All News articles – Page 4687
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News
Son Of The Bride director's latest to premiere at Valladolid
Argentine director Juan Jose Campanella's Luna de Avellaneda (The Moon of Avellaneda) will open the 49th Valladolid International Film Festival on October 22.The move mirrors the career path taken by Campenella's last film, the Oscar-nominated Son of the Bride (El Hijo de La Novia), which won the festival's top prize ...
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Herwitz takes on Un Certain Regard thriller Kontroll, four others
Andrew Herwitz of New York-basedThe Film Sales Company has picked up worldwide rights to five films forrepresentation during Cannes led by Hungarian thriller Kontroll from US-born director Nimrod Antal which has been abig local hit and is screening in Un Certain Regard.Herwitz has also beenhandling three films which premiered at ...
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Troy director lays siege to US foreign policy
On the eve of the worldwide release of his $175 millionepic, Troy, German director WolfgangPetersen has waded into the dispute over current US foreign policy in Iraq bydrawing some provocative comparisons between the behaviour of Agamemnon, theGreek tyrant who launched the assault on Troy 3000 years ago, and contemporaryworld leaders."History ...
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Emmerich goes from global disaster to Shakespeare drama
Roland Emmerich, the Germanfilm-maker behind popcorn blockbusters such as Independence Day, Godzilla and the upcoming The Day After Tomorrow, will take a major change in direction with his nextpicture The Soul Of The Age, anintense 16th century drama about the question of the authorship ofShakespeare.Emmerich is scoutinglocations in the UK ...
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Worst year ever for European films in EU
2003 was the worst year for the circulation of Europeanfilms within the EU on record, according to new figures from the EuropeanAudiovisual Observatory.Only 6.3% of admissions to European films were earned in EUcountries outside of their home markets - down from 9.9% last year.UK/US co-productions Johnny English and Love Actually ...
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Kinowelt eyes up insolvent Senator
Despite having to answer claims of embezzlement, delayingthe filing of insolvency, and bankruptcy in Munich's District Court sincemid-April, Kinowelt's Michael Koelmel is apparently still in a buying mood.In an interview with the Dresden-based newspaper SaechsischeZeitung, he indicated that the revamped Kinowelt has a "seriousinterest" in a takeover of the insolvent ...
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Metropolitan takes Stratus Hostage
Metropolitan Filmexport has bought French distributionrights to Hostage, the BruceWillis-starring action thriller financed by Stratus Film Company.The film is directed by French national Florent Emilio Siri,who previously directed local-language action title The Nest (Nid De Guepes). Headed by Sami and Victor Hadida, Metropolitan is the largestindependent in France regularly handling ...
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FRANCE 10 May
French films lead the box office this week taking three ofthe top five spots. Last week's number 2, Mariages! jumped to number 1selling another half a million tickets its second week in release.What's turning out to be a sentimental blockbuster, LesChoristes, has taken over $30m in its first seven weeks ...
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AUSTRALIA 10 May
Van Helsing sold more tickets on its opening weekendthan any other film released so far this year in Australia. It grossedA$4,596,027 from a whopping 338 screens for UIP. This was nearly six times morethan the second placed, Gothika, while its screen average, at A$13,597,was more than A$3,000 ahead of every ...
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ITALY 10 May
As the end of Italy's eight-month box office seasonapproaches, distributors unleashed a massive seven new releases last weekend.UIP's monster movie Van Helsing opened with a bang atnumber one at the Italian box office, grossing $3,554,207 from 439 screens foran astounding average of $8,096 per screen.However, none of the other new ...
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HONG KONG Production Listings - May 11
HONG KONG - MAY 10PRE-PRODUCTIONABNORMAL BEAUTY(Magic Head Film Production) Budget: US$2m.Backers: Universe Entertainment. Int'l sales: Universe Films Distribution.Genre: Thriller. Synopsis: A photography student becomes obsessed with the ideaof taking pictures at the moment of death. She attracts the attention of apsychotic killer who finds her unusual behaviour interesting. Exec prod: ...
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Lane, Endeavor settle with Intermedia over Me Again suit
Actress Diane Lane hasreached an agreement with Intermedia to settle the lawsuit that she broughtagainst the company last year over a pay-or-play deal to star in the film MeAgain.Nodetails were revealed in the settlement, but Lane's agency Endeavor, which hadrefused to work with Intermedia until the deal was settled, has ...
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Shoreline snaps up Dunsmore and Now And Forever
Shoreline Entertainment has acquired Peter Spirer's mystery Dunsmoreand Bob Clark's interracial love story Now And Forever and will bringthe titles to Cannes under its expanding Watermark banner.Dunsmore centres on a small Florida town where the residents aretormented by a deeply repellent individual. However an investigation revealswide pools of guilt that ...
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Van Helsing opens the summer on $54.2m weekend
After months of hype thesummer season got underway in fine style over the weekend as Universal's VanHelsing opened top on an estimated $54.2m, brushing aside the Olsen twinstheatrical lead debut New York Minute, which flopped in fourth on$6.2m.Despite a slew of scathingreviews the $160m monster mash averaged a magnificent $15,165 ...
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HONG KONG 9 May
Gangster thriller JiangHu dominated the Hong Kong box officethis week grossing US$1.15m in seven days from 51 screens. The star-studdedfilm took almost four times the tally of its nearest competitor, Kill Bill 2, which opened with US$288,786 from 25 screens.Directed by newcomer Wong Ching Po, Jiang Hu is a stylish ...
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SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO 9 May
After having changed itstitle from Civil Life (Civilni Zivot) to Fall Into Paradise! (Pad U Raj) just a couple of days before its premiere, Milos Radovic'ssecond feature kept the pole position at the Serbian-Montenegrin chart.The story of a Serbian blackmarket king who shoots down an American plane with a rocket ...
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The Notebook, Intimate Strangers bookend Seattle
Nick Cassavetes' romance The Notebook starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams will openthe 30th SeattleInternational Film Festival and Patrice Leconte'sromantic thriller Intimate Strangers starring Sandrine Bonnaire andFabrice Luchini closes the event, which runs from May 20-Jun 13 and boasts 10 world premieres.All in all 224 features and 84 shorts from ...
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Cannes says strikers will not derail festival
The Cannes Film Festival will not be derailed by a rowbetween the French government and showbiz workers protesting changes tounemployment benefits, organisers said on Sunday.The departure of a number film reels for Cannes was delayedfor several hours at the weekend after a hundred protesters blockaded the Pariswarehouse where they were ...
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Van Helsing opens summer with record weekend for Universal, UIP
The summer has begun. Universal's Van Helsingscored a record-breaking $53m on 5,000 screens in 41 countries at the weekend,dominating the market and ushering in what is shaping up to be a monsterinternational season for the studios.It was Universal and UIP's biggest opening weekend ofall time, beating director Stephen Sommers' The ...
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French video market suffers surprise drop
The French video distributors' association(SEV) yesterday sounded the alarm, reporting that the home entertainment marketin France has dropped dramatically.The combined DVD and VHS retail marketretreated by 16% in cash terms, according to the SEV when the first quarter of2004 was compared with the same period of last year. The rental ...