All News articles – Page 5148

  • News

    Kinowelt to exit German Neue Markt

    2002-01-30T02:39:00Z

    Germany's Kinowelt Medien has withdrawn its listing on the Neuer Markt as of Feb 22 and will transfer its stock to the Regulated Market from Feb 25.Brothers Michael and Rainer Koelmel and the provisional insolvency administrator Dr. Wolfgang Ott decided on the change to the "more suitable segment" of the ...

  • News

    Rai Trade closes string of sales on Jurij

    2002-01-30T02:37:00Z

    Italian sales agent Rai Trade has closed a string of sales ahead of next month's Berlin and AFM markets on Jurij, a drama directed by Stefano Gabrini starring Charles Dance and Sarah Miles.The movie, about a blind 10-year-old violin prodigy, has been sold to Japan's Gaga, Mexico's Quality Film, South ...

  • News

    Palm Pictures takes Sex & Lucia for North America

    2002-01-30T02:34:00Z

    Palm Pictures has picked up North American rights to Spanish director Julio Medem's drama Sex And Lucia (Lucia Y El Sexo), which recently screened in the World Cinema sidebar at Sundance. The film is produced by Spain's Sogecine and is represented internationally by Sogepaq. Medem's previous effort, 1999's The Lovers ...

  • News

    Spanish producers lobby for quota increase

    2002-01-30T02:31:00Z

    The Spanish Producers' Federation FAPAE is lobbying for an increase in the country's controversial screen quota system, calling for one day of European cinema for every two of third-country films exhibited in Spain. Current law requires one for every three. The recently re-elected president of FAPAE Eduardo Campoy said the ...

  • News

    New entrant swells Korea's distribution sector

    2002-01-30T02:26:00Z

    In what is rapidly becoming a crowded market, the South Korean distribution sector is to receive another player in Showbox, a subsidiary of local exhibition company Mediaplex.Showbox, still in initial stages of development, is reportedly in negotiation with investment company KM Culture in a deal that could push the number ...

  • News

    European Film Market on target for record year

    2002-01-30T02:22:00Z

    The Berlinale's European Film Market (EFM) is looking forward to a vintage year, with record-breaking levels of registrations, screenings and exhibitors. According to market director Beki Probst, over 120 companies from more than 30 countries were already booked by last November, with three new exhibitors attending the EFM for the ...

  • News

    Disney snags remake rights to Spanish hit Intacto

    2002-01-30T01:25:00Z

    Buena Vista Motion PicturesGroup (BVMPG) has bought the remake rights to Spanish thriller Intacto following its successful screening at the SundanceFilm Festival where Lions Gate Films bought worldwide distribution rights. The film, which marks thefeature directorial debut of Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, follows a series of characterswho test their luck in ...

  • News

    Watts named female star of tomorrow by ShoWest

    2002-01-29T22:19:00Z

    Naomi Watts, the star of MulhollandDrive and of the upcoming remake ofJapanese smash Ring, has beennamed female star of tomorrow at this year's exhibitor convention ShoWestbeing held in Las Vegas in March.The Australian Watts willaccept her award at the annual awards banquet on March 7.Watts, who is considered anOscar contender ...

  • News

    Jim Ramo named CEO at studios' VOD co Movielink

    2002-01-29T19:44:00Z

    Jim Ramo, an industryveteran with many years spent at DIRECTV and Hughes Communications amongothers, has won the CEO job at Movielink, the video-on-demand distributionservice which is a joint venture between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, ParamountPictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Ramo reports to a boardcomprised of representatives from each ...

  • News

    Harmony Gold buys int'l rights on comedy Dirt

    2002-01-29T19:42:00Z

    Harmony Gold has securedinternational rights to the action comedy Dirt, which world premiered last year at the Los AngelesFilm Festival in April.The film stars MichaelCovert and Trace Fraim as two brothers, who, search the West Texas desert dregsfor a replacement for their dead mother and kidnap a woman (Tara Chocol) ...

