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First Berlinale Panorama titles unveiled
New films by Hal Hartley (Fay Grim), Eytan Fox (The Bubble), Korea's Hong Sangsoo (Woman On The Beach), actress Julie Delpy (Two Days in Paris) and actor Antonio Banderas (Summer Rain) are among the titles so far confirmed for more than half of the programme for this year's Panorama at ...
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Arclight sets up Australian production office with US to follow
Sales agent Arclight Films has appointed former Instinct Entertainment producer Nigel Odell to set up a Melbourne-based office to produce and co-finance Australian films. It will establish a US production office in the near future under Harrison Kordestani, who is already based there. Arclight wants to work with bankable Australian ...
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Violin to be played as Korean-Chinese co-production
Korean entertainment company Vision Link Global is developing a $50m co-production entitled Melanie's Violin, based on Chinese author He Ning's novel of the same name, dubbed the 'Asian Schindler's List'. The company, which is headed by former M&A consultant Lee In-hyung, aims to raise 60% of the film's budget through ...
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Australia 's 2006 box-office grosses second highest on record
Australia's gross box office was $675.5m (A$866.609m) last year, a rise of 6% over 2005 and the second-highest year on record according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA). The best year to date for earnings was 2004 when $707.2m (A$907.2) was spent on cinema tickets. This figure ...
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Singapore bounces back with 6% box office increase
After a flat 2005, Singapore box office regained growth momentum in 2006 with a 6% year-on-year increase in total box office takings which amounted to $85.18m (S$131.08m) from 341 releases. As with previous years, Hollywood mega blockbusters ruled the box office. The top grossing film was Fox's X-Men: The Last ...
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US studios enjoy 41% box office increase in China
The US studios had a relatively good year in China in 2006, during which the 20 revenue-sharing films released in the country grossed $108.75m (RMB850m), an increase of 41% on the previous year. China 's total box office was $335.5m (RMB2.62bn) last year (see Screendaily, Jan 8) which gives the ...
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Korean admissions up by 15% marking tenth year of growth
Korean cinema admissions increased by 14.6% to 166 million in 2006, marking the tenth year of growth, according to figures released by leading Korean exhibitor CJ CGV. The admissions figure is the third highest in South Korean box office history and also marks the fifth consecutive year over the landmark ...
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Australia's Worthington scores lead role in Cameron's Avatar
Rising Australian star Sam Worthington has been cast in the lead role in the 3D action adventure Avatar, James Cameron's return to fiction film-making that begins shooting in April.Worthington, who won the Australian Film Institute's best lead actor award in 2004 for Somersault, will play an ex-marine who embarks on ...
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Afghanistan bans Toronto-premiered Indian film
The Government of Afganistan has banned the screening of Indian director Kabir Khan's debut feature film Kabul Express. 'The film has some sentences which were very offensive towards one of Afghanistan's ethnicities, namely the Hazara. For this reason it has been banned,' Najib Manalai, Afghanistan's minister of culture adviser, said ...
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Korea 's CJ CGV appoints Charles Kim as CEO
Leading Korean exhibitor CJ CGV has appointed Charles Kim as CEO, replacing Park Dong-ho who has been moved up in position to sister company CJ Foodville, a family restaurant chain with global ambitions. Kim was previously chief operating officer of CJ Homeshopping, which has recently had a successful launch in ...
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Kim draws Breath with Ha, Chang Chen
Maverick Korean director Kim Ki-duk started shooting his 14th film, Breath, over the weekend (Jan 5). The production is Kim's second with up-and-coming Korean actor Ha Jung-woo, on the heels of his Karlovy Vary opener Time. Ha starred in last year's Cannes Un Certain Regard title The Unforgiven, directed by ...
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Chinese box office up by 30% in 2006
China's box office continued to grow in 2006 with combined grosses reaching $335.5m (RMB2.62bn), an increase of 30% on takings of $256m (RMB2bn) in 2005, according to figures released by the Film Bureau under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).The Film Bureau also announced that China's annual ...
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Chinese box office up by 30% in 2006
China's box office continued to grow in 2006 with combined grosses reaching $335.5m (RMB2.62bn), an increase of 30% on takings of $256m (RMB2bn) in 2005, according to figures released by the Film Bureau under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).The Film Bureau also announced that China's annual ...
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Chinese exhibition: What future for international investment'
When the Chinese government barred foreign companies from holding majority ownership of exhibition companies it led to the withdrawal of Warner Bros International Cinemas.Although it didn't come as a huge surprise, the recent decision by Warner Bros International Cinemas (WBIC) to pull out of China has taken some of the ...
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Museum, Eragon continue rich run for Fox
After barely two weeks on release Fox International's Night AtThe Museum will belooking to cross $100m this weekend.The family film has amassed more than $75m so far and opens in anadditional 10, albeit minor, markets this weekend.Meanwhile the fantasy adventure Eragon, which opens in three Latin Americanmarkets including Argentina on ...
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Chan launches China talent search, production outfit
Hong Kong star Jackie Chan is planning to unearth the nextgeneration of action stars through a TV talent contest, and is establishing a Beijing-basedproduction company to produce vehicles in which they can perform. The star spoke of his planswhile visiting China recently during a break in the filming of Rush ...
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Leading Asian filmmakers selected for HAF
Leading Asian directorsincluding South Korea'sKim Jee-woon, China's Lou Ye and Japan's Kore-eda Hirokazu are among the 25 filmmakers whohave had projects selected for this year's edition of the Hong Kong Asia FilmFinancing Forum (HAF). Kim, whose credits include A Bittersweet Life and A Tale Of TwoSisters, will bring his ...
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Happy Feet breaks Aussie opening record for local film
Most cinemagoers probablydon't know Happy Feet is Australian,but the animated musical set in Antarctica hasbroken the record for the biggest opening week by an Australian film.Distributor Roadshowreported that the film has entered the history books with a gross of $9.66m(A$12.128m) between and including Boxing Day (Dec 26) and New Year's ...
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Korean cinemagoers to face new ticket tax in July
Korean theaters willface a 3% tax levied on tickets starting July 1. The funds from the tax will beused to finance half of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's '$4.3m-size' FilmIndustry Mid-to-long-term Development Plan, announced in October. South Korea's National Assembly passed the Bill forthe Partial Amendment for the Promotion ...
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Hong Kong box office remains flat in 2006
Hong Kong's box officeremained flat in 2006 with overall takings of $116.5m (HK$907m), a marginalincrease of 0.22% compared to the $116.3m (HK$905m) taken the previous year. At the same time, localproduction continued its steady decline although the decreases in box officeand production volumes were not as great as some in ...