All News articles – Page 4747
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Hickel joins Valhalla as president of production
Bryan Hickel has been namedpresident of production at Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Motion Pictures, effectiveimmediately.Hickel will overseeacquisitions and development of all company projects including Valhalla'scurrent project, MarvelComic's The Punisher,set to be released in the US through Lions Gate on April 16 and internationallyby Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International.He will work ...
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HONG KONG
As the peak Chinese New Year holiday period continues in Hong Kong, Media Asia's Magic Kitchen and China Star's Fantasia switched places at the top of the chart but continue to dominate the box office leaving most other holiday releases in the dust.Magic Kitchen, starring box office queen Sammi Cheng ...
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Political turmoil returns to Italy
Italy is once again in the throes of the political turmoil which has gripped its film and TV institutions for decades.Two events this week have yet again shone the spotlight on Italian prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi.Firstly, the Italian parliament has surprisingly failed to pass his government's controversial ...
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Deveau named MK2 acquisition chief
French mini-conglomerate MK2 comes to Berlin having recently appointed Jean-Francois Deveau as its new head of acquisitions.The move signals MK2's ambition to expand its theatrical releasing operations, which have taken a back-seat in the last couple of years as the group developed its exhibition portfolio and branched into DVDs.Deveau, who ...
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Berlinale adds political spice to glitz cocktail
Glamour is set to walk hand in hand with politics along the red carpet at this year's Berlinale.First, there's the opening Cold Mountain bonanza tonight (Feb 5) fronted by Anthony Minghella, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Brendan Gleeson - although Nicole Kidman will be a no-show and Jude Law and Renee ...
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Ireland bucks downward Euro admissions trend
Irish box office revenues continued to climb - up 4% to Euros 97.5m in 2003, while admissions bucked the downward European trend and rose by 1% to 17.4 million, according to year-end analysis of cinema-going in the Republic of Ireland from Carlton Screen Advertising.The population of the Republic of Ireland ...
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Germany's 'ambivalent' cinema year
"An ambivalent cinema year" was how Rolf Baehr, the outgoing board member of the German Federal Film Board (FFA), described 2003 on presenting Germany's official annual box office figures yesterday.While the box-office success of such local films as Good Bye, Lenin!, The Miracle Of Bern and Luther saw German ...
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Mountain buffeted by cold US wind
Speaking yesterday at Screen International's Modernising European Cinema Summit in Berlin, Anthony Minghella expressed his dismay at the continuing criticism he faces in the US for shooting Berlinale opening film Cold Mountain in Romania.Even though his decision to film the Civil War drama in Europe rather than North Carolina ...
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Hot docs swell Wild Bunch slate
French sales house Wild Bunch has added another controversy-stirring documentary to the huge line-up it will present at the Berlinale and the AFM later this month. It has also added two films that look made for high profile slots at Cannes.It has picked up world sales rights to The Yes ...
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Giles checks into Tartan as buying chief
Tartan Films, the UK indie that recently changed its name from Metro Tartan, has appointed Jane Giles as its new head of acquisitions.Giles, who held a similar post at the Institute of Contemporary Arts' ICA Projects, joined Tartan at the beginning of the year and has already travelled to the ...
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Solo takes Your Next Life
German distributor Solo-Film has picked up veteran Spanish director Manuel Gutierrez Aragon's latest feature Your Next Life which will have its world premiere in the Berlinale's Official Competition on Feb 9.Meanwhile, Senator Film Verleih has been named as the distributor for Carsten Fiebeler's East-West comedy Kleinruppin Forever. Handled internationally by ...
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South Africa launches anti-piracy campaign
South Africa's major entertainment company, Johnnic communications unveiled a multi-million rand public education campaign to combat piracy over the festive season which is beginning to see results.In this past week alone a consignment of over 13,300 pirated DVDS was intercepted at customs at Johannesburg International Airport. Advertisements in the campaign ...
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DVD piracy on the rise in Asia-Pacific, MPAA report warns
The Motion PictureAssociation of America (MPAA) said it organised and conducted anti-piracyoperations in the Asia-Pacific region last year that resulted in nearly 13,000raids by law enforcement agencies, as well as the seizure of nearly 45millionpirated optical discs, a new record.Videotape seizures in 2003dropped 55% compared to 2002, while seizures of ...
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Filmax creates second Spanish base
Spanish mini-studio Filmax is expanding its Barcelona-based activities with plans for a new, integrated hub in the northwest Galicia region.The company has appointed former TV producer Xose Manuel Barreira new general manager to oversee activities in the region, where Filmax Animation and part-owned animation factory Bren Entertainment are currently headquartered."Galicia ...
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Walden Media fast-tracks three children's projects
Fast-tracking threechildren's projects, Walden Media has acquired rights to KatherinePaterson's Newbery Award-winning novel Bridge To Terabithia and Australian author Wendy Orr's award-winnerNim's Island and has signedAntz writer Todd Alcott to adaptLois Lowry's Newbery Award-winner The Giver.The company has partneredwith Jeff Bridges and his AsIs Productions and RCN Entertainment (RCNE) toproduce.'These ...
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Firstsight Films and Classic Media team up on Lassie
Charles Sturridge, theBATFA-award winning director of Shackleton and Longitude, haswritten and is set to direct a live-action version of Lassie with his Firstsight Films and New York-based ClassicMedia set to produce.Firstsight's SelwynRoberts, who shared BAFTA honours with Sturridge, and Francesca Barra willserve as producers while Classic Media's chairman and chief ...
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OZ producers' conference moves date, location
The Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) plans to stage its annual conference three months earlier than usual and relocate it to Queensland's Surfers Paradise, so that it overlaps with the Australian International Movie Convention."This decision can only grow Australia's film business because of the opportunities that will come from ...
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Roadside and Goldwyn pick up US rights to Super Size Me
Roadside Attractions anddistribution partner Samuel Goldwyn Films have picked up US theatrical andvideo rights to Morgan Spurlock's hot Sundanceaward-winner Super Size Me.Spurlock won the BestDirector award in the festival's documentary section last month andearned wide popularity for the film, which charts his efforts to eat onlyMcDonalds food over the course ...
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UK/IRELAND
While only placing 17th in the UK/Ireland chart Gus Van Sant's 2003 Cannes Palme D'Or winner Elephant drew a heavyweight screen average during its strong bow in the territory last weekend.Playing at just 17 locations the documentary-styled drama, which tells a Columbinesque story of two disenchanted high school boys who ...
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Spain's Star Line unveils 2004 slate
Spanish producer Star Line, producer of Berlin Panorama entry Bear Cub (Cachorro), is looking to repeat its two-fold production success of 2003 with its new slate for 2004.Following on the coattails of Bear Cub and the company's big-budgeted international production Carmen, Spain's third top-grossing local film last year, Star Line ...