All News articles – Page 4611

  • News

    New distributor launches into Spanish market

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    Start-up Spanish distributor ABL Augusta has joined with twopartners to launch new distribution company Notro Films to reach the Spanish,Portuguese and possibly Latin American markets.The partners, who made their announcement at the SanSebastian International Film Festival (Sept 17-25), include ABL founder AdolfoBlanco, and Jose Maria Irisarri and Marcos Fernandez of ...

  • News

    IPW picks up film rights to Groo The Wanderer

    2004-09-24T00:00:00Z

    Marc Toberoff's IntellectualProperties Worldwide (IPW) has picked up the motion picture rights to GrooThe Wanderer, the long-running comicbook that has been described as Conan The Barbarian meets Shrek.Created by Sergio Aragoneswith writer Mark Evanier, Groowas first published in 1983 and has spawned more than 170 instalments. Thetitular hero fuses an ...

  • News

    Star Wars box set, videogame take $115m in first day

    2004-09-23T04:00:00Z

    20thCentury Fox Home Entertainment has announced that first day sales for the StarWars box set in NorthAmerica and many international territories and the Star Wars Battlefront videogame in North America have exceeded$115m.The game will be available internationally later thisweek, as will the box set in unreleased territories such as Japan, ...

  • News

    Child abuse drama signals new direction for Polish film

    2004-09-23T04:00:00Z

    Aftera spate of veteran directors and big budget historic epics dominating Polishfilm for the past few years, this year's annual roll-out of new Polish featurefilms at the Gdynia Film Festival proved that a fresh wind is blowing in theindustry.The festival in the Baltic seaside resort wrapped over theweekend. Young newcomer ...

  • News

    San Sebastian sees Torrente action

    2004-09-23T04:00:00Z

    He lies,he drinks, he rarely showers - Spanish P.I. Torrente is back in AmiguetesEntertainment's in-the-works Torrente 3.Industry executives had the chance to get in early on theT3 action as one of a handful of new projects presented at the SalesOffice of the San Sebastian International Film Festival (Sept 17-25).Theestimated Euros ...

  • News

    Media Asia plans Tokyo Raiders sequel

    2004-09-23T04:00:00Z

    Hong Kong's Media Asia is planning a Korea-set sequel toJingle Ma's 2000 box office smash Tokyo Raiders that is set to star TonyLeung Chiu-wai, Richie Jen and Shu Qi.The$5.1m (HK$40m) action comedy - which has the working title Korea Raiders- is scheduled to start shooting in October for release during ...

  • News

    Kinsey, Nixon bookend Hamptons festival

    2004-09-23T04:00:00Z

    The 12th annualHamptons International Film Festival, which takes place in East Hampton, New York,Oct 20-24 will open with a screening of Bill Condon's Kinsey and close with Niels Muller's The AssassinationOf Richard Nixon.The festival, which wasfounded to focus on US independent film, will play host to the Golden StarfishFeature Competition ...

  • News

    Skoll outfit to co-finance two Warner Bros pictures

    2004-09-23T04:00:00Z

    Participant Productions, aproduction company formed in Jan by former eBay president Jeff Skoll to make sociallyrelevant films and documentaries, has formed a partnership with Warner BrosPictures to co-finance two Warner 2005 movies Syriana and Class Action.Participant'smandate is to back projects which centre on "important social issues thatawaken, inspire and ...

  • News

    Cinema Libre buys David O Russell Iraq war doc

    2004-09-23T04:00:00Z

    DavidO Russell's 35-minute war documentary Soldier's Pay, which was to have been packaged with his 1999 GulfWar drama Three Kings on DVD untilWarner Bros dropped it, has landed at Cinema Libre Studio, the LA company whichis also releasing Robert Greenwald's documentary Uncovered: The War On Iraq.CinemaLibre plans to release the ...

  • News

    THINKFilm takes domestic to Wexler documentary

    2004-09-23T04:00:00Z

    Toronto and New York-basedTHINKFilm has acquired all North American theatrical and home video rights toMark Wexler's Venice and Toronto title Tell Them Who You Are, a biographical portrait of the filmmaker's father,renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler.In the film, Wexler Sr, whohas won two Academy Awards for his work in Who's Afraid ...

