Large MPU – Page 793
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News
Vivendi Universal mulls Benelux pay-TV offers
Vivendi Universal is reported to be considering two or three offers for its pay-TV operations in Benelux. But the bids are said to be considerably less than the conglomerate had hoped for and could see the break-up of the group into three separate operations.Telecoms group Telnet in association with a ...
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News
Tomb Raider sequel enjoys robust Asian debut
Paramount's sequel Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life may have seen disappointing results in North America over the weekend but it got off to a stronger start internationally.The action adventure title opened in four Asian territories through international distributor UIP, taking $2.3m and setting records for a Paramount ...
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Kitano's Dolls wins at Era New Horizons film festival
Takeshi Kitano's Dolls won the Grand Prix at the third Era New Horizons Film Festival (July 17 - 27) in Cieszyn, southern Poland.Among other competition entries which received high scores, voted by the audience, were Patrice Cherau's Son Frere, Rolf de Heer's Alexandra's Project, Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark and Samira ...
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Hulk, 2 Fast 2 Furious both pass $80m for Universal
Universal's TheHulk enjoyed several good holdoversat the weekend to add $5.1m from 3,076 theatres in 28 countries and raise itsinternational running total to $81.5m.With no new openings thecomic book adaptation remained number one in its second week in the UK,grossing $2.3m from 499 sites and dropping 37% for a $10.8m ...
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Reloaded slows down with $3.1m over weekend
Approaching theend of its international run, Warner Bros Pictures International's TheMatrix Reloaded grossedan estimated $3.1m over the weekend with 547,284 admissions from 1,645 screens.The sci-fi sequel's estimated international total todate is a stellar $437.8m.Second weekendfinal figures from China will not be available until Tuesday (Jul 29). Elsewhere WhatA Girl Wants ...
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BVI's Bruce takes another $9m for $145m total
BruceAlmighty raised itsinternational total to $145.5m with a $9m weekend haul that was driven by somedecent holdovers.Going into thecomedy's fifth week in the UK, distributor Buena Vista International(BVI) reported a 5% drop for $1.2m to raise the running total there to $34.6m.The secondweekend in Mexico added $1.8m for a $6.9m ...
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MGM's Legally Blonde 2 opens at the top in Germany for Fox
LegallyBlonde 2: Red, White & Blonde grossed around $2.7m on 961 screens at the weekend as FoxInternational unleashed the MGM comedy sequel in its first wave of majorinternational releases.It opened numberone in both Germany and Austria, grossing $1.6m from 551 screens and $188,000from 58 respectively.In Switzerlandand Taiwan the film ranked ...
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News
Global acquires four more for US distribution
The Global FilmInitiative, the US charitable foundation launched earlier this year to promotecross-cultural understanding through cinema, has completed its inaugural2003/04 slate with the acquisition of four acclaimed festival titles.DjamshedUsmonov's Tajik thriller Angel On The Right was culled from the official selectionin Rotterdam and Cannes and concerns a gangster who returns ...
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News
IFP announces Gotham nominees for new actor, director
Jesse Eisenberg,the young co-star of Roger Dodger, Judy Marte and Victor Rasuk from Raising Victor Vargas, and Paul Schneider from All The RealGirls are among thenominees for Breakthrough Actor Award at this year's IFP Gotham Awards.Others vying forthe honour, which was won last year by Maggie Gyllenhaal for her acclaimedperformance ...
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Wenders rockumentary to roll in March
A March 11 start has been scheduled for Wim Wenders' next film, Vill Passiert, a feature-length documentary about veteran German rockers BAP (Screendaily, Feb 11).Produced by Cologne-based production outfit Screen:Works and public broadcaster WDR with backing from Filmstiftung NRW, the film is described by Wenders as "a small road movie" ...
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Dodona reveals mixed picture of European cinemagoing
The fastest growing European cinema market in 2002 was Estonia, according to a new report from analysts Dodona Research. The report, Cinemagoing Europe, which covers the market in 28 countries, says that 1.03bn Europeans visited cinemas in 2002, 6.5m more than in the previous year. While most markets continued to ...
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Carlton takes over at UK's Film Four Lab
Peter Carlton has been appointed as head of Channel 4's experimental film division, Film Four Lab.Carlton joins Film Four Lab having set up and run regional film fund EM Media Investments (EMMI) based in the East Midlands. Joining in mid-September and reporting to Film Four head Tessa Ross, he will ...
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News
Minimal Stories scoops LA Latino fest prize
Carlos Sorin's Minimal Stories (Historias Minimas), which made a sweep of Argentina's Oscars, the Condors, just last week (Screen Daily July 21), has won another major prize: the best picture nod from the 7th Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (July 18-Aug 2).A jury led by Mexican director Arturo Ripstein ...
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Bengali cinema triumphs at Indian Film Awards
A revived Bengali cinema was the focus of attention at India's 50th National Film Awards on Saturday with Mr And Mrs Iyer and Mondo Meyer Upakhkhan taking the top prizes.Filmmaker Aparna Sen was named best director for her English-language feature Mr And Mrs Iyer, while Sen's daughter, Konkona Sen Sharma ...
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Neeson parts company with 20th Century Fox International
Scott Neeson, president of 20th Century Fox International Theatrical, is stepping down from his position at the end of the month.In a statement, 20th Century Fox said he had "elected to re-direct his interests."Neeson began his association with 20th Century Fox International Theatrical in 1989 as general manager of the ...
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Reviews
Spy Kids 3D: Game Over
Dir: Robert Rodriguez. US. 2003. 89mins.The final episode in Robert Rodriguez's family adventure series is an effective strictly-for-kids action feature which has already proved its mettle with a whopping $32.5m opening at the US box office last weekend. Set mostly within a computer game, the film was conceived and shot ...
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Marie Trintignant undergoes emergency surgery
French actress Marie Trintignant has undergone two emergency operations and remains in a coma after a violent argument with her boyfriend Bertrand Cantat, a singer with the rock group Noir Desir.Trintignant was in Lithuania filming Colette, a TV movie she co-wrote with her mother Nadine who is also directing the ...
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UK says Hello! to Good Bye, Lenin!
While the UK's top three films remained unchanged this weekend and children's films stormed cinemas, a German comedy was making waves on limited release.Wolfgang Becker's critically acclaimed Good Bye, Lenin! - which has drawn over six million admissions and $41.6m (Euros 36.1m) in Germany - launched in the UK for ...
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News
Suicide bombers and von Trier edge on to Razor slate
Former Senator Film executives Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul have unveiled the production slate of their Berlin-based production outfit Razor Film with a two-track strategy - serving as the German partner on international co-productions and producing features by up-and-coming local talent.Razor's first international co-production will be Palestinian-born Hany Abu-Assad's drama ...
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Mueller unveils debut Downtown slate
Marco Mueller's new production company, Downtown Pictures, has unveiled a slate of 12 pictures, including the directorial debut of Italian actress Chiara Caselli and the first European movie by Hong Kong filmmaker Kirk Wong.Downtown's first completed film is Turkish-Cypriot picture Fango (Mud) by Dervish Zaim. A satire about nationalism in ...