All News articles – Page 4551
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Int'l Box Office: Alexander conquers Europe
Oliver Stone needn't haveworried about the US critical reaction to Alexander having an adverseeffect on European box office. Opening in key European territories includingSpain, France and the UK this week Alexander flew in the face ofcritical reaction to lead the international table with a powerful $18.7mweekend.The film has already morethan ...
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Lash, Previd, Panzer all promoted at IFC
IFC has announced a trio of promotions, with Sarah Lashbecoming vice president of acquisitions at IFC Films, Nevette Previd becomingvice president of marketing at IFC Films, and Michelle Panzer rising to vicepresident of public relations at IFC Entertainment.Lash joined thecompany four years ago and played a key role in acquiring ...
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UK's Portobello Pictures launches book arm
Eric Abraham, founder of UKproduction outfit Portobello Pictures, is financing the creation of a new bookpublishing company.The venture, PortobelloBooks, will be run by Philip Gwyn Jones, former publisher of HarperCollins' UKliterary imprint Flamingo.The list will run to between15 and 20 new titles a year, focusing on international fiction and activistnon-fiction. ...
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Japanese police make first pirate vendor arrest
In the first case of itskind in Japan, local police havearrested a street vendor for selling pirated DVDs. Among the 1,000 DVDs seizedfrom 35-year-old Shigeyoshi Oshio were 300 copies of Howl's Moving Castle,the Hayao Miyazaki animation currently on release. Others included pirated DVDsof Spider-Man 2 and other recent Hollywood films, ...
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Australia celebrates record BO revenues
AustraliaHs annual boxoffice gross looks certain to exceed A$900 million in 2004 for the first timeever although the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA)has not released the final figure, nor admission numbers, and may not until laterthis month. Making significantcontributions to the 2004 tally were Shrek 2 (A$50.26m) and ...
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Warner International promotes Carson to executive vp
Nancy Carson has been promoted to executive vice president ofdistribution at Warner Bros Pictures International (WBPI).In her expanded role, Carson is responsible for overseeing internationaldistribution matters including dating strategies, box office racking, revenueand profitability.She works closely with regional supervisors and territory managersand is the division's primary liaison with Warner Home ...
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Cinema sale likely for London's West End
Competition is heating up totakeover a flagship UK cinema site in London's Leicester Square after theOffice of Fair Trading cleared investment vehicle Terra Firma's purchase ofexhibitor UCI provided it sold off certain cinemas in its estate.Terra Firma controls boththe Odeon Leicester Square and the Odeon West End, in addition to ...
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FCG launches festival programming service
Festival Consulting Group(FCG) partners Jon Fitzgerald and Mitch Levine have launched The ProgrammingBureau, a web-based subscription service for film festival professionals,studios, distribution companies, sales agents and the independent film community.Subscribers will get accessto a specialised database containing a curated listing of the top titlesplaying and set to play the festival ...
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Mannion swipes Strings from Trust
Frank Mannion's Swipe Filmshas picked up UK rights to acclaimed fantasy film Strings from TrustFilm Sales.Directed by AndersRonnow-Klarlund, Strings is a fantasy film with string puppets thatfeatures the voices of James McAvoy, Catherine McCormack, Samantha Bond &Derek Jacobi. Channel 4 has also picked up TV rights to the film.Swipe also ...
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ProSiebenSat.1 signs Spyglass output deal
Germany's ProSiebenSat.1Group has signed a license agreement with US production outfit SpyglassEntertainment covering all German-language free-TV rights for titles going intoproduction from this year onwards. The agreement will includethe much-anticipated adaptation of Arthur Golden's best-selling novel MemoirsOf A Geisha which is being co-produced by Spyglass with Columbia Picturesand DreamWorks. Commenting ...
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Gondry embarks on Science Of Sleep
Director Michel Gondry, whocontinues to receive plaudits for 2004's Eternal Sunshine Of The SpotlessMind, began shooting The Science Of Sleep last week in Paris. The film boasts a pedigreecast with Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal and French stars Alain Chabat andCharlotte Gainsbourg.Gaumont is co-producing thefilm with Partizan and will handle ...
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Writers Guild nominations offers surprises
An eclectic range of talentrubs shoulders in the 57th Annual Writers Guild Awards nominations announced yesterday (13).
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Korean film enjoys bumper box office harvest in 2004
South Korean box office surged 16.5% in 2004 and Koreanfilms took an unprecedented 60.3% share of the market, on the back ofrecord-busting performances by local features Tae Guk Gi and Silmido.Nonetheless, a drop off at the end of the year has observerswondering if Korea's boom has reached its peak.According to ...
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Allen to receive lifetime award from San Francisco
Joan Allen willreceive the Peter J Owens Award at the 48th San Francisco International FilmFestival, in honour of a career that in the words of the festival organisersexemplifies "brilliance, independence and integrity".Allen will takepart in a retrospective on Apr 29, culminating in an onstage interview prior toa screening of Sally ...
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Dutch box office suffers first annual fall in ten years
The Dutch box office dropped by 10% to Euros 151.3min 2004, according to end of year figures from the Dutch Federation ofAssociated Cinemas (NVF).The year on year downturn brings to an end over ten years ofuninterrupted growth at the Dutch box office which has posted increases everyyear since 1993. Admissions ...
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Holt named to English-language post at Telefilm Canada
Telefilm Canada hasappointed senior executive Ralph Holt to the position of national head ofEnglish-language feature film. Holt, a 17-year veteran of the agency, most ofthat serving as director for the Atlantic Region. Holt will relocate toToronto, effective immediately.'I am verypleased that Ralph has decided to take on the challenges of ...
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Ferrara sued for alleged breach of contract on Tales
Abel Ferrara, the cultdirector of Bad Lieutenant, has been served with an Euros 6m lawsuit forallegedly breaching his contract with Istituto Luce, the Italian state-ownedproduction and distribution outfit, and independent local producer Gam Film.Ferrara was allegedly due tostart shooting a Euros 4m screwball comedy entitled Go Go Tales,"between December 13, ...
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Ocean's Twelve takes $17.6m in 54 territories for Warner
Ocean's Twelve grossed an estimated $17.6m on 5,200 prints in 54territories at the weekend to raise its international running total to $137m.The weekend wasdistinguished by a $2.1m debut including previews on 150 screens in South Koreaover the Independence Movement Holiday weekend that drew approximately 341,000admissions. Ranking was unconfirmed.In three number ...
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German box office climbs in 2004
German box office takings rose 7.4% to Euros879.1m in 2004, boosted by a string of successful German films such as (T)raumschiffSurprise - Periode 1. Overall admissions also climbed by 7% from2003's 140.3m to 151m, according to figures from Nielsen EDI.While US films werestill the dominant force in German cinemas, their ...
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UK Treasury embarks on Section 42 talks
The UK Treasury hasscheduled a series of meetings this week with film industry chiefs as part ofan overhaul of the influential Section 42 tax-based financing incentive forlarge-scale productions shooting in the UK.Industry executives fromsupport and trade bodies such as the UK Film Council, PACT and BSAC are joiningfinanciers and producers ...