Latest – Page 415

  • News

    Chung exits Taewon to launch non-listed production outfit

    2008-08-20T11:31:00Z

    Korean producer Chung Tae-Won has sold his shares in KOSDAQ-listed production company, Taewon Entertainment, and is launching a new production outfit, Taewon Productions. In an $18.5m deal announced yesterday (Aug 19), Taewon sold his 17% share of the company, along with another 52% owned by Fireworks International and a foreign ...

  • News

    Studio Ghibli's Ponyo reaches Y10bn milestone

    2008-08-20T08:27:00Z

    Japanese distributor Toho has announced that Studio Ghibli's Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea has cracked the Y10bn ($91.02m) milestone within a month (31 days)of its release on July 19. As of August 18, Ponyo has grossed Y10.136b ($92.26m) on 8.44 million admissions.The last time the Y10bn milestone was ...

  • News

    Star group to sell its 26% stake in India's Balaji Telefilms

    2008-08-19T15:56:00Z

    Regional broadcaster Star Group and India's Balaji Telefilms have agreed to terminate the deal signed in August 2004, in which Star bought a 26% stake in the Mumbai-based film and TV producer. Balaji Telefilms is now entitled to buy back the shareholding itself, or sell it to a third party, ...

  • News

    MercuryMedia on board for Dominick Dunne: After The Party

    2008-08-19T13:48:00Z

    MercuryMedia has taken on worldwide distribution rights (excluding Australia) to Kirsty de Garis and Timothy Jolley's feature documentary Dominick Dunne: After The Party.The 84-minute feature recently premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival.Jolley and de Garis made the film through their own Australia-based company Road Trip. Executive producers are Sue ...

  • News

    Screen Australia hands out funding to four projects

    2008-08-19T09:59:00Z

    Australian director Simon Wincer, who made the iconic US miniseries Lonesome Dove, is saddling up for a new feature that will carry his trademark: plenty of horses. The Cup, an against-all-odds true story featuring Australia's most famous horse race, was one of four films that won investment from Screen Australia ...

  • News

    Pusan Promotion Plan reveals line-up of 30 projects

    2008-08-19T07:58:00Z

    The 11th Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) has announcedthe official line-up for this year's projects market - 30 projects from 17 countries selected from 200 submissions. The line-up includes work from China's Zhang Yuan, Japan's Sabu and Chinese-Korean filmmaker Zhang Lu. Of note, Lee Chang-dong (Secret Sunshine) will not only be ...

  • News

    Bona Group set toraise $30m in second funding round

    2008-08-19T03:49:00Z

    Beijing-based producer-distributor Bona International Film Group is set to raise $30m in its second funding round from venture capital groups Sequoia Capital China and SIG Asia Investments. The funding comes ahead of a planned overseas listing for Bona Group, which is the holding company of distributor Polybona, talent management company ...

  • News

    Paul Hogan keen to make Charlie & Boots for Instinct

    2008-08-18T15:12:00Z

    Two of Australia's leading film comics, Paul Hogan from the 1986 worldwide hit Crocodile Dundee fame, and Shane Jacobson from the 2006 local Kenny are the likely leads in Charlie & Boots, which secured a promise of investment today from Screen Australia.Although not signed, producer David Redman said they are ...

  • News

    Celluloid Dreams picks up Birdwatchers, Plastic City

    2008-08-18T11:21:00Z

    Celluloid Dreams has added two Venice competition titles to its autumn slate - Yu Lik-wai's Plastic City and Marco Bechis' Birdwatchers - both of which are set in Brazil and are co-productions with Brazil's Gullane Filmes. Produced by Italy's Classic Film, Karta Film and Rai Cinema with Fabiano and Caio ...

  • News

    Taiwan's NDF to back Hou Hsiao-hsien's Assassin

    2008-08-18T10:59:00Z

    Hou Hsiao-hsien's long-awaited martial arts fantasy The Assassin has become the first film to secure direct investment from Taiwan's National Development Fund. The script is based on a fantastical Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.) short story about female assassin Nie Yinniang who can conjure horses out of folded paper and transform ...

  • News

    Fox Japan ramps up local production with Gunjo

    2008-08-18T06:34:00Z

    20th Century Fox Japan has unveiled details of its latest foray into local feature film production with drama Gunjo (Ultramarine), starring Masami Nagasawa.Based on a popular serialised novel by Ayako Miyagi, the story depicts the spiritual recovery of a woman who returns to her father's home in Okinawa after her ...

  • News

    Disgrace adaptation takes Australian Writers Guild Award

    2008-08-17T12:45:00Z

    Anna-Maria Monticelli has won an Australian Writers Guild Award for the script of her feature film adaptation of JM Coetzee's novel Disgrace, which will have its world premiere next month in a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival.In the original feature category, The Black Balloon earned its two ...

  • News

    ICA hosts premiere of Das' directorial debut Little Box Of Sweets

    2008-08-15T15:41:00Z

    The entirely independently produced Little Box Of Sweets has its premiere tonight at the ICA in London.The film, which runs until Aug 28 at the ICA, is the directorial debut of UK-based actress Meneka Das, who also wrote the script. Her sister Sheenu Das produced. After the ICA, the film ...

  • News

    NZ's Ruth Harley appointed as head of Screen Australia

    2008-08-15T10:13:00Z

    Ruth Harley has stepped down after a decade as chief executive of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) to take the same role at the new super agency in neighbouring Australia. She will be on deck at Screen Australia from November 15 but will attend a planning meeting of the ...

  • News

    Star Wars: The Clone Wars launches in 22 international territories to chase Knight, Mummy

    2008-08-15T09:48:00Z

    The Dark Knight will soar past $300m this weekend as it bids to reclaim the overseas crown from The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor - however the force may be with an entirely new release. Warner Bros Pictures International's crime epic The Dark Knight stands at $285.9m and ...

  • News

    Warner Bros pushes back Harry Potter 6 to July 2009

    2008-08-15T09:44:00Z

    In a move that highlights the crucial strategic role played by global day-and-date releases, Warner Bros has pushed back Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince from November 21 to July 17 2009.The sixth episode in the studio's highly successful children's fantasy franchise will now open day-and-date domestically and in the ...

  • News

    NZ's Ruth Harley appointed ashead of Screen Australia

    2008-08-15T04:40:00Z

    Ruth Harley has stepped down as chief executive of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) to take the same role at the new super agency in the neighbouring and much bigger country of Australia. She will be on deck at Screen Australia from November 15, taking the reins from Lyn ...

  • News

    Animation draws Toho towards record-setting year

    2008-08-14T09:04:00Z

    Japan's Toho Studios is on track to reach its stated goal of Y60bn ($548.5m) in box office earnings this year, which would make it the most the successful year in the company's history. Toho announced that in the first seven months of 2008 its releases earned $333.9m (Y36.52bn), a 26% ...

  • News

    Hwang leaves Shanghai-based Meridian Pictures

    2008-08-14T08:59:00Z

    Bill Hwang is leaving Shanghai-based Meridian Pictures Group after two-and-a-half years as the company's director of international distribution. A former executive of Korea's Tube Entertainment and Kang Jegyu Films, Hwang came on board the Shanghai-based company in March 2006. He will officially leave at the end of August. Meridian has ...

  • News

    Celestialsigns distribution deals withUS trio

    2008-08-14T02:50:00Z

    Hong Kong's Celestial Pictures has signed distribution agreements with BCI, Media Blasters and Well Go USA to release Shaw Brothers martial arts titles on home video in the US and Canada. The three partners, which specialise in distributing Asian-language content, have licensed the rights to 45 martial arts titles from ...