  • News

    ITALY 23 September

    2004-09-23T00:00:00Z

    Spider-Man2 leapt straight tothe top of the Italian box office, where it earned a massive $8,993,096 in fourdays. The web slinger opened on September 16 on a wide 631 screens, and scoreda huge $12,296 per screen average for Columbia Tristar Italia.Shedding37% of its earnings, UIP's The Terminal dropped to second ...

  • News

    Shanghai Story dominates at top Chinese awards

    2004-09-22T04:00:00Z

    Peng Xiaolian's Shanghai Story won four awardsincluding best picture and best director at China's leading film awards, theGolden Roosters, on Sunday night despite it not having had a wide,commercial release.The film, about a family separated by the CulturalRevolution, also picked up best supporting actor for Feng Yuanzheng while thebest actress ...

  • News

    Gibson to get producer trophy at Hollywood Film Awards

    2004-09-22T04:00:00Z

    Mel Gibson will receive theHollywood Producer Of The Year Award at the Hollywood Awards gala ceremony inLos Angeles on Oct 18.Gibson joins alineup of previously named award-winners at the show including John Travolta(lifetime achievement), Michael Mann (directing), Keira Knightley (breakthroughacting - female) and Jamie Foxx (breakthrough acting - male).'MelGibson's career ...

  • News

    Bana teams with Hanson for Warner Bros

    2004-09-22T04:00:00Z

    Eric Bana, Australian starof Hulk and Troy, has landed the lead role in Curtis Hanson's nextmovie for Warner Bros Lucky You.Bana, who is also scheduled to star in Steven Spielberg's Vengeance next year, will play Huck Cheever, the leadcharacter in the character-based drama set in the world of high-stakesprofessional poker.Eric ...

  • News

    Crooner Connick Jr takes lead in Oz Boomerang

    2004-09-22T04:00:00Z

    US crooner Harry Connick Jr has signed to play a disgracedcorporate cowboy who pays a street kid to help him commit suicide in BoomerangDeal, to be directed by Phillip Marzella from his own script.It will be Australian director Marzella's follow-up to Low-FatElephants, which he wrote, directed and produced in 2000 ...

  • News

    Palm buys music doc Be Here To Love Me

    2004-09-22T04:00:00Z

    Chris Blackwell's PalmPictures has closed a deal to buy North American and Caribbean rights toMargaret Brown's documentary Be Here To Love Me, a profile of musician Townes Van Zandt which hadits world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last week.The acquisition is Palm'sthird out of Toronto after Iraq war ...

  • News

    Canary to sing at Tokyo FILMeX opening

    2004-09-22T04:00:00Z

    The Tokyo FILMeX festival (Nov20-28) has announced its line-up for its fifth edition, with a competitionsection presenting ten features from young Asian directors.The festival's opening film will be Japanesedirector Akihiko Shinota's Canary, which receives its world premiere atTokyo FILMeX. The director of Harmful Insect, Shiota's latest featuredepicts the story of ...

  • News

    DeA Planeta likes look of Mirror Maze

    2004-09-22T04:00:00Z

    Spanish-Italianmedia conglomerate DeA Planeta has boarded new Rioja Films thriller MirrorMaze as co-producer and local distributor.Rioja chief Jose Antonio Romero and the film's director,Guillermo Groizard, unveiled the project at the San Sebastian InternationalFilm Festival (Sept 17-25).It is oneof five feature co-productions brought to DeA Planeta by new executivepresident Alvaro Zapata ...

  • News

    Spider-Man 2 eyes $400m international gross

    2004-09-22T00:00:00Z

    A number one launch in Italy,its final major territory, saw Spider-Man 2 spinning back into theinternational top 30 to take third position. The strong launch brings thesequel's international cumulative gross to $391m and it looks assured ofpassing the $400m in the next week.I, Robot and Collateral also received boosts from ...

  • News

    UK 22 September

    2004-09-22T00:00:00Z

    Michael Mann's Collateralhad a solid opening through UIP, taking £2.4m to secure the number one slotin the UK.It knocked Open Water,distributed through Redbus, down into second place in its second week. The lowbudget shark attack film has now taken an impressive £3.4m.Elsewhere, three Britishproduced films struggled to make a major ...