Latest – Page 1309
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Paramount hits domestic $1bn mark in record time
Paramount Pictures has crossed the $1bn at the domestic box office in record time, propelled by Transformers' record-breaking $155.4m launch last week.The studio reached the milestone after 189 days on Jul 8 and executives project 2007 will be Paramount's highest grossing year since 1998, when it reached $1.046bn. That tally ...
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Lionsgate invests in online video site Break.com
Lionsgate has secured a strategic investment in Break.com, an online video entertainment site targeted at 18-to-34-year-old males.The partnership offers Lionsgate the chance to distribute current and upcoming films, television programming, home entertainment and other new content through Break's online channel.It also gives the studio access to Break's young talent pool, ...
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Four North American fantasy festivals form alliance
Fantasy film festivals in Montreal, Austin and San Francisco have joined forces to create the North American Fantastic Festival Alliance (NAFFA). Montreal's FanTasia, Alamo Drafthouse's Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas and Dead Channels: the San Francisco Festival of Fantastic Film will henceforth be a network to support the exhibition and ...
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Newbie quartet joins AMPAS as Governors
Eight new governors, four of them serving for the first time, have been elected to represent their branches on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).Newcomers to the board are: Henry Winkler, actors branch; Vilmos Zsigmond, cinematographers; Richard Pearce, documentary; and Charles Fox, ...
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Homeless documentary finds shelter at Baruc's Screen Media
Screen Media Films has acquired North American rights to Skid Row, a documentary about homelessness that was made by Niva Dorell, Marshall Tyler and Ross Clarke.The company negotiated the deal with ICM and has set an Aug 14 release date. ICM is also handling international rights.The film follows Pras Michel, ...
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Aberly joins Participant as VP of publicity
Rachel Aberly has joined Participant Productions as vice-president ofpublicity and will report to the company's executive vice presidentsof marketing Buffy Shutt and Kathy Jones.Aberly previously served as a publicity consultant for Participant,shepherding such films as Good Night And Good Luck, North Country, andSyriana at Warner Brothers and Warner Independent. Prior ...
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Toronto adds eight titles including Gilroy's Michael Clayton
The Toronto International Film Festival has added eight titles to its line-up of Gala and Special Presentations for the September event. TIFF has declined to claim premiere status on the titles, although Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell And The Butterfly competed in Cannes.The new Gala titles are:Michael Clayton, the debut ...
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Women In Film and GM pact for second Opening Doors scheme
Women In Film (WIF) and the General Motors Corporation (GM) haveannounced the second annual WIF/GM 2007 Opening Doors/AbriendoPuertas: The Acceleration Grant For Emerging Latina Filmmakers.The WIF/GM grant will be presented to five up-and-coming Latinafilm-makers, chosen by a WIF selection committee composed ofprofessional film-makers and entertainment industry executives fromthe New York-based ...
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Transformers tops estimate with first-week gross of $155.8m
Paramount Pictures executives confirmed today that Transformersdid indeed set an industry record for a new release's first-week grossand took more than initially thought.Final studio figures confirm the number one North American filmgrossed $155.8m, considerably more than the $152.5m estimate issued onSunday. The previous mark was Spider-Man's $151.6m set in May ...
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Anywhere Road takes US rights to Brad Gann's Black Irish
Anywhere Road has picked up all US rights to writer-director BradGann's family drama Black Irish starring Michael Angarano and BrendanGleeson.The fledgling San Francisco-based distributor plans an autumn releasefor the story of a Boston youngster who tries to win the affection ofhis emotionally remote father and maintian intimacy with other membersof ...
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Rose Kuo named as AFI Fest's artistic director
Rose Kuo has been hired as AFI FEST's artistic director and ShazBennett has been promoted to associate director of programming.Kuo has been a fixture at Telluride for many years as well as the SanFrancisco, Santa Barbara and Mill Valley Festivals, and is also wellknown on the circuit as an Asian ...
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Peter Greenaway to be special guest at Halifax's Strategic Partners
The Atlantic Film Festival has invited director Peter Greenaway to be its special guest during its annual Academy Luncheon.The luncheon, presented during the Festival's co-production market Strategic Partners, is presented by PricewaterhouseCoopers in partnership with the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. This year's event will be held Sept 16. ...
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Loyola Marymount to host second summer workshop
Loyola Marymount University School Of Film And Television Dean Teri Schwartz has announced the second annual Summer Creative Filmmaking Workshop. The event will take place the LMU campus from Jul 9-20 and offers 12 promising high school students from Crenshaw High School's Media Academy the chance to taste the film-making ...
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Spider-Man 3 drives Sony to cross overseas $1bn in record time
The apocalyptic robots of Transformers just about did enough to keep Bruce Willis at bay as Paramount/DreamWorks' Transformers ruled the overseas market at the weekend. The action epic grossed an estimated $43.6m from 3,503 venues in 29 territories following last weekend's robust take-off and now stands at $93.6m. ...
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Transformers set to deliver best US first week for non-sequel
Paramount/DreamWorks' sci-fi action blockbuster Transformersobliterated the competition over the weekend, opening on an estimated$67.6m over three days that rose to $152.5m including previews overthe six-day July 4 holiday week.If estimates hold up this will be the biggest first week result for anon-sequel, overtaking Spider-Man's $151.6m mark set in May 2002.Michael ...
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Transformers expands to 18 new territories; set to cross $100m
Paramount/PPI's Transformers has already amassed $53.5m since opening last weekend and stands a good chance of crossing $100m over the next several days in international markets. The effects-heavy tale of warring robots touches down in 18 new territories this weekend including Russia, Spain and Sweden on July 4. PPI stablemate ...
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Editorial opinion: chasing the tale
Story doesn't get the credit it deserves in most contemporary discussions of cinema. Or, come to it, in the industry's own categories of merit.It wasn't always so: between 1940 and 1956, a best story Oscar ran alongside that for best original screenplay; then, in 1957, it was quietly retired, and ...
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Cha cha cha: the dream team
A staggering who's who of Mexican talent is in production on Carlos Cuaron's feature directorial debut Rudo Y Cursi. Chiara Arroyo reports from the first leg of the shoot. Six years after Y Tu Mama Tambien focused international attention on Mexico's film-making scene, many of the same players involved in ...
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MARV Films: the magic touch
Matthew Vaughn and Kris Thykier of MARV Films are moving into the big league with Stardust and a new Sony deal. Wendy Mitchell reports. Anyone bemoaning the decline of the UK film industry should open their eyes to the banner year at Matthew Vaughn's Marv Films. Marv has made the ...
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Oscar changes the eligibility rules for documentaries - again
Will the new Academy Awards requirements benefit films with greater resources' Peter Bowen reportsAfter altering the rules in 2005, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) is again changing the rules dictating the eligibility of documentary features.In short, a doc must have a seven-day qualifying exhibition in either ...