All News articles – Page 4546
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Closer gathers steam with trio of major debuts
Sony Pictures Releasing International's (SPRI) torriddrama Closer continued its impressiverun with an estimated $12.3m weekend haul that included a trio of major numberone debuts.The picture opened top inFrance on $2.7m on 328 prints, top in Spain on $2m on 259, and top in Brazil on$750,000 on 180. It also opened ...
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Tautou lines up for Howard's Da Vinci Code
French stars Audrey Tautou and Jean Reno are reportedlyjoining the cast of Ron Howard's adaptation of The Da Vinci Code - whichhas just gained permission to shoot in Paris's Louvre museum.Local newspaper Le Parisien said that A VeryLong Engagement and Amelie star Tautou had been selected to playSophie Neveu opposite ...
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Napster mulls move into online film distribution
Napster, the fast-growing US digital music service, isconsidering moving into films and video games in an ambitious drive to win newsubscribers. Chris Gorog, Napster chairman and chief executive, saidin a report in today's Financial Times that the US-listed group couldapply its online music model to films, TV programming and other ...
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US indie distributor TLA plans initiative into UK market
Marking its first expansion outside North America,domestic independent TLA Releasing, which specializes in gay and lesbian titles,has declared its intention to enter the UK home entertainment market andrelease 12 to 16 titles from its US catalogue each year.Down the line the company says it plans to acquire titles fortheatrical release ...
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Anti-piracy raids across Asia seize 6m pirate discs
Police forces across 12Asian countries this week completed a total of 876 raids, resulting in 277arrests and the seizure of 5.9 million pirate discs, according to the MotionPicture Association (MPA).As part of an extendedcampaign, 'Operation Eradicate', launched in December 2004, the initiative cameto a close this week with law enforcement ...
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Spanish get busy with winter market deals
Spanish companies are busy setting up business deals on theeve of the first winter festivals and markets in Sundance and Berlin.Spanishsales consortium Grupo Pi has picked up international rights on directorMariano Barroso's Ants In The Mouth (Hormigas En La Boca), a romanticthriller set in 1958 Cuba and starring Ariadna Gil, ...
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Buyers hit Paris for weekend Rendez-Vous
The 7th annualFrench Film Rendez-Vous opens today (Jan 21) with 350 foreign distributors and110 foreign journalists making the trek to Paris to get a taste of forthcomingFrench films.Organised by French export body Unifrance, the event runs until Mondayand is an intimate gathering where buyers are treated to screenings and meetand ...
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HONG KONG 21 January
National Treasure held on at the top of the Hong Kong box office butAlexander stormed in behind it, grossing US$348,131 for second position in itsopening week. Distributed by GoldenHarvest's Panasia label, Oliver Stone's sword-and-sandals epic scored a healthyscreen average of US$11,604. Meanwhile, Kung-fu Hustle, which dropped tothird position, continues to ...
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Docurama acquires ex-Sundance six-pack
Docurama, the US home entertainment specialist distribution label for non-fiction titles,has picked up a raft of previous Sundance titles and plans to release themthroughout the year.The titles are:* Sundance 2004 entry The Arthur Dong Collection: Stories From The War OnHomosexuality containingComing Out Under Fire,Family Fundamentals,and Licensed To Kill;* Carlos Bosch ...
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Bangkok Film Market earns plaudits
The second running of the Bangkok Film Market (BFM) earnedwarm plaudits from many of the participants. While claims that the event would generate $250m of salesbusiness were always highly dubious and the volume of corridor traffic droppedsharply after day one, it seems that the site of business shifted away from ...
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Berlinale lifts lid on 'sassy' Forum programme
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 10-20) hasunveiled the full programme of the 35th International Forum of New Cinema, which focuses largely on films by new and youngdirectors.The programme, which is one of the key festival strands alongsidethe main competition, Panorama, the Kinderfilmfest and the Perspektive DeutschesKino, is billed by ...
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Empire brings Italy's Caterina to US
Empire Pictures has picked up Paolo Virzi's coming-of-age story Caterina In The Big City (Caterina Va In Citta) and plans a US release on April 8 in New York and Los Angeles followed by a nationwide arthouse rollout. The picture, which was a sizeable hit in Italy when it opened ...
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here! Films takes US rights to Sundance competitor
Sales consortium Latido International has closed a deal withhere! Films for North American distribution rights on Spanish film Unconscious(Inconscientes), which is competing in theWorld Cinema competition at Sundance. Unconscious headlinesnew Almodovar muse Leonor Watling (Talk To Her) and local star Luis Tosar (Mondays In TheSun, Take My Eyes) in the ...
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Picture This! picks up domestic rights to The Great Water
PictureThis! Entertainment has acquired all North American rights to Ivo Trajkov'sMacedonian foreign language Academy Award submission The Great Water. Basedon the novel of the same name by Zhivko Chingo, The Great Water traces the childhood of a high ranking elderlycommunist party member who is approaching death. IdaMartins, president of German ...
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Vine libary titles find Dream ticket
Los Angeles-based production and international salescompany Dream Entertainment has acquired all rights to select titles from VineInternational Pictures' UK-based film library.The titles include:* Alan Rudolph's thriller Equinox starring Marisa Tomei, Mathew Modine andLara Flynn Boyle; * the drama Prince Of Jutland starring Christian Bale, Gabriel Byrne, Kate Beckinsale and HelenMirren; ...
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Elektra pins hopes on overseas rescue
Fox International's Elektra begins its international assault in earnest with debuts inthe UK, Mexico, Brazil and South Korea on Jan 21 on 350, 350, 176 and 81screens respectively.The comic book adaptation has taken $2.3m from the earlystages of its run and executives will be hoping for stronger returns than thoseposted ...
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The Sundance gamble
Coinciding as it does withthe western New Year, the Sundance Film Festival has always found itself in afortuitous slot. This event kick-starts the industry calendar like no other.Those who flock to Park City do so with that January zeal for renewal; whetherthey are distributors, agents or critics, they all feel ...
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Golden Scene takes on sales for Kwan's Regret
Hong Kong distribution company Golden Scene has picked upinternational sales rights to Stanley Kwan Kam Pang's forthcoming Chang HenGe (which translates literally as Everlasting Regret).The film is based on a prize winning novel and wasadapted by Elmond Yeung and Jiang Liping.Production design is by William Chang. Starring Sammi Cheng, Tony ...
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UK production spend plummets in 2004
Spending by US productionsshooting in the UK plunged by more than 30% last year, according to annualfigures from support body the UK Film Council.The news follows this week'sfigures from Screen International showing that the number of local filmsshooting also slipped by around 40%. Counting all productions,the Council calculated that spending ...
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Adelaide festival sets Watt's Ways as opener
The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) is to open with the worldpremiere of new Australian film Look Both Ways by director Sarah Watt.Festival director Katrina Sedgwick had previously scheduledthe film for the middle Saturday night of the two-week event starting onFebruary 18. But after seeing a final cut of the film, ...