All News articles – Page 5157
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First Look buys US rights on A Song For Martin
First Look Pictures hasacquired domestic rights to Bille August's latest film A Song ForMartin and will open the film inspring, after a one-week awards qualifying run in December last year.The Swedish-language film isa love story featuring the late Viveka Seldahl and her real-life husband SvenWollter. Seldahl plays a symphony violinist ...
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Stephens, Yorn, Pike join cast of Bond 20
Toby Stephens, Rick Yune andRosamund Pike have joined the cast of the currently untitled Bond film, the 20thin the 007 series which starts shooting on Monday at Pinewood Studios in theUK.Pierce Brosnan returns tothe role of James Bond for the fourth time, with Halle Berry as the female leadJinx and ...
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Strand close to US rights for Smokers Only
Los Angeles-based StrandReleasing is in advanced talks to pick up US domestic rights to Argentineandrama Smokers Only (VagonFumador). The directorial debut offilm editor Veronica Chen narrates the story of a disillusioned young womanwho finds friendship with a male street hustler in Buenos Aires. SmokersOnly made its ...
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Eight films shortlisted for Visual Effects Oscar
Eight films have beenselected for achievement in visual effects for the 74th AcademyAwards for 2001. They are AI Artificial Intelligence, Black Hawk Down, CatsAnd Dogs, The Fast And The Furious, Harry Potter & The Sorcerer'sStone, Jurassic Park III, The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring andPearl Harbor.15 ...
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Capitol Films hires Wallace as US consultant
London-based sales outfit Capitol Films has appointed veteran film executive Ronna Wallace as the company's consultant in the US, in a bid to strengthen the company's interests across the Atlantic.Based in New York, Wallace will acquire films and projects at script stage for Capitol, as well as representing a selection ...
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Lord Of The Rings' $6m in six days in S Korea
Worldwide smash The Lord Of The Rings has scored an impressive opening in South Korea, where it has drawn $6m and over a million viewers in its first six days. Distributed by local major Cinema Service, the film opened on January 1 on 184 screens nationwide, earning $1.44m on ...
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Unifrance's Paris screenings in bullish mood
Unifrance's fourth Paris screenings (Rendez-Vous Europeen du Film Francais) to be held January 11-15, will kick off in an upbeat mood as the French-language cinema foreign box-office has more than doubled up in 2001. According to Unifrance's latest report, French-language films attracted more than 18.9 million admissions abroad last year ...
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UK film production spend down in 2001
UK production spending fell by nearly 10% in 2001, with much of the drop blamed on the shadow cast by the threat of a summer SAG strike, according to research compiled by Screen International.Screen International's 2001 figures - which include every feature shot in the UK or abroad produced by ...
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EIB not delivering Reding's Euro funding promises
Unveiled amidst great fanfare this time last year, the European Union plan to help bankroll the European film industry with loans from the European Investment Bank appears to have hit a brick wall, according to a report in this week's Screen International. The Luxembourg-based EIB announced plans to include the ...
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Sundance line-up: 'much darker' than usual
Sundance's reputation as a capricious marketplace has led several sales agents this year to downplay the commercial prospects of the films they will represent in Park City. Manufactured hype has a history here of being hurled back at producers' faces faster than they can say snow-ball.Every year the Sundance Film ...
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Till appoints his executive team at Signpost Films
Stewart Till has announced that his ambitious new worldwide film production and distribution company will be called Signpost Films, and has confirmed a string of London-based executive appointments, including Nicole Mackey and Darryl Iwai.Till, formerly president of London-based Universal Pictures International and head of international activities at the defunct Euro ...
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Sherwin, Tuckman bolster the ranks at THINKFilm
Amanda Sherwin has joinednewly formed North American distributor THINKFilm as vice president ofdistribution, while Michael Tuckman has been named director of theatricalsales. Both will work out of thecompany's New York City office and report to president Jeff Sackman andhead of distribution Mark Urman.Sherwin was previously vicepresident of marketing at Lions ...
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Paul Speaker joins Madstone as president and COO
Paul Speaker, formerpresident of Shooting Gallery Entertainment, has joined New York-based MadstoneFilms as president and COO. He will be involved in all the company'sactivities from production to distribution and exhibition.Madstone is a self-styled 'new-stylefilm studio' formed in New York in 1999 by financier Chip Seelig withformer PFE executive Tom Gruenberg. ...
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Brenner appointed to UK's FilmFour Int'l sales
The UK's FilmFour has appointed Natalie Brenner as deputy head of international film sales. Brenner was previously senior vice president of sales at IAC Film and vice president of sales and marketing at J & M Entertainment.Brenner will work with head of FilmFour International Janine Gold and film sales executive ...
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Toronto fest mourns programmer Ramiro Puerta
Ramiro Puerta, a long-time programmer and staff member of the Toronto International Film Festival died on Friday, Jan. 4. A filmmaker, musician, actor and impresario, he was 48.A native of Colombia, Puerta studied acting at the Mountview Theatre School in London and then moved to Toronto in 1980 where he ...
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UIP retains German box office crown
UIP held onto pole position at the German box office in 2001 with a 20.5% market share, according to ACNielsen/EDI figures, but Warner Bros. was the year's big winner as it more than doubled its share of the market from 2000's 8.3% to 18.8.% thanks in particular to the end-of-year ...
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Oslo Cinemas reject new film rental agreement
Norway's largest exhibitor, Oslo Cinemas, cancelled the opening of Spy Game this week because of a disagreement with distributor Egmont Columbia TriStar on the film's rental terms. More Hollywood titles could follow.Norwegian distributors and exhibitors recently approved a renewal of the Film Rental Agreement after the old agreement expired on ...
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Pathe gets Deathwatch for UK from Odyssey
Pathe Distribution has picked up UK rights to the British supernatural horror Deathwatch (working title) from Ralph Kamp's newly-formed independent sales company Odyssey Entertainment.The debut production from Film And Music Entertainment (F&ME), the UK-based international production and acquisitions wing of Germany's FAME, stars Billy Elliot's Jamie Bell and was written ...
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Imax shares soar after $42m debt repurchase
Giant screen purveyor Imax Corp. has repurchased $42m of its own debt for one-quarter the issue price, alleviating refinancing concerns and placing the big-screen movie maker and large-format exhibitor on firmer financial footing.By noon on Tuesday (Jan 8), Imax's share price had risen nearly 50% on the day - from ...
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Top Oz TV executive in surprise departure
David Leckie, widely considered to be the most powerful television executive in Australia, was replaced as chief executive of the Nine Network late yesterday (Jan 8). For many years the Nine Network has been the highest rating network but events in the past 12 months have lead to its supremacy ...