Large MPU – Page 597

  • News

    Jolly green giant: Shrek 2 revives summer with $125.3m in five days

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    Dreamworks' much anticipatedShrek 2 caused the first major eruption of this summer season at theweekend as it opened top on a staggering $125.3m from its first five days,according to studio estimates.If these figures areconfirmed accurate on Monday it will be the biggest Wednesday bow of all time,overtaking The Lord Of ...

  • Reviews

    The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Stephen Hopkins. US. 2004. 129 minsA tour de forceperformance from Geoffrey Rush is the star attraction and saving grace of The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers, aflashy, highly selective biography of the late comedian. Sellers signaturecharacter was the defective detective Inspector Clouseau but Chance in Being There appears ...

  • News

    AUSTRALIA 24 May

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    Local comedy Thunderstruckwas the fourth most popular film at cinemas on the weekend, taking A$358,890from 162 screens for Icon. While this was well behind the big Hollywoodblockbusters Troy and Van Helsing, it measured up reasonablywell against third placed Twisted,the new release from UIP, which took A$477,471 from 138 screens.Troy and ...

  • News

    NEW ZEALAND 24 May

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    Roadshow's Troyhad no trouble maintaining its title as the most popular film at the box officefor the second consecutive weekend and UIP's Van Helsing held on to second place but three of the next fourspots in the chart were occupied by new releases.They were Columbia TriStar's You Got Served, which ...

  • Reviews

    The Day After Tomorrow

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Roland Emmerich. US.2004. 125 mins TBA.The box office fate of TheDay After Tomorrow was sealed the moment its trailer hit theatres.Eye-popping scenes of the beleaguered streets of New York City being engulfedby a tidal wave or Los Angeles ripped apart by tornadoes created ripples ofexcitement among audiences itching to ...

  • News

    Yes inks VoD supply deal with u-direct

    2000-03-28T18:55:00Z

    Yes Television, the UK's pioneering video-on-demand (VoD) group, has signed its second content supply deal within a week of announcing plans to float on the stockmarket (Screendaily, Mar 21).Yes has inked a deal with Digital Broadcasting Co (DBC), which trades as u-direct films, to create a u-direct channel on Yes' ...

  • Reviews

    Clean

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    Dir/scr: Olivier Assayas.France/Canada 2004. 80 mins.Like his film's heroine,French director Olivier Assayas returns to the straight and narrow in Clean,an emotionally fluent drama that is a world removed from his last film, theexperimental cyber-thriller Demonlover. Another predominantlyEnglish-language venture, Clean sees Assayas working again with Asianstar and ex-wife Maggie Cheung for ...

  • Reviews

    Exiles (Exils)

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    Dir/scr: Tony Gatlif.France. 2004. 103minsDirector Tony Gatlif'syearning to return to the land of his childhood is the guiding motivationbehind Exiles, a polished road movie journey of self-discovery thattakes place between France and Algeria. Unfortunately, it is the local colour,vibrant locations and use of music that linger in the memory rather ...

  • News

    Berlin's European Film Market switches to new venue

    2004-05-25T04:00:00Z

    It's official: Berlin's European Film Market (EFM) will have a newvenue for 2006 at the Renaissance-style Martin Gropius Building, just fiveminutes from Potsdamer Platz. The market will be held inside the cramped Debis building forthe last time in 2005.The Martin Gropius Building has hosted several internationalexhibitions in the past - ...

  • News

    Palm takes US and UK rights to Nomi Song

    2004-05-25T04:00:00Z

    Palm Pictures has picked up US and UK rights to AndrewHorn's music documentary The Nomi Song at the end of what sales agentMedia Luna Entertainment described as "a very busy Cannes market."MLE managing director Ida Martins told ScreenDaily.com thatsales were also concluded for the Russian film You I Love with ...

