All News articles – Page 4513
-
News
S. Africa admissions to surge as exhibitor slashes prices
South Africa's largest exhibitor Ster-Kinekorhas slashed the price of its cinema tickets in a move that is expected to leadto a surge in admissions in the country.Ster Kinekor said that movie tickets will cost just$2.3 (R14) at the majority of its cinemas nationwide from this Friday - downfrom $5.75m (R35). ...
-
News
German distributor Solo files for insolvency
Munichbased distributor Solo-Film has become the latest casualty in the Germandistribution scene's seemingly never ending round of insolvencies.Solo's managing director Peter Heinzemann confirmed toScreenDaily.com that his company had been forced to file for insolvency onWednesday (March 16) after a key licensing company called for payment due on afilm license.Heinzemannstressed, though, ...
-
News
Israel opens up film funds to international producers
Internationalfilm producers can now apply to Israeli film funds for financing thanks torecent changes in the Israeli Film Law.A new clause recently added to the Film Law allows localfilm funds to invest in international film productions whose themes promoteIsrael's national interests - whether there is Israeli participation in thefilm's production ...
-
News
Robert Lazarus (1961-2005)
Robert Lazarus, a veteran ofthe film industry who worked at companies including Turner Pictures and MutualFilm Co, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 43 after a long pulmonaryillness.Lazarus, a popular figure inthe entertainment industry both in the US and in international markets, leavesbehind his life partner John ...
-
News
Robots set to storm across major markets
Fox International gives itsanimated picture Robots a massivepush this weekend, with major debuts scheduled for a number of leading marketsahead of the Easter break.Blue Sky/Fox's follow-up to 2002's Ice Age was due to open in Germany on a huge 900 prints and Russia on 279 onMar 17, followed a day ...
-
News
Indian Festival of Los Angeles unveils galas
The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) (April20-24) has announced its line up of special gala presentations.The Festival will kick off with the Hollywood Premiere of SanjayLeela Bhansali's drama Black.The Centerpiece Gala is the Los Angeles Premiere of AnuragKashyap's thriller based on true events, Black Friday.The Closing Night Gala ...
-
News
Hooligans dominates SXSW narrative prizes
Lexi Alexander'sadrenaline-charged drama Hooligans starringElijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam, Claire Forlani and Marc Warren won both thenarrative jury prize and narrative feature audience award at the 2005 SXSW FilmFestival at the weekend.US distributors are circling the picture, which stars Wood as a Harvarddrop-out who visits his sister in London and endears ...
-
News
ThinkFilm snaps up Protocols Of Zion
ThinkFilm has picked up US rights to Marc Levin's stirringSundance documentary Protocols Of Zionand plans an autumn release.The picture premiered in the Special Screenings programme in Park City back inJanuary and screened in Berlin last month, and explores anti-semitic claimsthat the Jews were responsible for the 9/11 attacks.In particular Levin ...
-
News
Official figures confirm Italian film investment slump
In a further sign of thecrisis that has gripped the Italian film industry, new figures released bynational film body Anica show that Italian investment in local productiondropped 5.7% in 2004 while average budgets slumped 17.7%. On the upside, the data alsoshowed that while battling an economic crisis at home, Italians ...
-
News
Dygra racks up further Midsummer pre-sales
Spanish animation producer Dygra Films has pre-sold itsanticipated new feature film Midsummer Dream to Scanbox Entertainmentfor rights in five Scandinavian countries.Scanbox took rights in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland andDenmark, meaning the film has now racked up pre-sales to 61 internationalterritories through sales handler Lumina Films.The deal was closed at the ...
-
News
ITALY 17 March
During another busy weekendat the Italian box office, Medusa had a hit on its hands with La Terza Stella,which opened at number five and earned $813,985 from 204 screens. The localcomedy, from popular TV comic duo Ale & Franz, registered a strong average of$3,990 per screen.However, the weekend's otherItalian new ...
-
News
Aniston joins Universal comedy The Break-Up
Jennifer Aniston has joined Vince Vaughn inUniversal's comedy The Break-Up,which is set to begin production in early June and is scheduled for release onFeb 17 2006.Jay Lavender and Jeremy Garelick are writing the screenplay, which is based onan original idea by Vaughn, who brought the project to the studio and ...
-
News
UK sees launch of Screen Financiers Association
A number of leadingproviders of independent British film finance have joined forces to launch neworganisation, the Screen Financiers Association (SFA).The founding members areAquarius, Baker Street Media, Magic Hour, Prescience, and Surefire. Between themthey have been involved in financing films such as Ladies in Lavender and forthcoming features Valiant, Tideland, A ...
-
News
ThinkFilm prepares launch of international division
ThinkFilm has announced itwill launch its new international sales division at Cannes headed up by veteraninternational executive Mark Horowitz.Horowitz and his team will arrive on the Croisette with a slate that includesthe Sundance documentaries Murderball, about quadriplegic rugby players, The Aristocrats, which focuses on stand-up comedians, and LieWith Me, an ...
-
News
Chinese box office surges 50% in 2004
China's box office increased by 50% to $180m in 2004,according to figures from the country's State Administration of Radio, Film andTelevision (SARFT). The figure far surpasses industry estimates of 30% growth.Although US imports had a good year, local productions werethe clear winners, accounting for 55% of total box office compared ...
-
News
Euro, South African producers fan Smoke biopic
Dutchproducer Riba Film, Germany's Pandora Film and South Africa's Do Productionshave partnered to finance the Euros 4.6m Smokeand Ochre, an English language biopic about the South African poet IngridJonker. Thefilm was presented at this year's project market Cinemart in Rotterdam. It willbe the first English language feature of successful Dutch ...
-
News
Angels leads Danish box office charge
Danish films have made a major impression at thelocal box office in the first two months of 2005.Local filmssold over a million tickets in January and February - a figure normally reachedin May.A string of local hits have contributed to the upswing. OleChristian Madsen's Angels In Fast Motion (Nordkraft) - ...
-
News
Tax hope for UK Budget
TheUK film industry is hoping the government will make an announcement today onthe future of tax incentives for productions.Chancellorof the Exchequer Gordon Brown has been pushed hard to address the future of theSection 48 concessions in this afternoon's Budget.Butindustry sources suggest that the most likely outcome is a short-term fix ...
-
News
Wanda takes on sales for Rotterdam winner Sky Turns
Spain's Wanda Vision will handle international sales onMercedes Alvarez's award-winning documentary The Sky Turns (El Cielo Gira).Thefilm, which has already sold to France's ARTE, was a surprise Tiger Awardwinner in Rotterdam and took home the top prize last weekend at Paris's Cinemadu Reel festival.Wanda plans to release the title in ...
-
News
AUSTRALIA 16 March
The nearly A$7.5 million taken at the Australian box office for thefour-day weekend to 16 March was the smallest of the year, despite Victorianshaving a holiday weekend. Contributing factors would have been Australia's glorious autumn weatherand the start of the National Rugby League season.Five new films were scattered through the ...