All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 227
-
News
Intertainment results pounded by Franchise row
Business at Neuer Markt-listed German rights trader Intertainment has been practically put on hold as a result of its bitter legal wrangle with Elie Samaha's Franchise Pictures.Announcing first quarter results for this year, Intertainment chief Ruediger "Barry" Baeres reported that his company had posted sales of only Euros4.88m - compared ...
-
News
Brotherhood Of The Wolf opens Fantasy Filmfest
Christophe Gans' Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Le Pacte Des Loups) will open this year's Fantasy Filmfest.The peripatetic event begins its tour of Germany in Munich on 18 July and then travels to Stuttgart (25 July - 1 August), Cologne and Frankfurt (1 - 8 August) and Hamburg and Berlin (8 ...
-
News
Ridley Scott heads Tout Ecran short film jury
Ridley Scott will head the jury for an internet shorts competition being launched for the first time this year by Switzerland's Cinema Tout Ecran Film and Television Festival, the event has announced.The Geneva event, which runs October 22-28, will dedicate its annual showcase of TV work from leading film-makers to ...
-
News
Mediastream, F.A.M.E. unveil new German funds
The launch of two new film funds this week underlines the growing gulf in fortunes between Germany's high flying private media funds and the struggling Neuer Markt media outfits.Duesseldorf-based fund manager GVP has launched its second Mediastream fund to raise Euro 141.4m for the financing of two Universal Pictures productions ...
-
News
Kinowelt shares slump as profit forecasts slashed
Shares at Kinowelt Medien hit an all-time low this week after the German media concern halved profit expectations for this year.Shares fell 17% to 4.68 Euro on Monday, recovering slightly but then slipped another 2.04% on Tuesday. At the beginning of trading on Tuesday shares were at 4.80 Euro. The ...
-
News
Euro Kids Network dropped by Media Plus
Financial support for Media Salles' Euro Kids Network (EKN) is being stopped as part of an overhaul of the cinema exhibition support initiatives of the MEDIA Plus Programme. The European Union-backed MEDIA Programme will instead concentrate its future support for the exhibition sector within the Europa Cinemas network.EKN was founded ...
-
News
EIB now ready to accelerate audiovisual funding
The European Investment Bank (EIB) gave a clear signal at last week's Audiovisual Roundtable in Cannes that it wants to support the European film and TV industry and build greater competitiveness in the international market.The Roundtable had been organised following the launch of the Euros500m "Audiovisual i2i" initiative and to ...
-
News
Director Khudoinazarov sets up two more pictures
Luna Papa director Bahktiar Khudoinazarov is planning to shoot a low-budget feature Faraway Gochi on location in Russia this September ahead of his $4m-$4.4m (DM 9m-DM 10m) feature Leo which is being slated to shoot in and around Vienna for 12 weeks in spring 2002.Budgeted at under $440,000 (DM 1m) ...
-
News
Munich festival secures world premieres
Alfonso Arau's TV version of The Magnificent Ambersons and Oskar Roehler's Suck My Dick, the director's first film after Die Unberuhrbare, will make their world premieres at the Munich FilmFest, the event has announced.Jean-Pierre Jeunet's French box-office hit Amelie will open the event's 19th edition, which runs from June 30 ...
-
News
Intermedia unveils music division for soundtracks
UK and US-based indie Intermedia has launched a music arm under Bill Curbishley, former manager of The Who and Jimi Hendrix, and Joel Sill, former vice-president music for Warner Brothers and Paramount Pictures.The division will produce soundtracks for features and have offices in Los Angeles and London. The team is ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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, ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...