  • News

    Vanilla Sky dethrones The Lord Of The Rings

    2002-01-29T17:39:00Z

    Vanilla Sky, the first re-teaming of director Cameron Crowe and actor Tom Cruise since Jerry Maguire - which grossed $13.3m (£9.4m) at the UK box office in 1997, has stormed into the top chart position in the UK displacing The Lord Of The Rings in the process.The UIP-distributed thriller grossed ...

  • News

    Veland, Playford-Denman reunite to expand BV Int

    2002-01-29T00:32:00Z

    In reunion worthy of the movies, sales agents Bjorg Veland and Heather Playford-Denman are to start working together again after a three year separation. The move appears to signal an expansion of the Oslo-based BV International sales and finance operation run by Veland."We are keen to develop a label and ...

  • News

    Wild Bunch is crazy for Marceau's Love

    2002-01-29T00:27:00Z

    In a crowd-pleasing move made on the eve of the Rotterdam and Berlin festivals, French sales agent Wild Bunch has picked up Sophie Marceau's directorial debut Parlez-Moi D'Amour. The film stars Judith Godreche (who starred in Marceau's 1995 short L'Aube A L'Envers), Niels Arestrup, Anne Le Ny, Laurence Fevrier, Jean-Marie ...

  • News

    Hoyts' Johnson named ShoWest int'l exhib of year

    2002-01-29T00:12:00Z

    Paul Johnson, the CEO ofAustralia's Hoyts Cinemas Ltd, has been named international exhibitor ofthe year at worldwide exhibition convention ShoWest which is being held March4-7 in Las Vegas.Johnson, who will receivehis award at the international day luncheon on March 4, joined Hoyts in 1982 asa financial accountant and in 1984 ...

  • News

    Uncut Monster's Ball to screen at Berlin

    2002-01-29T00:11:00Z

    The official unrateddirector's cut of Marc Forster's Monster's Ball will screen in competition at the Berlin FilmFestival on Feb 8, not the version which was passed by the MPAA for its USrelease. The version to be seen at the festival was rated NC-17 for itssexually explicit content and was subsequently ...

  • News

    MDP Worldwide acquires Stephen Gaghan script Havoc

    2002-01-29T00:10:00Z

    Mark Damon's MDPWorldwide has acquired the screenplay Havoc by Stephen Gaghan, theOscar-winning writer of Trafficand director of the forthcoming Abandon for Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment.Havoc is a multi-layered drama in the vein of Traffic about a gang of wealthy teens from the upscale LosAngeles neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades who ...

  • News

    Film Critics of Australia announce nominations

    2002-01-28T21:33:00Z

    Lantana, Moulin Rouge, Mullet and The Bank have a chance of being crowned best film in the 2002 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards with the trophy going to one of the producers, namely Jan Chapman, Baz Luhrmann (and others), Vincent Sheehan or John Maynard respectively.But the directors of each ...

  • News

    China's Yon Fan honoured at Mardi Gras fest

    2002-01-28T21:31:00Z

    Chinese director Yon Fan will be the guest of the 2002 Australian Mardi Gras Film Festival, (Sydney, Feb 13-24) as part of a special focus on contemporary gay Asian cinema that will see the screening of features from South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. Fan's trilogy Bugis Street (1994), ...

  • News

    Oslo Cinemas reverse film rental decision

    2002-01-28T21:28:00Z

    Norway's largest cinema operator has been forced into a U-turn over its refusal to accept recently-implemented national film rental rates.In an unprecedented move, Oslo Cinemas opted out of a new film rental agreement (Screendaily Jan 9), choosing instead to negotiate terms on a film-by-film basis with each distributor. Norway's ...

  • News

    Court supports Telenor in Canal Plus case

    2002-01-28T21:21:00Z

    Norwegian legal authorities have ruled that telecommunications giant Telenor is not obliged to complete its takeover of Nordic pay-TV operator Canal Digital from Canal Plus before a distribution agreement is cleared by the EU Commission. However, Canal Plus has announced that will now take the dispute to arbitrators. Following ...