Large MPU – Page 589
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NBC Universal merger is complete
NBC completed its acquisition of Vivendi Universal's entertainment assets earlier today (12) in NewYork as the companies merged to create NBC Universal, the latest mediaconglomerate with expected 2005 revenues of $15bn.The new companyhas a mind-boggling range of cross-promotional opportunities with assetsincluding Universal Pictures, NBC Network, seven cable channels including USAand ...
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Warner Japan wins Government Trade Award
Warner Bros Pictures Distribution, Japan, will receive Japan's Ministerof International Trade and Industry Award for Best Motion PictureImporter/Distributor of the Year in a ceremony to take place in Tokyo onApril 21. William Ireton, managing director, Warner Bros PicturesDistribution Japan, will accept the award on behalf of Warner Bros.The award is ...
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D.E.B.S., The Notebook bookend 6th CineVegas Film Festival
ScreenGems' comedy D.E.B.S. about an all-girl crime-fighting unit willopen the 6th annual CineVegas Film Festival, which runs in Las Vegasfrom Jun 11-19 and closes with New Line's epic romance The Notebook.JackpotPremieres for titles without a US distributor include world premieres of ChrisFisher's Hollywood Hills thriller Hillside Strangler, MitchellAltieri's dark coming-of-age ...
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IDT signs deal to acquire Manga Entertainment
US-basedanimation and live-action producer-distributor IDT Entertainment has signed anagreement to acquire Manga Entertainment, the largest distributor of animeoutside Japan.The move effectively makes IDT one of the largest animedistributors in operation and strengthens the hand of its DVD and videodistribution subsidiary Anchor Bay Entertainment at a time when the worldwideanime market ...
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The Football Factory
Dir: Nick Love. UK 2004. 90minsNick Love's low-budget, digitally shotadaptation of John King's novel is an energetic and creditable addition to whatseems to what seems to be blossoming into a mini-genre in its own right - thefootball hooligan film. Other forthcoming additions to the genre include TheYank, with Elijah Wood ...
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FRANCE 14 May
Van Helsingscared up nearly 1 million admissions its first week in release with arespectable $6,902 per screen average. Les Choristes remains in thesecond spot after 8 weeks with last week's number one Mariages! down tothird position.There wasvery little movement at the box office but the films that dropped off did ...
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Fangoria spills into US distribution with Last Horror
Fangoria, thecult US horror magazine, is branching out into theatrical distribution. It isto handle the US release of Julian Richards' The Last Horror Movie. Thefilm will be rolled out in the States next month.Tartan ishandling the film in the UK, where it will be put out on approximately 40prints in ...
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Lolafilms tunes up for Isi/Disi sequels
As Spanish producerLolafilms gets ready for Spain's widest-ever release with 400 prints ofSantiago Segura starrer Isi/Disi, chief Andres Vicente Gomez revealedthat the movie is to become a franchise, with Seguro signed on for two moreinstalments.Isi/Disi 2 will start shooting in January 2005 for a Christmas2005 domestic release. Seguro is widely ...
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Finland's MRP joins Russian Legion
Finland's MRP Matila RöhrProductions has joined Russia's PK Slovo production outfit to back FyodorBondarchuk's $3.3m The Ninth Legion, which shoots in Tadzikistan,Ukraina and Moscow from June to September.Fyodor Bondarchuk, who isthe son of the legendary director Sergei Bondarchuk (War And Peace),previously acted and co-produced Moving (2003) among other films, buthas ...
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Korea pledges $33m for digital cinema push
South Korea's government is gettingbehind the push towards digital cinema, pledging $33.2m to speed up the filmindustry's transition to digital.In a report published this week titled 'Plans and Visions for theCulture Industry,' the Ministry of Culture and Tourism earmarked the fundsfor 2005-2007 to stimulate research, support the installation of digitalprojectors, ...
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Lorber buys classic titles for UK, US labels
New UK home entertainment distributor inD has struckexclusive output deals with Hungarofilms and Hollywood Classics.Titles covered by the deal include Istvan Szabo's Oscarwinner Mephisto, Cannes Jury prize-winner Colonel Redl, and Hanussen,the third element in the trilogy.From Hollywood Classics, inD acquired Federico Fellini's Casanova,a pair of Elia Kazan titles A Tree ...
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First Look stirs with Martini's Lymelife
US-based First Look Mediahas acquired worldwide rights excluding North America to Derick and StevenMartini's drama Lymelife, which starsAlec Baldwin, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Timothy Hutton.The Martini brothersdeveloped the script through the Sundance Institute˙s film-maker andscreenwriter labs and make their directorial debut on the project, which is dueto begin principal photography ...
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Jean Prewitt appointed president of AFMA
Jean M Prewitt has been named president of the American Film Marketing Association (AFMA), the LA-based organisation which represents the independent film industry in the same way the MPAA relates to the major studios. AFMA has 180 member companies.Prewitt was previously a principal with Podesta.com, a Washington-based lobbying and public ...
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Pyramide stacks up with Warner Bros' Femme
Fabienne Vonnier's Pyramidehas added two new co-productions to its roster, as well as taking oninternational sales to Josiane Balasko's L'ExFemme De Ma Vie - the latest film from Warner Bros' French productiondivision.Pyramide sales divisionFlach Pyramide is also selling the two new co-productions - An Italian Romance from CarloMazzacurati, Habana Blues ...
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Luna zeros in on $18m Moscow
Spain's Luna is to up theante by directing Moscow Zero, a $18mproduction and a significant increase on the budgets for her previous films, Stranded and Whore.The film is to be made undera new label, Valentia Pictures, designed for higher-budget movies, said Whoreand Moscow Zero producer Jose Magan who previously operated ...
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Carlyle plies trade in Bird's Meat
Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, UK actor Robert Carlyle anddirector Antonia Bird have teamed on a black comedy horror film titled The Meat Trade.A modernre-working of the story of Edinburgh body snatchers Burke and Hare, theproduction is being readied for a spring 2005 shoot through 4Way Pictures, theBritish company the trio ...
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Stantic sets Lerman's Meanwhile
Argentine producer LitaStantic, backer of Lucrecia Martel's Cannes competition title The Holy Girl (La Nina Santa), ispreparing the next film from up-and-coming director Diego Lerman.Provisionally titled Mientras Tanto (Meanwhile), the filmwill follow the overlapping stories of a cluster of characters populating lowermiddle-class Buenos Aires. Two young women provide the link ...
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Tokyo festival to launch market
The Tokyo International FilmFestival has announced the launch of an ambitious two-tiered marketaimed at becoming a meeting place for the Asian contents industry.The Japan Contents Fair(JCF) will be held from October 22-24, and will focus on film, animation, TV,video games, music, and DVD, including eventstargeted at ordinary consumers.The Tokyo International ...
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Tremain tunes up Music & Silence with Lupovitz
US independent producer DanLupovitz has acquired film rights to Rose Tremain's award-winning novel Music & Silence which Tremainherself has adapted into a screenplay.Tremain describes the novel,which is set in the royal court in 17th century Denmark, as being "about loveand betrayal, greed and poverty and the terrifying consequence of lies ...
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Dubai plans festival splash with royal backing
Middle Eastern micro-state Dubai is planning a major splashin the film world with the launch of the Dubai International Film Festival inDecember (Dec 6-11).Highly developed and politically liberal, Dubai ispositioning the festival as a cultural bridge between the Middle East and theoutside world. It comes complete with the blessing of ...