekend, racing straight up the charts.Opening in France on Nov 6 for Warner Bros, Insomnia shot into the top spot, displacing UIP's Red Dragon after just one week. The thriller ...
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Constantin reports increase in sales - and net losses
German producer-distributor Constantin Film has posted a 10% increase in sales to Euro 94.6m, but also a 64% increase in net losses to Euros 7.36m, (from 2001's loss of Euros 4.5m) according to the nine-months report to September 30, 2002. International sales revenues were up 78% on the previous year ...
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News
Pusan's PPP shows way into Asian film
Prospective financiers and co-producers will get the opportunity to invest in some of Asia's hottest film projects at the 5th Pusan Promotion Plan which runs November 18-20 in South Korea. Running alongside the Pusan International Film Festival, the Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) has quickly achieved prominence as a pre-market for ...
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News
Movielink breathes new life into video-on-demand
After years of hype and false starts, video-on-demand took a giant leap forward this week with the soft launch in the US of online video rental service Movielink - backed by five of the US majors - Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, MGM, Universal Studios and Warner Bros.Screen International put the ...
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Reviews
House Of Fools (Dom Durakov)
Dir. Andrei Konchalovsky. Russia-France. 2002. 104mins.Released from the strict disciplines of Hollywood film making, to which he adhered during his Western exile, veteran Andrei Konchalovsky, now firmly re-established back in Moscow, lets his hair down and plunges into a very personal exploration of the Russian experience with House Of ...
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News
Spain's digital satellite platforms get qualified greenlight for merger
The planned pay TV merger between Spain's two digital satellite platforms - Via Digital and Canal Satelite Digital (CSD) - got a qualified green light this week from the nation's Competition Defense Court (Tribunal de Defensa de la Competencia).The Court outlined ten key conditions for the merged platform, including that ...
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News
Australia's indie producer incentive looks like getting through
Despite strong opposition from the commercial free-to-air television networks, it looks like programs produced by the independent sector will earn extra points towards the local content quota for the first time in Australian television history. This should assist the survival of production houses, many of which simultaneously develop both films ...
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News
Irish Film Board faces sharp budget cuts
Amid a set of sweeping public service cuts announced in pre-budget estimates for 2003, the Irish government is set to reduce the Irish Film Board's funding by an aggregate 12.5%.The Board's administration budget will be reduced by 1% to Euros 1.584m while its capital and training budget will be cut ...
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News
Palm Springs Film Festival starts with early screening of Chicago
The 14th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which runs from Jan 9-20 2003, kicks off on Dec 19 with a pre-release special screening of Chicago. The Broadway adaptation is expected to be one of Miramax's jewels in the crown during the awards season and stars Rene Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, ...
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News
$75m in 24 hours for Episode II video and DVD
The DVD and video release of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones notched up $75m in its first 24-hour period after going on sale at midnight on Tuesday in parts of North America. Twentieth Century Fox said in a statement that one quarter of initial shipments were ...
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News
Susan Wrubel leaves Madstone for Emerging Pictures
Emerging Pictures, the New York-based production, representation and exhibition outfit run by Ira Deutchman, has hired former Madstone Films vice president of acquisitions Susan Wrubel in a scouting drive before the Sundance Film Festival. Wrubel will act as consultant to seek out one or two pictures for representation at the ...
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News
Lovely & Amazing results for Lions Gate
Driven by a 53% margin in its motion picture business, Lions Gate Entertainment (LGE) has reported a 30% increase in second quarter revenue over the same period last year, from $59.7m to $77.8m. Six-month figures were better still, with revenues up 64% from $104.9m in 2001 to $172.1m this year. ...
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News
Palm sells Lockdown to Columbia TriStar
Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures has sold US theatrical, non-theatrical, video, TV and other ancillary rights on its prison drama Lockdown to Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. The picture, which was produced and financed by Palm Pictures and jointly made with No Limit Films and Burg/Koules Productions, chronicles the brutal prison experiences ...
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News
Splendid, Artisan team on U-Boat
Splendid Pictures has begun production in Los Angeles on the wartime thriller U-Boat, starring William H Macy, Lauren Holly and Scott Caan. North American rights have gone to Artisan Entertainment as part of a two-picture deal under which Artisan also acquired North American rights to Heaven's Pond, which is currently ...
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News
Diller steps in to run newly spun-off Universal Entertainment
Vivendi Universal Entertainment chairman Barry Diller has been named interim co-chief executive officer of an expanded entertainment division, loosely called Universal Entertainment. The music and highly lucrative video game divisions join Vivendi Universal Entertainment's film, television and theme park assets under one roof in a move analysts say will create ...
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News
Gene Hackman gets Cecil B DeMille trophy at the Globes
Gene Hackman has been named as the recipient of this year's Cecil B DeMille Award at the 60th annual Golden Globe Awards show on Jan 19 next year. The honour was announced yesterday by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) which gives out the Globes and Hackman was cited for ...
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News
Japan picks Out Oscar nominee
Japan has selected Hideyuki Hirayama's Out as its nominee for the foreign language film category at next year's Academy Awards. A female orientated black comedy, Out was selected from a shortlist of ten films by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan.Based on a recently published novel by best-selling mystery ...