All News articles – Page 5108
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Two Hong Kong film companies plan Growth Enterprise Market floatations
Two Hong Kong film companies - production house Milkyway Image and distributor Panorama International Holdings - plan to float on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) in the next few months.Milkyway - which is 50% owned by Hong Kong producer-director Johnnie To - is understood to be seeking a listing ...
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First-time director to make Finland's first Kung-Fu movie
Lars von Trier's Dancer In The Dark co-producer, Blind Spot Pictures, is to produce Finland's first-ever Kung-Fu movie, from first-time director Antti-Jussi Annila.Producer Tero Kaukomaa, who formed Blind Spot in 1997 and has since made films like Geography Of Fear and Cyclomania, was so impressed with Tampere Film & Media ...
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Spider-Man: flash in the pan or franchise in the making'
As the world waits for this weekend's release of Spider-Man, the question of whether it will outperform last year's $68.1m opening for The Mummy Returns, will soon turn into whether it will deliver a sustainable and lucrative franchise. Screendaily.com looks at the legacy of comic-book adaptations.Internet movie box-office spread betting ...
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Movie Day offers industry advice at London's Production Show
Tiger Aspect's Peter Bennett-Jones, PACT's Bertrand Moullier, the National Film and Television School's Stephen Bayly and Oscar-winning director-actor Peter Capaldi are among the panellists for the Movie Day at the Production Show on May 23 at Olympia in London.This year's Movie Day will address the ever-present problems newcomers face trying ...
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Rivett & Wilson get promotions at Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis has promoted two executives to the top marketing-publicity positions in its Entertainment Group. Gail Rivett has been named senior vice president, marketing and publicity, and Pam Wilson has been named senior vice president, publicity. Rivett, based in Toronto, will oversee all functions of the Entertainment Group's marketing and ...
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Ortenberg, Pasoernek and Block sign onto multiyear deals at Lions Gate
Lions Gate Entertainment has signed its senior managers to long-term contracts and appointed James Keegan to the new position of chief administrative officer.The company has re-signed Lions Gate Films Releasing President Tom Ortenberg, Lions Gate Films president of production Michael Paseornek and Lions Gate Home Entertainment and acquisitions president Peter ...
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Universal buys Good Machine and merges it with USA Films
The independent filmmakingworld has been shrunk yet again as Universal Studios announced it is acquiringGood Machine with immediate plans to elevate the sassy New York production and saleshothouse into an autonomous Miramax-style specialty film unit that will absorball the existing assets of USA Films. To be called Focus, theautonomous operation ...
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South Africa launches Cannes campaign - as festival outsider
South Africa will this year host its second-ever pavilion at Cannes, despite the fact that no South African films have been selected for the competition - or indeed any section of the festival.While the absence of South African movies from everywhere but independent market screenings is largely due to the ...
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Eurimages appoints new board member, awards co-production funds
The European production fund Eurimages has for the first time appointed a Norwegian to its board - the 52-year-old Nils Klevjer Aas, who works for the new Norwegian Film Fund. Meanwhile, projects by Margarethe von Trotta, Alain Resnais, Gerardo Herrero and Mika Kaurismaki were among 11 European co-productions granted a ...
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SAG rule could 'devastate' Australian films & limit offshore opportunities
Bob Carr, political leader of New South Wales, the Australian film industry's most significant state, today wrote to Screen Actors Guild (SAG) president Melissa Gilbert to urgently verify that Australian SAG members are able to work on Australian films without being paid SAG rates. Were this not the case, his ...
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Luc Besson creates two-way French-Japanese distribution joint venture
Luc Besson's Europa Corp has launched a rights, marketing and distribution venture in Japan to grow the company's business in the territory and to 'assist' the distribution of a number of Japanese films in France.Europa Corp Japan, which launched on April 19, is a joint venture backed by Europa Corp, ...
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Turkish director gets second look in Un Certain Regard
In a highly unusual move Cannes has decided to invite a second film by Turkish director Zeki Demirkurbuz to appear in Un Certain Regard alongside his previously announced Confession (Itiraf).The film Fate (Yazgy) and Confession were shot back to back as the first elements of a trilogy, loosely entitled Tales ...
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Frailty shows potential strength on international debut
Actor Bill Paxton's directorial debut, Frailty, showed strength as it launched on the international circuit this week. Starting out in sparsely-populated Iceland, the thriller opened on just one screen for local distributor Myndform, grossing $3,869 (ISK 362,300). Its admissions of 645 outperformed Hollywood releases including John Q and Blade II, ...
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Sony tipped to take 40% of UK's DNA
Sony Pictures Entertainment is reportedly in talks to take a 40% stake in UK National Lottery franchise DNA.The deal would give Sony access to the $23.4m (£16m) in lottery cash that DNA has still not spent from its franchise of around $44m (£30m), as well as projects from Duncan Kenworthy ...
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Curb acquires international rights to Bug
LA-based sales outfit Curb Entertainment has acquired international rights to Hayland/Margolis Productions' ensemble drama Bug which stars Jamie Kennedy, Brian Cox, Ed Begley Jr, Sarah Paulson, John Carroll Lynch and Michael Hitchcock.The film, which won the audience choice award at the 2002 Santa Barbara Film Festival, tells the interconnected stories ...
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Polish director adapts Vinterberg's Festen for the stage
Thomas Vinterberg's powerful Dogme95 feature Festen/The Celebration has been adapted for the stage by hot young Polish director Grzegorz Jarzyna.Having achieved widespread acclaim in Europe, the production heads for London's Sadler's Wells in October.
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Wellspring buyer Marie Therese Guirgis gets promotion
Marie Therese Guirgis has been named senior director of acquisitions at US distributor Wellspring Media, reporting to Krysanne Katsoolis, senior vice president of acquisitions, at the company which recently became independent of its former owner Winstar. Guirgis joined Wellspring (aka Winstar) in 1999 and was soon after named manager of ...
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Levine & Sella named co-chiefs of Fox domestic marketing
Pamela Levine and Tony Sella have been named co-presidents of domestic theatrical marketing at 20th Century Fox, in light of the abrupt departure of Alan Cohen last week. They report to Fox vice chairman Robert Harper.Sella was previously executive vice president of marketing and creative director, heading the studio's domestic ...
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First Look gets worldwide rights to golfing drama
First Look Media has acquired worldwide rights to A Gentleman's Game, a drama set in the world of golf and featuring Gary Sinise, Philip Baker Hall, Dylan Baker and Mason Gamble. The film is directed by J Mills Goodloe, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tom Coyne, on whose novel it ...
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Legal dispute prompts Intertainment to increase write-offs by Euros 109m
The continuing legal dispute with Franchise Pictures over allegedly inflated budgets has led German rights trader Intertainment to increase depreciations, allowances and provisions by Euros 109.3m to Euros 142.4m for the last financial year.Intertainment announced that its first hearing regarding the assets of Franchise Pictures had been held before a ...