All News articles – Page 4751
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Blockbuster quits Hong Kong market
High rents and rampant piracy have forced video rental giant Blockbuster to quit the Hong Kong market and scrap plans to expand into mainland China.The company will close its 24 Hong Kong outlets as their leases expire over the next 18 months and lay off 200 staff, according to a ...
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Oscar nominees set to capitalise on recognition led by King
New Line International's The Lord Of The Rings: The Return OfThe King shouldcapitalise on its 11 Academy Award nominations in all its markets and nowherewill this be felt more acutely than in Italy, where the film scored a record$12.2m opening last weekend.The fantasy finale has grossed $548.5m at the international ...
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Jackie Chan's son joins Twins Effect II cast
Jackie Chan's son, Jaycee Chan, is making his feature acting debut alongside his father in Emperor Multimedia Group's The Twins Effect II (working title) - the sequel to last year's blockbuster action comedy - which is scheduled to start shooting next week.The US$10m martial arts action adventure reteams Hong Kong ...
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Picture This! teams with Forbidden City on Latter Days sales
In an unprecedentedalignment of gay niche companies, Doug Witkins' Picture This! Entertainmentwill handle international sales on Funny Boy Films' Latter Days in association with Forbidden City International.Beverly Hills-basedForbidden City co-produced writer-director C Jay Cox's film with Funny BoyFilms and acquired foreign rights prior to production. It will begin acting asthe ...
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Distant Lights wins German critics prize
Hans-Christian Schmid's Berlinale 2003 competition entry Distant Lights (Lichter) was the big winner at this year's German Film Critics Awards, winning the prizes in the categories of Best Feature Film, Best Actor and Best Editing.The Awards were presented during a gala ceremony at the Max Ophuels Prize Film Festival in ...
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FINLAND
Close to nothing changed at the Finnish box-office chart this weekend, as Minna Virtanen's erotic drama Addiction (aka Restless 3) stayed on top in front of The Return Of The King, which it toppled last week.Though it dropped 31%, it retained the best screen average on its 43 prints. Though ...
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WHV reshuffles senior global personnel
Warner Home Video (WHV) hasshuffled several key personnel in a bid to reallocate its global resources tomeet the changing demands of the marketplace.Mark Horak becomes executivevice president and general manager for Canada, Latin America and Australia,Jeffrey M Brown becomes senior vice president of worldwide marketing, PhilippeCardon is named senior vice ...
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SWEDEN
The Return Of The King fought off more resistance this weekend at the Swedish box-office where it withstood the new releases of The Last Samurai and the new installment in the seemingly never-ending family series Lilla Jonssonligan.Though both films had impressive screen averages, The King's massive 150 prints kept it ...
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Davis, Ginsburg & Morris join BAFTA/LA board
Periscopepresident J Alan Davis, Passport Entertainment president David R Ginsburg andwriter-producer Peter Morris have been elected to the board of BAFTA/LA.Theboard has re-elected Gary Dartnall as chairman, Antony Root as deputy chair,Rebecca Segal as secretary and Pamela Godfrey as treasurer."It'sbeen gratifying for all of us to watch BAFTA/LA become one ...
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US and UK outfits partner for British DVD label
A new independent home video and DVD label is being launched in the UK by 3DD Entertainment, Lorber Media and Red Productions.Called inD, its initial releases are scheduled for Spring 2004. It aims to release new and classic films, TV drama, documentaries and music specials.The first releases will include the ...
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Italy confesses to highest level of piracy in western world
Italy has the highest level of piracy in the western world, according to the latest data released by national anti-piracy watchdog FAPAV.While legal DVD and video sales netted Euros 417m in Italy last year, the black market was estimated at more than Euros 250m - around 30% of the total ...
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Timbuktu premiere to open Dublin festival
The Dublin International Film Festival is marrying strong local and international fare for its second edition with 97 features and numerous shorts being shown over ten days at three city centre cinemas.The festival opens on February 12 with the world premiere of Alan Gilsenan's Timbuktu with Eva Birthistle and closes ...
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Kinowelt expands local production slate
Kinowelt Filmproduktion has added another three local titles - Playa Del Futuro, Antikoerper and Max & Moritz - to its production line-up.The company has previously made commitments to co-produce an adaptation of Wladimir Kaminer's Russendisko with Christoph Meyer-Wiel's CMW Films and Joachim von Vietinghoff's Von Viettinghoff Filmproduktion (see ScreenDaily.com, October ...
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Senator takes on worldwide rights to 3D CGI Moebius movie
SenatorInternational has picked up worldwide sales rights from digital contentproducer GDC Holdings to celebrated French artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud'ssci-fi fantasy adventure Thru The Moebius Strip.Themove marks the first foray into animation for both companies and is also thefirst full-length CGI feature for GDC Holdings subsidiary GDC Productions andthe first 3D ...
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Intermedia's epic to be named Alexander
Intermedia'sAlexander The Great project currently coming to the end of its epic shoot underdirector Oliver Stone will be titled Alexander, a title which has been cleared and approved by theMPAA.IlyaSalkind's film about the great emperor is titled Macedonia's Alexander TheGreat.Alexander is set to open at the end of the year ...
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Galaxy signs up stars for April blast off
The cast for The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - which is set to shoot at Elstree Studios in the UK from April - is rounding out.Hip-hop star and actor Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel and The Office star Martin Freeman have all been confirmed for the Spyglass Entertainment/Walt Disney Co. ...
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BBC in crisis as director general Dyke quits
BBC director general Greg Dyke has resigned in the wake of the official Hutton inquiry into the death of scientist David Kelly.Dyke's decision to step down follows BBC chairman Gavyn Davies' resignation on Wednesday, shortly after the report was published.The BBC has announced that Dyke's deputy Mark Byford will step ...
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BULGARIA
Despite only playing its third weekend in Bulgaria The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King has already lost its box office crown.The 11-time Oscar nominated fantasy film dropped 63% in its third weekend in the Eastern European territory and saw its number one position go to newcomer ...
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Ex-Deutsche Columbia chief joins Falcom Media
Producer Andrea Willson has been recruited by the Swiss rights trader/distributor Falcom Media Group to manage the company's expansion into German language production as a "second strategic business unit" alongside the core business of rights trading.Berlin-based Willson, who ceased being the managing director of Deutsche Columbia Pictures Filmproduktion (DCPF) when ...