All News articles – Page 4883
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Luther gets US outing through RS Entertainment
Randy Slaughter's newUS distribution outfit RS Entertainment has acquired US rights to Luther, Eric Till's biopic of Martin Luther starringJoseph Fiennes and Peter Ustinov. The film will open on Sept 26 in 45 marketsaccording to Slaughter.Luther was shot in Germany, Italy and the Czech Republiclast year and is produced by ...
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Angels take UK lead thanks to previews
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle narrowly claimed the lead in the UK and Ireland over its opening weekend but only thanks to the inclusive preview figures from Thursday.Columbia TriStar's action sequel saw a good opening of $5.5m (£3.3m) from 473 sites - including $623,538 (£374,123) of previews taken from 428 locations ...
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Paul Oneile joins Australia's Film Finance Corporation
Paul Oneile, former chair and chief executive of UIP, has been appointed to the board of Australia's principal feature film investment company, the Film Finance Corporation (FFC), and Geoff Levy been re-appointed chair for a further six months.Oneile has held senior executive roles or has served on the boards of ...
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Australian strike action threatens film production
A breakdown in negotiations between Australian performers and producers over the new film and television agreements could lead to strike action - but only a long-running dispute is likely to affect Australian films because of how few are heading into production. Offshore films shooting in Australia are covered under a ...
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French strike action results in temporary concession
In their fight to quash a change in unemployment benefits, France's "intermittents du spectacle" - or part-time showbiz workers - won a temporary reprieve when culture minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon agreed to maintain the current system until the end of 2003. The workers are rallying against an agreement signed by all ...
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Germany's Helkon Media sells remaining assets
German media group Helkon Media is now practically nothing more than a name after the insolvency administrator Axel W. Bierbach sold the bulk of the film library to the Hamburg-based investment company Aurum Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs GmbH. The asset deal was greenlit by Helkon's creditor banks and the creditors ...
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German distributors pay back subsidies
Thanks to the commercial success of such releases as the Oscar-winning Nowhere In Africa, scifi horror pic Resident Evil and 2002's top local film Bibi Blocksberg, producer-distributor Constantin Film has been able to pay back more than Euros 1.5m in production and distribution subsidies to the Bavarian public fund FFF ...
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Battle Royale II storms Japanese box office
Battle Royale II - Requiem, the sequel to Kinji Fukasaku's 2000 hit Battle Royale, had a better Japanese opening weekend than the original - and for that matter than any other film in the history of distributor Toei. Released on 261 screens on July 5, BR2 earned $2.8m (Y337m) from ...
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Indian box office heats up for the summer
Seven local box-office hits released over the last few months have brought much-needed relief to the Hindi film industry of Mumbai. Raj Kanwar's Andaaz, Ken Ghosh's Ishq Vishk, Aziz Mirza's Chalte Chalte, Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot, Tigmanshu Dhulia's Haasil, Sujoy Ghosh's Jhankaar Beats and Sooraj Barjatya's Main Prem Ki Diwani ...
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Korea's Taewon and Cinema Service may end partnership
South Korean import/production company Taewon Entertainment has announced that it is transferring local distribution rights for Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King from Cinema Service to rival distributor CJ Entertainment. The switch virtually guarantees CJ Entertainment a third smash hit for 2003, following Memories Of ...
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Czech producers plan private film commission
Czech film producers have started a working group to establish a Czech film commission and are prepared to move ahead with the project even without financial support from local and national governments. "The commission we are setting up at this stage is essentially a private one," said Matthew Stillman, head ...
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New UK distributor, Georgia Films, launched
UK-based tax financier Lucky UKFS, headed by Philippe Martinez of US production-sales outfit Bauer Martinez Studios and Alan Latham, has appointed distributor Martin Myers to launch a new UK distributor, Georgia Films.The venture is kicking off with a September release for Citizen Verdict, Bauer Martinez's thriller about a reality TV ...
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OpenPictures and Intertainment seal strategic partnership
Intertainment and Munich-based development, production and distribution company OpenPictures have concluded a strategic partnership which includes a co-operation on jointly financing and marketing international feature films with US major studios and legal financing against Franchise Pictures and other parties involved in a $100m litigation.In a statement, Intertainment said "OpenPictures concurs ...
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Universal takes in another $16.4m from The Hulk
Universal's TheHulk took $16.4m from 3,316 printsin 21 territories over the weekend, bringing its total so far to $38.73m with27 countries to open. It opened number one in both France, Spain and Belgiumand is set to open in the UK on July 18, in Japan on Aug 2 and China ...
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Eurimages backs 10 co-productions
New features by Thomas Vinterberg (Dear Wendy), Auli Mantila (Ystavani Henry) and Robinson Savary (Bye-Bye Blackbird) are among ten projects supported with a total of Euros 3.8m by the pan-European co-production fund Eurimages in its latest round of funding decided at a committee meeting in Riga.The complete list of projects ...
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Poland's Era New Horizons film festival returns for 3rd edition
The Era New Horizons Film Festival is back in Poland with its third edition to celebrate innovative arthouse films.The festival, which runs from July 17-27 in Cieszyn, southern Poland, sold almost 40,000 tickets last year. This year it is set to showcase over 100 screenings of the latest productions that ...
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UK's Metrodome reduces losses by 30%
UK media concern Metrodome Group slashed its losses over the last financial year, largely driven by its UK release of US indie film Donnie Darko.The company, which has been refocusing on distributing film and TV product, posted losses for the full year after taxation of $1.8m (£1.1m), almost a third ...
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Asia Pacific Film Festival postponed until 2004
The 4th Sydney Asia Pacific Film Festival, scheduled for August, has been postponed until next year because SARS and other international uncertainties prevented organisers from travelling widely and accessing films."As a principal focus of the festival this year was to be Hong Kong, the SARS situation made it doubly difficult," ...
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India to invest $50m in international film festival location
The Governments of India and Goa, and the Confederation of Indian Industries are clubbing together to invest $50m into a project to turn the coastal tourist paradise of Goa into the permanent location for India's travelling International Film festival.The 35th edition of the International Film Festival of India in October ...
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France continues resistance to film advertising on TV
The French government appears to have won another round in its ongoing battle against film advertising on television. Since May 2002, an EU commission under the guidance of Frits Bolkstein, has been pushing for television advertising access for several sectors previously banned from putting commercials on air. Among them, supermarkets, ...