All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 225
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France, Germany, Luxembourg pact for co-production
Germany and Luxembourg tightened their links with France were at last week's Cannes Film Festival by striking co-production treaties.Alongisde their main treaty, French and German culture ministers Catherine Tasca and Julian Nida-Ruemelin agreed to each provide Euro 1.52m a year for producing German-French films. Features benefiting from the support "must ...
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Germany's H5B5 invests in Nicolas Roeg's Addict
Germany's H5B5 Media is teaming up with best-selling writer Stephen Smith to set up a joint company to co-produce a screen adaptation of Smith's autobiographical novel, Addict.Veteran UK director Nicolas Roeg is attached to direct the story of Smith's 25-year descent into drugs and drink. H5B5 also announced in Cannes ...
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Splendid, Warner partner for rental distribution
Germany's Splendid Medien has signed a distribution agreement with Warner Home Video for a package of 19 films.Warner will handle rental releases on video and DVD in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland on the titles, which include Traffic, Gangs Of New York and Dr T And The Women. The two ...
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DVD growth explodes in Germany, turnover up 190%
Germany's DVD boom continued unabated during the first quarter this year, with turnover rocketing 190% to account for 45.8% of the overall turnover from the video sell-through sector.According to the latest figures from trade organisation Bundesverband Video, DVD turnover soared to claim $73.4m (DM162.9m) in a sector worth $160m as ...
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Harte Jungs duo bank on new success with Pornorama
Constantin Film's Bernd Eichinger and director Marc Rothemund are developing a new project entitled Pornorama after the box-office success of their teen comedy Ants In The Pants (Harte Jungs) which registered over 1.7m admissions and was the second most successful German film last year after Stefan Ruzowitzky's Anatomie.According to Eichinger, ...
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Advanced adopts cautious approach to rights buying
In recognition of the difficult climate of the German television market, troubled German rights trader Advanced Medien will in future only acquire film licenses so long as a broadcaster is already lined up to buy them.This new acquisition strategy was outlined by Advanced's newly bullish CFO Otto Dauer at the ...
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Miramax takes Germany's Scotia to arbitration
One of Germany's oldest distribution companies is in hot water as it came to light this week that Miramax International has taken Scotia Film to an arbitration board for non-payment. Scotia, which has enjoyed the fruits of Miramax's output in the past including Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, Life Is ...
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Fox digs into Germany in search of funding
20th Century Fox is planning to tap into the German private equity market to raise funds for feature projects.Munich-based Fox Deutsche Filmproduktion Beteiligung has been founded to attract private investors' money for four projects: John Pasquin's Joe Somebody starring Tim Allen, James Belushi and Julie Bowen; Bobby and Peter Farrelly ...
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Grosvenor Park launches German fund
Canadian-UK financier Grosvenor Park, which has specialised in funding films through the UK's sale and leaseback system, is now planning to have a piece of the action in Germany's $2.3bn (DM5bn) private media fund sector. It has set up Munich-based Grosvenor Park Media GmbH to offer private German investors the ...
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Intertainment opens Window to life after Franchise
Intertainment, the rights trader which is locked in an ugly litigation tussle with Franchise Pictures, has set A Window To Atlantis as the first project to flow from its deal with Hollywood veteran Arnold Kopelson.The German group said on Friday (May 4) that it is now actively looking for new ...
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Germany's e-m-s adds East European rights
German DVD company e-m-s new media has acquired East European rights to 73 feature films as another step in the internationalisation of its activities.The package covers all stages of the rights chain from theatrical release through TV to home entertainment. The package of mainly US titles, which was acquired by ...
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Producers to be feted by EFP at Cannes
Fu Works' San Fu Maltha, X-Filme creative pool's Maria Koepf and Renegade Films' Ildiko Kemeny are among 17 up-and-coming producers from 16 European countries who have been selected by members of the pan-European promotional initiative European Film Promotion (EFP) for "Producers On The Move" at the forthcoming Cannes Film Festival ...
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Berlin's Kosslick squares up to Cannes selectors
New Berlinale chief Dieter Kosslick has warned the Cannes film festival that he will not stand idly by and see films enticed away from his programme. His stand comes hard on the heels of a line-up announcement by Cannes, which includes films by such directors as Michael Haneke, Abel Ferrara, ...
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Financial briefs (Germany)
Odeon FilmFilm and TV production group Odeon Film is forecasting an operating profit $630,000 (Euros700,000) in the current financial on sales of $45.1m (Euros50.1m) after reporting an EBIT loss of $1.44m (Euro1.6m) for 2000. For 2002 it is forecasting an EBIT $1.53m (Euros1.7m). Director of production Reinhard Klooss said the ...
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Haeberle quits board of F.A.M.E.
Thomas Haeberle is to step down from the management board of ambitious German mini-conglomerate F.A.M.E. Film & Music Entertainment where he was director of film production. The move is reminiscent of Bernd Eichinger's recent decision at Constantin to quit the board and concentrate on production. Haeberle's board responsibilities are being ...
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Commercial channel RTL urged to board German fund
Michael Schmid-Ospach, successor to Dieter Kosslick as executive director of German regional funding board, Filmstiftung NRW, has called on leading commercial broadcaster RTL to join public TV stations WDR and ZDF as shareholders in the funding body.Speaking this week ahead of officially taking up his post on May 1, Schmid-Ospach ...
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EM.TV appoints banker as chairman
Bernd Thiemann has replaced Nickolaus Becker as supervisory chairman at the beleaguered German entertainment concern EM.TV & Merchandising.Thiemann is a former chairman of DG Bank.Becker, who had clashed with EM.TV's founder Thomas Haffa on the share deal with the KirchGroup, left the company on March 31.EM.TV's supervisory board will ...
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Kinowelt demonstrates faith in cinema market
German mini-major Kinowelt has exercised an option to acquire the remaining 49.9% shares in the Theile Hoyts Kinopolis group, comprising ten multiplex cinemas. "The positive development in the first months of the current year in the exhibition market confirms our decision to become more involved in the running of cinemas", ...
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TV-Loonland expands into Russia
German animation specialist TV-Loonland has entered into an extensive partnership with Moscow-based Nox Music, one of Russia's fastest growing music and record labels, with a seven-year license deal for 963 half-hour episodes from TV-Loonland's catalogue, including Pettson and Findus, Cramp Twins, Letters From Felix and Little Ghosts.The agreement covers CIS/Russia, ...
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Ott exits Senator Entertainment
Christoph Ott, Senator Entertainment's board member responsible for marketing and sales, is to leave the company "at his own request and by mutual agreement to prepare the founding of his own company". His responsibilities will now be assumed by Senator CEO Hanno Huth, while the area of world sales has ...