Large MPU – Page 715
-
News
THINKfilm takes Off The Black on the Croisette
THINKFilmhas picked up all worldwide rights to James Ponsoldt'scoming-of-agedrama Off The Black, which premiered at SundanceandstarsNick Nolte and Trevor Morgan.Thedistributor plans a November release in the US and will introduceinternationalrights to buyers on the Croisette this week.OffThe Black charts the fateful friendship between a high schoolumpireand the young man who ...
-
News
Mission stays strong in international marketplace
Paramount's Mission: Impossible III stayed strongover its second weekend in the international marketplace with an estimatedgross of $40.5m, representing a relatively modest 42% drop from last weekend'simpressive $70.3m opening.The weekend take - from the same 7,390 sites in 57territories at which the Tom Cruise sequel opened - brought M:I:III'srunning international ...
-
News
David Ellis to direct Asylum for Hyde Park
Los Angeles-based Hyde ParkEntertainment has signed David Ellis to direct the dark thriller Asylum, which becomes the latest project to join Hyde ParkInternational's Cannes slate.The deal represents a coup for Hyde Park as Ellis' upcoming thrillerSnakes On A Plane istracking at a phenomenal level months ahead of its US release ...
-
News
Poseidon can't sink Mission in US
Poseidon failed to knock Mission:Impossible III off the top of the North American box office chart thisweekend, as Paramount's Tom Cruise sequel grossed an estimated $24.5m and theWarner disaster movie managed a mediocre $20.3m.M:I:III's gross was down an acceptable 49%from last weekend's less than stellar opening figure of $47.7m. Poseidon'stake, ...
-
News
Sundance premieres bookend Seattle festival
Twohigh-profile Sundance premieres bookend the 32nd Annual SeattleInternationalFilm Festival (SIFF), with Neil Berger's period dramaTheIllusionist opening and Michel Gondry's The ScienceOf Sleepclosingthe event.Programmershave picked 419 features and shorts including 19 world premieres for the 25-dayevent, which runs from May 25 to Jun18.Amongthe world premieres are Jordan Albertsen's youth drama The ...
-
News
UK film execs feature high in Queen's Honours list
Stewart Till, deputy chair of UK film superbody the Film Council, Intermedia co-chairman Nigel Sinclair, and film finance specialist Premila Hoon are among the film industry executives to be honoured in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours list.Till, formerly president of Universal Pictures International and president of international for PolyGram Filmed ...
-
News
Lightning Entertainment takes global rights to football drama
SantaMonica sales and distribution company Lightning Entertainment has takenworldwide rights territories excluding Brazil and Germany to Brazilian footballcrime drama Showdebola. Commercialsdirector Alexander Pickl makes his feature directorial debut on the story of ayoungster whose dream of playing professional football may be his only way outof a tough Rio de Janerio ...
-
News
Czech president rejects boost to state film fund
Czech President Vaclav Klaushas vetoed an amendment that would have tripled the size of his country's statefilm fund. The bill now returns to the lower house, which is likely to overridethe president's veto with a simple majority later this month. Klaus returned the amendmentto the lower house of parliament May ...
-
News
Hassid named director of foreign film acquisitions for Canal Plus
The Canal Plus Group announced Friday the appointment of Laurent Hassidto the post of director of foreign film acquisitions.Hassid will report to head of film Evi Fullenbach. His responsibilitieswill include overseeing acquisitions of foreign films, excluding films from theUS majors, and pre-buys on French films shot in foreign languages for ...
-
News
MPA appoints Thomas Dillon to anti-piracy post
The Motion PictureAssociation (MPA) has promoted Thomas Dillon to vice president, deputy generalcounsel and regional legal director anti-piracy in the MPA's Europe, MiddleEast and Africa office in Brussels.Dillon had been advising theMPA on legal issues arising from copyright and anti-piracy matters sinceJanuary 2001.Dillon will handle publicpolicy and litigation issues relating ...
