All News articles – Page 4557
-
News
2004: Oz despairs as production levels plummet
Despair and hope characterised 2004. Local production levelsfell, only a few films found audiences, and everyone had a moan about the rest.But hopes are high that the relatively new and still freshFilm Finance Corporation Australia chief executive Brian Rosen - helpedby his new sidekicks - really will prove to be ...
-
News
2004: German film blasts off in Dreamship year
Local comedies Dreamship Surprise - Period 1, DerWixxer and 7 Dwarfs drove soaring admissions in 2004. German audiencesalso responded well to the more idiosyncratic titles including OliverHirschbiegel's The Downfall,Fatih Akin's Golden Bear winner Head-On, and the family film Lauras Stern.In the first nine months of the year, German films'market share ...
-
News
2004: Barbarian leads the way for Canada
2004 was the year of living on the edge, as the Canadiandollar's value soared against the US currency. And thegovernment-mandated push for box-office results only served to highlight thedisparity between the popularity of French-language films in Quebec versus lackof interest in non-English-language fare in the rest of Canada.The person of ...
-
News
2004: Indian film rides big budget wave
The year was marked by the release of several high-budgetfilms such as the $9m Kisna, producedand directed by Subhash Ghai, and the $7m Indian-UK historical epic TheRising, directed by Ketan Mehta.The industry also endured controversies including the sackingof Anupam Kher as the head of the Indian censors for clearing two ...
-
News
2004: Danes strike a serious tone
The Danes struck a more serious tone in front of the camerain 2004, moving away from the tried-and-tested formula of contemporary familydrama with a touch of tragedy but plenty of heart and humour.Not every 'feel-bad' movie, including In YourHands and Aftermath, was embraced by local audiences. But Brothers, dealing with ...
-
News
2004: Hong Kong film flattened by US competition
There was cautious optimism among Hong Kong producers at thestart of the year as the box office appeared to be recovering and mainlandChina opened its doors through the much-vaunted Cepa trade agreement.But after a dispiriting summer - during which localsfilms were flattened by the US competition and production levels started ...
-
News
BVI full of good cheer as The Incredibles passes $200m
Buena Vista International(BVI) executives were in fine fettle going into the holiday break after The Incredibles' passed $200m at the international box office on Dec 22.The Pixar hit has amassed $202m and BVI chiefs will look to a pair of strong openings in Russia on Dec 24 and Australiatwo days ...
-
News
BBC viewers vote for best films of 2004
Viewers of the BBC's leading film review programme, Film 2004 with Jonathan Ross, have voted The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King astheir Film of the Year.Massappeal blockbusters such as Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles lineup in the top 10 alongside the subtitled martial arts epic Hero ...
-
News
Turkey in good spirits heading into Christmas
Agreat year for local product in Turkey in 2004 was capped by comedy smash G.O.R.A.which now ranks as the highest grossing film of the last 20 years in theterritory having grossed $17.4m (TKL 24.5bn).Fiveof the year's top six releases were local productions with only Troy, inthird place, preventing a clean ...
-
News
Germany's X-Verleih earns exhibitor wrath
Germany's exhibitorassociations HDF and AG Kino have criticised distributor X Verleih for planningto release Dani Levy's comedy Alles Auf Zucker! on free-TV station WDRjust three months after its Jan 6 theatrical premiere.AG Kino said it feared that 'a precedent' wasbeing set to undermine release window dates. Earlier in the year, ...
-
News
Berlinale unveils first competition films
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 10-20) has namedthe first films that will play in its Competition section as well as unveilingGerman director Roland Emmerich (The Day AfterTomorrow) as president of the International Jury.Including Régis Wargnier's opening film Man to Man, eleven films have been selected for the Competitionsection - ...
-
News
Focus Partnership exits Warner Village Cinemas in Italy
Warner Bros International Cinemas (WBIC) and VillageCinemas, who jointly owned 90% of Warner Village Cinemas in Italy, have boughtthe remaining 10% of the venture currently held by Focus Partnership.As of yesterday (22) WBIC and Village Cinemas each own 50% of the business."With Focus, we were able to build a thriving ...
-
News
IMAX signs deal with Russia's Suvar-Kazan
IMAX Corporation has signed a deal with Suvar-Kazan Company, the leading exhibitor in Kazan, Russia, to install an IMAX MPX theatre system in a new multiplex in the city.The site is expected to open in November 2005 in Kazan, which is situated roughly 500 miles southeast of Moscow, as part ...
-
News
Piracy problems to worsen in 2005
Audiovisual piracy problemsare set to get worse in 2005, according to a new report by lobby body, theEuropean Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services(AEPOC).The association says thattwo factors will contribute to the growing scale of the piracy problem. Itsays: "the growing ubiquity of audio-visual services creates new ...
-
News
Beatwax founder launches kids brand campaign
Beatwax and Firstmovies founder Chris Ward has launched anew venture called iKnow, a not for profit business aimed at making youngchildren more aware of how brands are created and work.iKnow says it is not an anti-brand initiative, but thatit wants to help counter the potential negative effects of brand marketing ...
-
News
Canal Plus, France Telecom sell cable TV operations
Canal Plus and France Telecom have agreed tosell their French cable TV operations to UK private equity firm Cinven andaggressive cable group Altice.The deal, which will be completed in the firsthalf of 2005, sees 60% of the cable company sold for a total of Euros528m. Itis subject to various EU ...
-
News
New Line pair win German funding
Two New Line Cinema films - Craig Gillespie'scomedy-drama Mr. Woodcock and Liam Lynch's Tenacious D in The Pick OfDestiny - have won backing from a film fund run by Germany's ALCAS/KGAL.According to ALCAS/KGAL, the fund's investorsdecided at their assembly in Munich last week to invest in the LandscapePictures production of ...
-
News
HanWay takes on Kidulthood sales
UK-based sales agency HanWayFilms has acquired international distribution rights to Kidulthood, aLondon teenage gang story that marks the debut of a promisingwriter-director-producer trio.The film, which combines alove story, rites of passage and a tale of retribution, wrapped this week underthe direction of Menhaj Huda, a former commercials and TV director.Produced ...
-
News
Polar Express passes $20m on IMAX 3D worldwide
The Polar Express has grossed $22.3m on global IMAX 3D screens and is on the cusp of passing $20m at the North American box office, accounting for more than one-fifth of the WarnerBros picture's $123.4m domestic running total.The picture has amassed roughly $19.9m in North America since opening on Nov ...