All News articles – Page 4325
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Da Vinci Code cleared in copyright case
A UK High Court judge hasrejected a copyright infringement claim filed over The Da Vinci Code. Michael Baigentand Richard Leigh, the authors of the 1982 non-fiction work The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, hadaccused US author Dan Brown and his publisher Random House of appropriatingcentral themes from their work ...
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UK gets more detail on new film tax system
As the UK Government'slong-awaited Finance Bill was finally published on Friday, accountants andlawyers went into over-drive to analyse what implications the Bill holds forthe UK film industry. With 26 film-related pagesand 62 pages of explanatory memo in the 489-page Bill, this was not an easydocument to digest. Even some experts ...
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Group tries to stop Korean release of The Da Vinci Code
Fundamentalistgroup the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) has applied for aprovisional injunction to stop the local theatrical release of The Da Vinci Code.Korea's largest Christianorganization, the CCK filed its application againstdistributor Sony Pictures Releasing Korea to the Seoul Central District Courttoday (April 7).CCK saidin a statement that the film was ...
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UK pirate DVD raid results in five arrests
The UK's Federation AgainstCopyright Theft (FACT) worked with London's Metropolitan Police and Waltham Forest TradingStandards to raid a major pirate DVD manufacturing facility in Leyton, northeast London.Five arrests were made andmore than 300 titles were seized including Ice Age 2, which opens in the UK today.The facility contained morethan 500 ...
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Deighton, Becker join Kimmel in key production roles
Joshua Deighton and Holly Becker are joining Sidney Kimmel Entertainment(SKE) as senior vice presidents of production.Deighton previously served as vice president of production at Fox Searchlight,where he acquired such titles as Napoleon Dynamite and Broken Lizard's Super Troopers.He was a production executive on Sideways, Sexy Beast, One HourPhoto, I (Heart) ...
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Ice Age 2 set to dominate international in weekend #2
Fox International's Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is closing in on $100m as it prepares toopen in 20 territories heading into its second weekend.The animated sequel has amassed more than $64.2m by Thursday andis now opening in France on Apr 5, Australia and Germany on Apr 6, and the UKon ...
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Carnaby, Boda team for thriller starring Jaime Winstone
First timefeature writer-director David Evans has started principal photography on Daddy's Girl, a psychological thriller.The film started shooting inand around Cardiff, Wales on March 27. Boda and Carnaby Internationalare co-producing, with Carnaby also handlinginternational sales.Daddy's Girlis co-financed by Carnaby and the Arts Council of Wales,which developed the script with Film ...
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Markham Street to make doc on PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
The rise and fall of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment is thesubject of a Canadian documentary called 100 Films And A Funeral, which has started principal photography.Produced by Toronto-based Markham Street Films, the $1.5mhigh-def documentary will take an in-depth look at the upstart studio run byMichael Kuhn which distributed more than 100 ...
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Working Title teams with John Hamburg on Troubleshooter
Universal Pictures and Working Title have acquired John Hamburg'scomedy thriller screenplay The Troubleshooter.The screenplay is based on a story by Hamburg and MarkShanahan, and Hamburg will direct and produce along with Working Title's TimBevan and Eric Fellner. Plot details were being kept under wraps yesterday.The filmmaker has had a longstanding ...
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MIP TV's new buzzword: convergence
The MIP TV market began to wind down Thursday after four days thatfocused more on convergence than traditional television. Indeed, this year's market was subtitled "TV Reloaded," and thebuzzwords were convergence, community and content. Many attendees said this wasthe first MIP TV to substantially address the broadening scope ofmulti-platform distribution.Alongside ...
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Fox Germany signs five-film deal with Claussen & Woebke
TwentiethCentury Fox of Germany has signed a multi-picture deal with Munich-basedproduction house Claussen & Woebke Filmproduktion covering all film rightsfor five feature films in the next three years as well as further projects thatare yet to be developed.Thefirst joint project will an adaptation of Otfried Preussler's award-winningchildren's story Krabat, which ...
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UK's Video Island and LoveFilm plan 50-50 merger
The UK's top online DVD rental companies,LoveFilm and Video Island, have announcedplans for a 50-50 merger. Video Island'sScreenSelect.co.uk brand will be consolidated under the LoveFilmconsumer brand.LoveFilm and Video Island said that the newcompany "plans to exploit synergies on marketing, technology, distribution andoperations to grow profits faster and accelerate expansion across ...
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Hamburg Film Fund gives $3.1m to seven new projects
The Hamburg Film Fund has awarded$3.1m (Euros 2.5m) in production support to seven projects including newfeature films by Fatih Akin, Peter Timm, Detlev Buck and Nicolette Krebitz.Akin's production company Corazon International receivedthe largest amount - $616,074 (Euros 500,000) - for his next feature Auf Der Anderen Seite Des Lebens, while ...
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TWI to acquire UK's Darlow Smithson Productions
Sports media company TWI has announced that it will acquire London-based DarlowSmithson Productions, best known in the film world for its first feature, Touching The Void. TWI will finance the acquisition with capital from its parent company,US-based IMG.The move will let TWI expand into factual non-sports programming. DarlowSmithson currently delivers ...
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UK Film Council supports 19 new shorts
TheUK Film Council has announced short film projects that will receive fundingthrough the New Cinema Fund's Digital Shorts Plus programme. Thescheme works with directors previously supported by the Digital Shorts Schemewho are now working on projects budgeted up to $35,039 (£20,000). The FilmCouncil's regional partners put up $17,519 (£10,000) for ...
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New UK documentary festival to launch in July
The Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundationis launching a new UK-based documentary festival, Britdoc, to be held at Keble College in Oxfordfrom July 26-28.The event seeks to bringan international scope to the UK documentary world. "We want to encourage UK documentary filmmakers to be involved in theinternational co-production of feature ...
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Poseidon to have May 6 world premiere at Tribeca
Tribeca Film Festivalorganisers have scored another coup by booking the world premiere of WolfgangPetersen's disaster movie Poseidon.Warner Bros and VirtualStudios' adventure story is the latest high-profile world premiere destined forthe New York event, which will open with Working Title/Universal's United 93and also screens DreamWorksAnimation's Over The Hedge.Poseidon tells of a ...
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Nashville-based Amity picks up Little Hippo for North America
Nashville-based production, distribution and licensing companyAmity Entertainment has picked up North American rights to the Little Hippoanimation feature and series.The acquisition includes a 90-minute feature and 52 15-minutetelevision episodes.Belgium-based Neuroplanet produced the 2001 feature, which wasdirected by Bernard Deyries and has been released theatrically in France andGermany.The television series has ...
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Carr promoted to vp of exhibitor marketing at Focus Features
Eric Carr has been promoted from Focus Features' director ofexhibitor marketing to the unit's vice president.Effective immediately, Carr will oversee planning and deployingin-theatre marketing materials for Focus and Rogue Pictures releases.He will remain in the company's West Coast offices and continuesto report to Focus Features executive vice president of theatrical ...
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MGM Channel pacts with Liberty for eastern Europe launch
MGM Networks has signed a deal with broadband cable operatorLiberty Global's European division chellomedia to launch the MGM Channel andDTH (direct-to-home satellite) systems in local languages throughout centraland Eastern Europe.The 50-50 joint venture aims to launch the MGM Channel in theCzech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary by the fourth quarter of ...