-
News
UK distributor Revolver plans Kidulthood TV show
Film distributor Revolver Entertainment has announced plans to turn itscontroversial UK feature Kidulthood into a TV serial drama. The film's screenwriter Noel Clarke will work closely with the teambeing recruited to develop the TV project. "Kidulthood is a film that defines a generation," said Revolverproduct director Natascia Phillips. "It is ...
-
Reviews
An Inconvenient Truth
Dir: Davis Guggenheim. US. 2006.98mins"I'm Al Gore. I used to be the next president of theUnited States... I don't find that particularly funny," former vice-presidentAl Gore declares early on in Davis Guggenheim's fascinating documentary,bounding on stage before one of his multi-media lectures about global warming.Gore is a contradictoryfigure, aloof and ...
-
News
Germany's FFA awards $4m to new projects
Sequels of this year's local box-office hits Wild Soccer Bunch 3 and WildChicks are among eight projects backed with more than $3.97m (Euros 3.1m)production funding by the German Federal Film Board (FFA) at its latestsitting.The largest amount - $768,569 (Euros 600,000) - went to SamFilm's fourthinstalment in The Wild Soccer ...
-
News
Magna Pacific snaps up Prairie Home Companion
Magna Pacific has acquiredAustralian and New Zealand rights to Oscar-winning director Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion from CapitolFilms.The company plans to releasethe film in September 2007, joining a theatrical line-up that includes Perfect Creature, August Rush, Lonely Hearts,Penelope, Renaissance, The AstronautFarmer and Because I Said So."Prairie will emulate Robert ...
-
News
Weinstein Co takes US rights to Seven Swords
The Weinstein Company has acquiredUS theatrical and video rights to Tsui Hark's martial arts epic Seven Swords from Fortissimo Films. The deal follows a recentsale to Montreal-based distributor Seville Pictures which acquired Canadianrights. Fortissimo has also sold the film widely in Europe. Produced by Tsui's FilmWorkshop with Chinese and Korean ...
-
News
van der Werff promoted to executive vp at SPRI
Longtime Sony Picturespublicity strategist Susan van der Werff has been promoted to executive vicepresident of international publicity for Sony Pictures Releasing International.The promotion, announced byPaul Smith, president of worldwide theatrical operations for the studio, comeson the eve of SPRI's launch of The Da Vinci Code as the opening night of ...
-
News
Telefonica's Nieto likely to quit Antena 3 role
Juan Jose Nieto, CEO of Spanish broadcaster Antena 3, admitted last Thursday during a shareholders' meeting that he might resign from his post in order to focus on his dual position as CEO of Telefonica Media and new member of Telefonica's powerful Executive Committee.Sources at the broadcaster suggested that Nieto's ...
-
News
CMG gets Tribeca favourite The Treatment for Cannes
Edward Noeltner'sCinema Management Group (CMG) has acquired all international rights to OrenRudavsky's romantic comedy The Treatment starring ChrisEigeman, Ian Holm and Famke Janssen.The story of anerdy schoolteacher who falls for a sensuous Manhattan socialite was one of themost talked about titles at the recent Tribeca Film Festival and won the ...
-
News
Hooper named national publicity chief at Fox Searchlight
Michelle Hooper has joined Fox Searchlight as senior vice president ofnational publicity.The former vice president of entertainment publicity at Fox Broadcastingbegins her new post on May 31 and will report to Searchlight chief operatingofficer Nancy Utley.At Fox Broadcasting Hooper oversaw national publicity campaigns for suchpowerhouse shows as American Idol, Prison ...
-
News
Momentum gets UK and Spanish rights to Cholera
Momentum has acquired the UKand Spanish rights to Cannes market title Love In The Time Of Cholera. Mike Newell, who previouslydirected Four Weddings and a Funeral and Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire, will direct the $40m project. Javier Bardem, GiovannaMezzogiorno and Benjamin Bratt will star. The Pianist screenwriter ...