All News articles – Page 5174
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Media Asia loses second high-profile executive
Peter Poon has quit Hong Kong studio, Media Asia where he was deputy general manager and took particular responsibility for international distribution.The surprise move is the second high-profile departure at Media Asia since the summer. Earlier, chief executive Thomas Chung was shifted away from day-to-day management of the group to ...
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Hi Dharma sets new S Korean admissions record
South Korean comedy Hi Dharma (pictured) has set a new box-office record by drawing 203,600 viewers in Seoul on its opening weekend and earning over $4m nationwide.. Filling seats to a 93% capacity, the film broke the previous 2-day Seoul record of 197,426 admissions set in 2000 by Mission: ...
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German cinema ticket tax proposal sparks outrage
German Culture Minister Julian Nida-Ruemelin's plans to increase the national cinema ticket tax by "a few percent" has prompted the local exhibition sector to vow to fight any increase "on all political, legal and internal industry levels".While German exhibitors have been vocal in their appeals for greater diversification on the ...
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Potter rewrites UK box office record book
As expected Warner Bros' highly anticipated children's title Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone has laid waste all previous box office records in the UK taking a massive $13,714,811 (£9,600,368) over its opening three-day weekend. This shatters the previous record of $10.8m taken by Star Wars: Episode I - The ...
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Clooney, Soderbergh together again on Solaris
Actor George Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh are reteaming for the third time on Solaris, an erotically charged film version of Stanislaw Lem's 1961 science fiction novel which will start production in April 2002 for James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment and 20th Century Fox. Clooney will star in the film which ...
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US is wild about Harry
Warner Bros scored the biggest opening in North American box office history over the weekend as Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, the film of the best-selling novel by JK Rowling, grossed a phenomenal estimated $93.5m in the three day period from Friday to Sunday.The film also broke the ...
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Italy's Medusa buys Cecchi Gori package
Rome's leading distribution outfit, Medusa Film, has finalised a late deal to buy five completed films from Cecchi Gori, enabling the former Italian number one to inject some cash back into its beleaguered film distribution and production operation. Medusa is believed to have paid between 68 and 70 billion lire ...
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India's film and cable industries fight piracy
The Indian film industry and cable operators have reached an agreement to curb video piracy, with the film sector coming forward to make available "properly authorized" old films, legally to the cable operators for telecast over cable. The agreement would allow cable operators to telecast an Indian film -after it ...
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Film Council funds Grand Ambition option
UK support body the Film Council has funded the option on Lisa Michael's hotly contested novel Grand Ambition as part of the second round of awards from its $7.2m (£5m) a year development fund.Set in 1920s America, the love story was optioned by producers Diana Phillips (Bad Lieutenant, Birthday Girl) ...
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Intermedia predicts fourth quarter improvement
Intermedia is predicting a massive surge in revenues in the final quarter after announcing results for the first nine months that leave the company more than Euros 217m short of its target of Euros 355m in sales for the entire year.The Neuer Markt-listed powerhouse said that revenues of Euros 137.7m ...
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Hong Kong's Singing Horse springs into production
Leading Hong Kong comedy director Joe Ma has set up a new production label Singing Horse Productions to deliver a slate of youth-oriented pictures. The company is jointly owned with Thomas Leong's talent agency International Pacific Artists (IPA) and Ivy Kong, former managing director of Mei Ah's production arm B.I.G. ...
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UK targeted for high volume 'easyCinemas'
easyGroup, the UK company which operates the no-frills airline easyJet, is contemplating a move into the densely populated UK exhibition sector.easyCinemas, a concept currently being researched by the company, could see the 'easy' concept shaking up the UK exhibition sector with its focus on low-cost tickets and high customer turnover.The ...
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Liberty confirms German operational base
US media group Liberty Media will base its German operations in Munich and create up to 10,000 new jobs throughout Germany. After meeting with Bavaria's prime-minister Edmund Stoiber in Berlin, Liberty's chairman John Malone declared that "the density of television stations and internet companies around Munich had been a deciding ...
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Re-cut Flower blossoms at blooming Pusan festival
Local picture Flower Island (Kotsom), by first time director Song Il-gon, was the outstanding winner at the 6th Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea. It scooped the main prize, the FIPRESCI prize and the audience award.The film, a story of three women literally on a voyage of self-discovery, ...
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Coppola to board recut version of Suriyothai
Francis Ford Coppola is poised to board the recut international version of Suriyothai, the epic Thai historical drama directed by Prince MC Chatrichalerm Yukol.The $14m picture, which closes the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) on Saturday (Nov 17) night, currently runs to three hours and five minutes. It recounts the ...
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Release patterns: Potter wide, Wars simultaneous
Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone is set to break records in the US this Friday when it opens in 3,672 US theatres.The previous record for the widest US release was held by Mission: Impossible 2, which opened last year on 3,653 theatres. Shrek still holds the record for the ...
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Germany's Senator postpones three releases
German theatrical distributor Senator Film has announced that it will hold over three planned winter releases until early 2002. This follows a recent Constantin Film postponement of nine of its planned 25-film line-up for 2001 to next year (Screendaily, Oct 14 2001)The anticipated clogging up of screens with a handful ...
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Czech media mogul Zelezny arrested
Police took into custody the Czech Republic's top media mogul, Vladmir Zelezny, on Nov. 13 in a move that appears timed to coincide with recent international rulings against Zelezny and his firm, CET-21.The arrest of Zelezny could put a hitch in the planned sale of Barrandov Studios, but observers say ...
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UK documentary awards for Killers Don't Cry
Clifford Bestall's Killers Don't Cry bagged two awards at the Grierson documentary awards, held last night (Nov 14) at the London headquarters of BAFTA.The documentary, which follows activities at the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town, came away with the Premiere Grierson and the best documentary on a contemporary ...
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Korea's MBC invests in PPP title: Cry Woman
Korean broadcast giant MBC has set Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) title Cry Woman as one of the first pictures to benefit from its new feature investment arm. MBC Production Co, which benefits from a modest $13m (Won15bn) revolving fund put up by 16 of the channel's regional branches and ...