All articles by Mike Goodridge – Page 114
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News
The Works scores with Bend It Like Beckham
UK-based sales outfit The Works has closed a slew of deals on its eagerly awaited comedy Bend It Like Beckham, directed by Gurinder Chadha, including a sale to Metropolitan Filmexport in France.The film, which stars Parminder Nagra, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Shaznay Lewis and Juliet Stevenson in a story of an ...
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Myriad on the road with Coppola's Zoetrope
Myriad Pictures and Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope unveiled three new films yesterday to be financed and sold in international territories by Myriad, which has taken over the ten-picture Zoetrope slate from financially troubled VCL. United Artists handles domestic rights on the film.They are Zoetrope's long-delayed On The Road, a ...
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News
Queen Of The Damned reigns over North America
Queen Of The Damned, Warner Bros' film of the Anne Rice novel, topped the box office in North America over the weekend with an estimated $15.2m take on 2,511 screens. Based on the third book in Rice's Vampire Chronicles, the $30m film is notable as the last film role for ...
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News
Artist House buys Morvern Callar for Japan
Artist House, the Japanese publishing group, is set to make an imprint both as both new buyer and seller. It has already acquired Japanese rights to LynneRamsay's Cannes-bound Morvern Callar and is now embarking on its own production of TheTesseract, starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Saskia Reeves.Along with its specialistfeatures arm ...
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First Look to steer Loach's Navigators in US
First Look Pictures (FLP) has struck a deal with UK-basedsales outfit The Works to buy North American distribution rights to Ken Loach'sThe Navigators, which played at theVenice Film Festival last year. FLP is planning a summer theatrical release for the film whichwill then go to video and DVD through First ...
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StudioCanal stalks international rights to Cherish
StudioCanal isclose to acquiring international rights to Cherish, the $4m comic stalker thriller that premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival this year and was promptly sold toFine Line Features for North America distribution.Produced by Johnny Wow and Mark Burton and directed by Finn Taylor (Dream With TheFishes), the ...
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Sony gets Basic instinct for Travolta thriller
John McTiernan'sBasic starring John Travolta has finally found a domestic home in Sony PicturesEntertainment. The costly military thriller was fully financed by Intermedia andproduced with Mike Medavoy and Arnie Messer's Phoenix Pictures and OrbitEntertainment Group. Basic, whichwill be released in North America through Columbia Pictures, had been considereda risky proposition ...
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Miramax sells to two new German distributors
Miramax International has closed two new distribution deals in Germany with buyers it has never sold movies to before: Andreas Klein's Splendid Medien and AndreasFallscheer's brand new outfit Falcon Entertainment.Splendid boughtGerman rights to James Mangold's Kate & Leopold starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman,while Falcon took rights to David Zucker's ...
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Culkin kills for Party Monster role
Macauley Culkin is in final negotiations to star as Michael Alig in Party Monster, the movie about the notorious murdering New York party promoter that is being produced by Killer Films and sold internationally by Fortissimo Film Sales. Ed Pressman and JohnSchmidt's ContentFilm has also come on board as co-financier ...
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Reviews
The Cockettes
Dir: David Weissman & Bill Weber. US. 2002. 99mins.This marvellously evocative documentary was a clear audience favourite at the Sundance Film Festival, and was equally well-received at its Panorama screening in Berlin this week. A bidding war for US rights is underway and international arthouse buyers are also likely ...
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News
Summit solidifies Anschutz ties with Crusader
Hoton the heels of yesterday's alignment with Cary Granat's Walden, SummitEntertainment has closed a long-term agreement with Howard Baldwin's CrusaderEntertainment to represent its product in international territories. BothWalden and Crusader are backed by Denver-based billionaire Phillip Anschutz andhis Anschutz Group which also controls one sixth of the US exhibition market.Firsttitles ...
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News
Pathe signs writer for Newell's Seven Fires
The UK's PathePictures has signed Randi Mayem Singer, the writer of last year's blockbusterMrs Doubtfire, to write the screenplay for The Seven Fires Of Mademoiselle, the film of Esther Vilar's novel whichMike Newell is to direct.Judy Counihanand Lila Rawlings' Pearl Pictures is producing the film which is set inKennedy-era Washington ...
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Miramax gets in family way with Keystone
Miramax Filmsand its genre releasing company Dimension Films have signed a multi-year,multi-picture co-financing agreement for family entertainment projects producedby Keystone Entertainment. Miramax is the distributor of Keystone's family filmfranchise Air Bud.Under the deal, Miramax has the optionto acquire US rights to Keystone's movies and has agreed to release a minimumof ...
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News
GMI cleans out Bedroom, as buyers hail Hero
Even before he arrived at this week's American Film Market, David Linde and his Good Machine International (GMI) had closed a large range of sales already on new titles Hero, Ash Wednesday and Zhou Yu's Train, as well as completing worldwide sales on Oscar-nominated drama In The Bedroom.UniversalPictures bought In ...
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News
THINKFilm puckers up for Last Kiss
THINKFilm, the new North American distributor founded by Jeff Sackman, has acquired all North American rights to The Last Kiss (L'Ultimo Baccio), Gabriele Muccino's award-winning romantic comedy which shared the world cinema audience award at the Sundance Film Festival last month. The company, under distribution chief Mark Urman, plans to ...
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Winchester crosses Divide, unveils UK releases
WinchesterFilms is introducing a new action picture from Wind Dancer Films to buyers, hasidentified another film from its relationship with The Donners Co and hasunveiled the first slate for its UK distribution company headed by MickSouthworth.TheWind Dancer project, The Divide, will be directed by Wind Dancer principal Matt Williams (WhereThe ...
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Renaissance teams with Catch 23 on Vapor
RenaissanceFilms, the UK production and sales outfit run by Stephen Evans and AngusFinney, is teaming up with LA-based Catch 23 Entertainment to finance NeilLabute's next film Vapor which he will begin after he has completed the currently-shootingThe Shape Of Things.Based on thefirst novel by Amanda Fillipacchi, which Labute is currently ...
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GMI picks up Lisa Cholodenko's Laurel Canyon
Good MachineInternational has acquired all international rights to Laurel Canyon, the new film from Lisa Cholodenko (HighArt) which stars FrancesMcDormand, Kate Beckinsale, Christian Bale, Natascha McElhone and AlessandroNivola. Sony PicturesClassics has domestic rights to the picture which is the story of astraight-laced PHD student (Beckinsale) who moves to Los Angeles ...
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Polone partners up with Senator Int'l, Screen Gems
Gavin Polone,whose latest picture Panic Room opens in March, is the latest producer to source financing fromthe international marketplace, teaming up with Senator International todevelop, acquire, produce and distribute a slate of pictures. But unlike many such deals, Polone's company Pariah and Senator have guaranteed domesticdistribution through a second alliance ...
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Summit forges ties with Anschutz-backed Walden
SummitEntertainment has secured a new product line through an agreement reached withCary Granat's Walden Media, one of two film production companies backed byPhillip Anschutz, the Denver-based billionaire who now also controls a sixth ofAmerica's movie theatres.Summit willoffer Walden's first two films: the large-screen 3-D documentaryGhosts Of The Abyssfrom director James ...