Latest – Page 1261

  • News

    Sundance deal-making speeds up midway through festival

    2008-01-23T06:29:00Z

    Four days of dark pronouncements about the dearth of commercial narrative films at Sundance vanished on Tuesday [Jan 22] as business exploded with a flurry of activity headed by Focus Features' $10m deal for worldwide rights to Andrew Fleming's comedy Hamlet 2.In two other prominent deals, Fox Searchlight reportedly paid ...

  • News

    Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger found dead

    2008-01-22T22:33:00Z

    Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger has been found dead at a Manhattan apartment.Police are investigating the death of the 28-year-oldAustralian who was nominated for an Oscar in 2006for his role in Ang Lee's Western.Reportssuggests a possible drugs overdose.The Perth-born actor appeared in Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan film I'm Not There ...

  • News

    Oscars analysis: Surprises include Tommy Lee Jones, Laura Linney

    2008-01-22T15:24:00Z

    Dark dramas There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men led the pack in the nominations for the 80th annual Academy Awards with eight apiece. Michael Clayton and Atonement followed with seven each.Those four films together with Juno were nominated for best picture, although Atonement director Joe Wright ...

  • News

    There Will Be Blood, NoCountry For Old Menlead Oscar nominations

    2008-01-22T13:29:00Z

    Joel & Ethan Coen's No Country For Old Men and Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood lead the Oscar race with eight nods each; Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton and Joe Wright's Atonement follow with seven each.All are in the Best Picture race, along with Jason Reitman's Juno. Wright is ...

  • News

    Bogeydom picks up snowboard documentary Let It Ride

    2008-01-22T08:15:00Z

    Toronto-based Bogeydom Licensing has picked up international sales rights on Let It Ride, a documentary about pioneering snowboarder and counter-culture icon Craig Kelly. The film won the audience award at the recently wrapped Alpinist Film Festival in the US ski resort of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Kelly was the most recognised ...

  • News

    Adrien Brody to star in Sony BMG's Cadillac Records

    2008-01-22T08:08:00Z

    Adrien Brody and Jeffrey Wright will star in Sony BMG Film's 1950s-set music industry drama Cadillac Records.Brody will play Leonard Chess, founder of the hugely influential blues record label Chess Records, while Wright will portray the legendary musician Muddy Walters in Darnell Martin's story of the birth of the electric ...

  • News

    Films shot in Wisconsin to get theatrical runs in home state

    2008-01-22T08:05:00Z

    Milwaukee-based Marcus Theatres has struck a deal with Film Wisconsin in which the chain will provide theatrical runs for films shot in the State.Marcus Theatres president Bruce J Olson said his company will provide 'foundation bookings' based on the quality and appeal of films receiving a G, PG, PG-13 or ...

  • News

    Sundance 2008: full list of reviews

    2008-01-21T15:59:00Z

    Click on a film title to see Screen's review Assassination of a High School PresidentAugustBagheadBallastBe Kind RewindBlind DateThe BrokenChokeThe DealDeath In LoveDerekDonkey PunchThe EscapistFunny Games USGood DickHenry Poole Is HereIn BrugesIncendiaryKing Of Ping PongThe Merry GentlemenMomma's ManThe Mysteries Of PittsburghNerakhoon (The Betrayal)Phoebe In WonderlandRoman Polanski: Wanted And DesiredSmart PeopleSugarSunshine CleaningTranssiberianTrouble ...

  • News

    Control Room director Noujaim heads Pangea Day film project

    2008-01-21T11:32:00Z

    Jehane Noujaim, director of acclaimed 2004 documentary Control Room, is heading a unique project offering a global day of film.Pangea Day, which is scheduled for May 10, 2008, will be held in eight different cities: Cairo, Dharamsala, Jerusalem, Kigali, London, New York, Ramallah and Rio de Janeiro. The venues will ...