  • News

    NonStop Entertainment stocks up at Cannes

    2004-05-25T04:00:00Z

    Nordicdistributor NonStop Entertainment finished Cannes with a bagful of acquisitionsheaded by Agnes Jaoui's Comme Une Image, which scooped the Palme forbest script.NonStop will release the Paris-set drama, acquired from StudioCanal, inOctober this year.FromMedia Asia, it bought Breaking News, the Johnnie To action drama thatwas a late addition to official selection. ...

  • News

    Kapur teams with Rings producer for Indian movies

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    Indian director ShekharKapur (Elizabeth) is teaming up with Lord Of The Rings producerBarrie Osborne for the first time to make two films in India.First up is Paani (Water),a $20m futuristic tale which addresses the issue of water scarcity and featuresa love story set in Mumbai, 15 years in the future. ...

  • News

    Bavaria ships Whisky at Cannes

    2004-05-25T04:00:00Z

    Bavaria FilmInternational (BFI) has concluded a raft of deals at the market in Cannes on Uruguayancomedy Whisky and Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's latest feature Niceland.Directorial duoPablo Stoll and Juan Pablo Rebella's film, which screened in the Un CertainRegard and was awarded the FIPRESCI Award and Prix Originale Regard, was soldto Japan ...

  • News

    Edukators picked by Delphi Filmverleih for Germany

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    Berlin-based distributor Delphi Filmverleih has acquired theGerman speaking rights for Hans Weingartner's Cannes Official Competition entryThe Edukators.Accordingto industry insiders, Delphi successfully fought off stiff competition fromsuch rival bidders as Constantin Film, X Verleih and Concorde Filmverleih. Itis also understood that sales agent Celluloid Dreams had set an asking price ofEuro ...

  • News

    Moonlight acquires Night Falls for Benelux

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    Dutch distributor MoonlightFilm has licensed Benelux rights to locally made When Night Falls.The psychological thrillerfollows a group of college students who launch their own investigation when thepolice fail to make progress in the hunt for a serial rapist.It is directed by InekeHoutman and adapted from a true story by Frank ...

  • News

    Pang brothers' Re-cycle notches Cannes pre-sales

    2004-05-25T04:00:00Z

    Hong Kongproduction and distribution outfit Universe Entertainment clinched a string ofpre-sales at Cannes on its Pang brothers' horror movie, Re-cycle.The $5m film has been sold to Pathe Distribution forFrance, Tartan Films for the UK, Audio One for Malaysia and TT Warner Picturesfor Indonesia. The Malaysian deal was secured even before ...

  • News

    Junkersdorf slams Germany's proposed media law

    2000-03-28T18:55:00Z

    Producer Eberhard Junkersdorf, chairman of the German Federal Film Board (FFA)'s administrative council, has lashed out at German finance minister Hans Eichel for his planned revisions to legislation governing private media funds in Germany.Speaking in Berlin at an event where the FFA distributed almost $12.7m (DM25.4m) of retroactive support to ...

  • News

    Kal Ho Naa Ho dominates Indian Academy awards

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    NikhilAdvani's Kal Ho Naa Ho walked awaywith eight top honours at this year's International Indian Film Academy awards(IIFA) - Bollywood's equivalent to the Oscar's - bagging best film, bestactress (Preity Zinta), best supporting actor(Saif Ali Khan) and actress (Jaya Bachchan) as well as four out of the fiveawards in the ...

  • News

    Perry quits The Works for independent career

    2004-04-25T04:00:00Z

    The Works' chief executive,Aline Perry, is to leave the company to pursue an independent career in theindustry, it was announced yesterday. The surprise move comes only a few daysafter the Cannes world premiere of Olivier Assayas's prize winning Clean, which headed up The Work's Cannes slate."My departure couldn'tbe more amicable ...

  • News

    European Film Awards launch composer category

    2004-05-24T00:00:00Z

    The European Film Awards will this year carry a new prizecategory, for best European Composer.The award is presented jointly with the World SoundtrackAcademy (WSA) and EFA and the WSA will appoint a nominations committee. Votingfor the prize will be through the European Film Academy (EFA)'s 1,600 members.This year's EFA Awards ...