All articles by Michael Gubbins – Page 2
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News
High School Musical 3 takes brand-building to new level
High School Musical's (HSM) third instalment lived up to its billing as the right film for the right time: pure escapism in a global recession.High School Musical 3: Senior Year set a new opening record for a musical in the US with a three-day debut of $42m. Internationally, it opened ...
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News
Editorial - Stuck in the middle
There's an old saying that if you stand in the middle of the road, you'll get knocked down from both directions. It's looking like an extremely relevant piece of advice for the film industry.At the top end of the scale, the current economic conditions are uncomfortable and in recent weeks, ...
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Features
In focus - Reasons to be cheerful
A nagging question underpinned this year's UK Film Finance Summit - why wasn't everyone more miserable' Goodness knows there was plenty to worry about: a crashing economy, collapsing pre-sales and a depressingly complicated digital switch which threatens the future of exhibition.The packed audience at London's Waldorf Hotel did not lack ...
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News
Richard Jobson reignites the spirit of '77
The notion of punk cinema has been kicking around for a few years, based on the idea that a new generation of film-makers pick up a camera and take distribution into their own hands.Scottish film-maker Richard Jobson is an undisguised champion of the 'spirit of 1977' for film and he ...
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News
Screen opinion: Advantage of surprise
You have to ask what we come to these film festivals for,' asked a producer, his mouth full of pintxos as the sun set over La Concha in San Sebastian a couple of weeks ago.Leaving aside the obvious merits of location, the grand 'What are we for'' questions are sounded ...
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News
In focus: Small cinemas' digital cinema threat
There are few certainties about the disruptive digital future for film, but at least there has been agreement in recent times that change is inevitable, permanent and will sweep the whole industry along with it.Business models would emerge, recalcitrant distributors and exhibitors would take the plunge and our attention would ...
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Features
Flying the flag for 3D
Only one in 10 digital screens is adequate for 3D screenings, pioneering 3D film-maker Ben Stassen has claimed.Stassen is CEO of Brussels-based nWave, which is behind a series of successful Imax projects and this year released 3D animation Fly Me To The Moon. But although he claimed 3D is the ...
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Features
Boxing clever
UK distributor Revolver Entertainment is planning the territory's first all-platform day-and-date release.The Boxing Day release of Steven Sheil's low-budget horror film Mum & Dad will open simultaneously in theatres, video-on-demand, electronic sell-through and rental. A similar US release is planned for Mother's Day 2009.The move will reopen the often fractious ...
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News
Screen opinion: Balancing finance, talent and distribution
In film, we have buckets of creative talent but scarcely any business capacity,' Patrick McKenna, chairman of Ingenious Media Group, told a meeting at Bafta in London this week. This relatively brief aside, specifically about the UK, came during a generally upbeat talk about the prospects for the British creative ...
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News
In Focus: Stewart Till revives spirit of PolyGram
The spectre of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (PFE) has haunted the international industry for the last 10 years. Since the European studio was swallowed up by Universal in 1999, the vacuum it left is frequently cited by those seeking a reordering of the international sales and distribution sector.Indeed, PFE has its ...
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News
In Focus: D-cinema divide hangs over the digital switch
Every period of radical change goes through an initial 'what if'' stage where enthusiasts and sceptics try to predict the future.Digital cinema has been rather longer than most in the 'what if'' foothills, partly because of lack of engagement with the issues but mainly because the technology has been out ...
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News
Screen Opinion: Refining the business
There was a bitter Breton joke back in the days when oil spillages from supertankers off the Brittany coast were a regular occurrence: 'We'd be rich if we could work out how to pick it up.' It's a thought that springs to mind during what are now unequivocally tough times ...
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News
Pinewood Shepperton boasts big jump in half-year profits
The UK's Pinewood Shepperton studios has recorded a 31% year-on-year increase in half-year pre-tax profitsto $6.7m ($3.8m).Revenues rose 19% to $39.9m (£21.7m) with revenues from film up 20% to $23.8m (£13m).The studios have hosted the 007 film Quantum Of Solace and other major shoots, including Richard Curtis's The Boat That ...
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News
Screen opinion:Tuning into a new era
Back in the 1970s, musician Benny Green wrote an essay on the demise of jazz. His lament was that every possible combination of notes had been explored, reworked, reversed and occasionally twisted into barely listenable shapes. 'We have to ask whether today's brilliant jazz musicians have left themselves any fresh ...
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News
Screen opinion:A double take on piracy
The UK government took its swig from the poisoned chalice of film and music piracy this week. The result, of course, was a fudge. Most attempts to take on counterfeiting have proved either incoherent or unworkable. Sometimes both.Like the 'war on drugs' the prospects for a knock-out blow are limited ...
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Features
Send in the big guns
The success of The Dark Knight has raised hopes of a Bat-powered box-office surge across the world.Some markets struggled in the first half of the year to match a strong 2007: Japan's box-office revenues, for example, fell 13.7% between January and the end of June, while Brazil dropped 8.8%. But ...
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News
Independent launches digital unit
UK sales and production outfit Independent has launched a digital distribution and marketing arm - Independent Digital.The new venture will run alongside CEO Luc Roeg's existing business to explore new-media opportunities.Eric Stevens will lead the unit, which is financed by the Living Capital Group.The initial aim is to exploit the ...
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News
International writers and directors seek new deal
Nothing demonstrates the difference between Hollywood and the international independent sector more than a strike.Earlier this year, Hollywood writers were able to bring prime-time TV shows off the air and halt major film shoots. Now contract negotiations with actors and directors are underway, conducted in a manner that would be ...
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News
Disney focuses on brand values
If the key to navigating a volatile and uncertain market is concentration on core strengths, then Disney has got it right.And the rock on which the future will be built is the Disney brand itself, according to Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group.Over the last couple of ...
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Features
International - Finding space to grow
Cinema analyst Dodona this week points to a growing split between the mature markets of the West and emerging markets.It is an undeniable fact, if one allows for a little blurring about what constitutes emergence. The simplest dividing line between the two worlds is in screen capacity.The markets of the ...