  • News

    Shoreline picks up international on Ozzie comedy On Broadway

    2008-01-21T07:29:00Z

    Shoreline Entertainment has acquired international rights to Dave McLaughlin's Australian comedy On Broadway.The story centres on a Boston playwright who stages a production of his work in the back of an Irish pub.Eliza Dushku, Will Arnet, Amy Poehler and Robert Wahlberg play supporting roles. Kris Meyer, Lance Green, Henry Bertolon ...

  • News

    Digital distributor FilmCatcher.com launches with two deals

    2008-01-21T07:23:00Z

    Digital distributor and online magazine FilmCatcher.com has launched at Sundance [Jan 20] with the aim of spotlighting quality films that slip through the traditional distribution net.The Filmcatcher.com website contains editorial and community oriented content and was co-founded by Trumbo producer Alan Klingenstein and Talking Pictures Company co-founders Alan Hruska and ...

  • News

    US Humane Society announces increase in annual doc grant

    2008-01-21T07:17:00Z

    The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) announced at Sundance [Jan 20] that it will increase its annual ACE/SilverDocs documentary grant to $25,000.The grant, which is part of The HSUS's Animal Content in Entertainment (ACE) programme, is designed to encourage the inclusion of animal issues in documentary film-making.The grant ...

  • News

    Mulroney, Davis to star in Driving Lessons

    2008-01-21T07:14:00Z

    Dermot Mulroney and Hope Davis have signed on to star in the independent feature Driving Lessons that is scheduled to shoot in Los Angeles in March.Finland's Vivi Friedman will direct from a screenplay by Mark Lisson about an unhappy wife and mother who gets a second chance to save her ...

  • News

    Sundance: Documentaries overshadow dramatic entries

    2008-01-21T07:07:00Z

    Documentaries continued to overshadow early Sundance business as HBO Documentary Films took all US rights to Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired. Click here to see review.The high six-figure deal closed on Sunday a little over a day after The Weinstein Company pounced on international rights to the film, ...

  • News

    Warner continues to lead international box office with Legend

    2008-01-21T06:59:00Z

    I Am Legend stayed on top of the international rankings for the fourth consecutive weekend and the fifth overall in its six-week run as an estimated $28.7m from 6,200 prints in 54 territories propelled the running total to $262.4m.The highlight of the new launches was a $4.1m (Ps 44.2m) number ...

  • News

    Cloverfield tears into January box office for Paramount

    2008-01-21T06:51:00Z

    Paramount's monster movie Cloverfield delivered the first domestic hit launch of 2008 as it smashed through the competition to open top on an estimated $41m.The film, a Blair Witch-style first-person POV account of a monster attack on New York that was produced by JJ Abrams and directed by Matt Reeves, ...

  • News

    Sundance Institute launches Creative Producing Initiative

    2008-01-20T19:00:00Z

    Sundance Institute today [Jan 20] announced the Sundance Creative Producing Initiative fellowship programme to nurture the next generation of film-makers.The Initiative, unveiled during the Producers Lunch, will be a year-long fellowship that includes a five-day Creative Producing Lab, attendance and industry meetings at the festival and the Sundance Institute 's ...

  • News

    American Teen generates early sales buzz at Sundance

    2008-01-20T08:52:00Z

    While Sundance buyers circled hyped early picks like Sunshine Cleaning and The Wackness, the Saturday nightfocus was on Nanette Burstein's high school documentary American Teen.Fox Searchlight were believed to be among interested parties following the world premiere earlier in the day.Carlos Moreno's Colombian crime saga Perro Como Perro was also ...

  • News

    Roman Polanski doc gets international deal at Sundance with TWC

    2008-01-20T06:40:00Z

    When Harvey Weinstein flies in to Sundance things usually happen and so it proved to be as The Weinstein Comapny (TWC) made the first play of the festival, paying low six figures for all international rights to Marina Zenovich's documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired.The deal excludes North American rights ...

  • News

    IMDb buys Withoutabox

    2008-01-18T15:16:00Z

    Amazon-owned The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has bought global film-maker and film festival resource Withoutabox.Withoutabox was founded in 2000 by David Straus and Joe Neulight and enables film-makers to submit their work online to festivals and provides festival organisers with tools to manage and promote their events online.'For eight years, ...