All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 232
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Kinowelt attacks RTL, Kirch buying tactics
Germany's Kinowelt Medien has slammed local broadcasters RTL and the Kirch Group for supposedly having an understanding akin to a "gentlemen's agreement" after passing on films from Kinowelt's $300m Warner Bros package.According to local newspaper Financial Times Deutschland, Kinowelt co-president Michael Koelmel said that the two groups of TV channels ...
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BKN International plans US, Japanese expansion
German children's animation producer and distributor BKN International (BKNI) is in final talks to acquire an animation studio in the US by the end of this year as part of its ambitious strategy of international expansion.Speaking at this week's shareholders' meeting, CEO Nadia Nardonnet said that in addition to the ...
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Media[netCom] to launch second VoD trial
Blair Witch Project, Ghost Dog and John Carpenter's Vampires are among an initial 200 features that will be offered by Germany's media[netCom] during its second set of video-own-demand (VoD) trials at the end of January. The trials will initially be launched in 25 test households in the Hamburg suburb of ...
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Germany's F.A.M.E. to open London outpost
German film and music production house, F.A.M.E. Film & Music Entertainment, is launching a 100% owned London-based subsidiary, F.A.M.E. UK, on Jan 1, 2001, to develop and produce English-language features.The Munich-based company is expected to appoint a UK film professional to head the operation, which is currently the responsibility of ...
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Intertainment, Franchise talk terms
Munich-based licence trader Intertainment is renegotiating its pan-European output deal with Elie Samaha's LA-based Franchise Pictures, which is thought to have soured after resulting in a string of flops.In a statement released Tuesday (December 19), Intertainment said that its subsidiary Intertainment Licensing had entered into negotiations with Franchise: "to clarify ...
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Helkon subsidiary wins Heimatfilm contract
Germany's home-grown genre, the Heimatfilm, which was popular in the 1950s with stirring tales of love and adventure set against the backdrop of Alpine landscapes, is to be dusted down and updated by Helkon Media's majority-owned TV production house, Sonne, Mond und Sterne.The Munich-based outfit has won a $13.7m (DM30m) ...
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Alsaska.de, England! among Max Ophuels nods
Esther Gronenborn's Alaska.de, Achim von Boerries' England! and Philip Groening's L'Amour, L'Argent, L'Amour are among 19 features from German-speaking territories which have been nominated for the $27,500 (DM60,000) Max Ophuels Prize. The award will be given out during the Max Ophuels Prize Film Festival, which take place in Saarbruecken, Germany, ...
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Advanced Medien chairman open to friendly takeover
Further ownership changes could be on the cards for Germany's Advanced Medien according to executive board chairman Christophe Montague, who has said that he is not excluding the possibility of a friendly takeover of the company.In an online chat with Financial Times Deutschland this week, Montague added that a takeover ...
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German internet provider joins Kinowelt in B.TV
Leading German internet service provider Web.de has joined mini-major Kinowelt as a shareholder in regional broadcaster B.TV Television, by acquiring a 9.94% stake in the Baden-Wuerttemberg-based channel.The move makes Web.de, which reaches 5.4 million users, the first German internet player to become directly involved in television.B.TV can be received by ...
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Munich prosecutor launches probe into EM.TV
Brothers Thomas and Florian Haffa and other executives at troubled German media concern EM.TV & Merchandising are being investigated by Munich state prosecutor Manfred Wick for alleged breaches of securities law.EM.TV spokesman Michael Birnbaum declared that the books of the licence trader would be open to the investigating authority as ...
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Das Werk buys into France's Mikros Images
German post-production house Das Werk has added to its international network by acquiring a 15% stake in French digital post and effects house Mikros Images, with plans to extend this to a majority interest in future.The two companies are founding members of the Max European Post-Production Alliance, along with Belgium's ...
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Helkon planning to buy Eagle, Tri Pictures stakes
Germany's Helkon Media, which earlier this year acquired 51% of the UK's Redbus Films Distribution, is eyeing stakes in its two other European partners, Italy's Eagle Pictures and Spain's Tri Pictures, as part of its on-going strategy to create an international distribution network.The company also plans to fill the network ...
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IN-motion's fifth fund to back Brosnan starrer
Germany's aggressively acquisitive IN-motion has launched a private media fund, World Media Fonds V (WMF V), through which it plans to raise at least $45m (DM100m) for three projects including $46m Pierce Brosnan-starrer The Day After Tomorrow.WMF V is also backing $32m martial arts TV movie Invincible, which is being ...
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EM.TV CEO Thomas Haffa may step down
EM.TV & Merchandising CEO Thomas Haffa has said that he would consider resigning if he fails to restore the confidence of analysts and investors in the troubled TV production and merchandising concern. In a hard-hitting interview by Hans-Juergen Jakobs and Armin Mahler for this week's Der Spiegel weekly magazine, Haffa ...
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Kinepolis set to sell stake in CinemaxX
Belgian multiplex operator Kinepolis has announced that it plans to give up its 25% stake in CinemaxX, after the German exhibitor issued a profit warning to shareholders at the end of last week.In a statement Kinepolis declared that: "the importance of this interest had been put into question for some ...
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Kinowelt magazine launch upset by injunction
European film magazine Cinema has taken out an injunction to prevent German mini-studio Kinowelt distributing its new monthly publication, kinowelt.de, with a free DVD.The print and online title was launched with a giveaway of Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker, which Cinema claimed was anti-competitive. The injunction has also prevented the ...
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Berlin's Kinderfilmfest picks four UK titles
The UK is already well represented in the line-up selected so far for the forthcoming Children's Film Festival (Kinderfilmfest) sidebar at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival (February 7-18, 2001).To date, four UK titles have been chosen: modern fairytale There's Only One Jimmy Grimble, directed by John Hay and starring ...
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CinemaxX hit by drop in admissions
German exhibitor CinemaxX's shares plunged almost 40% to Euros4 on Thursday, in reaction to news that the company is being forced to issue a profit warning because of unexpectedly low cinema admissions over the last few months.CinemaxX, which together with its partner Ufa operates 623 screens in 54 locations, said ...
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Apollo Media boards Kershner's Cecilia
German financier Apollo Media is backing five high-profile US projects via its fourth film fund, including Irvin Kershner's $15m historical romantic drama Cecilia, which is set to star Virginia Ledoyen and Jeremy Irons.Buena Vista has worldwide rights to the film about an affair between the composer Puccini and a young ...
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D'Amico appointed to IN-motion board
Kirk D'Amico, president of Myriad Pictures and J&M Entertainment, has been appointed a board member of Frankfurt-based entertainment concern IN-motion, which has acquired both Myriad and J&M since floating on Germany's Neuer Markt in August.D'Amico and IN-motion's Philip von Alvensleben will be responsible at board level for the company's film ...