All News articles – Page 5331
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IEG's credit line with Chase raised to $135m
Chase Manhattan Bank has increased its revolving credit line to Graham King's LA-based independent Initial Entertainment Group to $135m according to a statement released yesterday by John Miller, managing director of Chase Manhattan, and Colin Cotter, IEG's COO.The relationship between the bank and IEG began in 1997 when the two ...
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Prinze Jr to star in Miramax martial arts movie
Freddie Prinze Jr will star in an untitled martial arts movie to be produced by Miramax Films which acquired the untitled pitch from Robert Mark Kamen, writer of the Karate Kid series and A Walk In The Clouds.The project tells the story of an American boy raised by Chinese monks ...
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AFMA elects new board members for 2001
The 2001 board of directors for the American Film Marketing Association (AFMA) was elected yesterday at the organisation's annual membership meeting. 'The new board continues the tradition of a strong, diverse and experienced group of industry executives, one that reflects the breadth of the independent industry that we represent,' said ...
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Zeffirelli, Paskaljevic head Cattleya slate
Having set new box office records even before its official UK and US releases, its no surprise that Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone is making news in every territory as soon as it is released.In Germany, Potter has broken Men In Black's four year record of 1.95m admissions for ...
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San Sebastian heats up but field remains open
No clear favorite had yet emerged in the official competition at the halfway mark of the 48th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival, running from September 21-30.Local buzz favoured Basque Country native Alex de la Iglesia's opening night film Common Wealth (La Comunidad), which scored a home-run among ...
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Irene opens well but doesn't live up to Mary
The Farrelly brothers latest comedy Me Myself And Irene opened in the UK over the weekend with $1.9m (£1.3m) from 357 screens, including previews of $126,743 (£86,946). Distributed by 20th Century Fox, the comedy starring Jim Carrey and real-life wife Renee Zellweger, won the number one spot and a screen ...
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Mojto, Kogel appointed KirchMedia deputy chairmen
Jan Mojto, who heads Kirch's Programme Division, and former SAT1 managing director Fred Kogel, have been appointed joint deputy chairmen of KirchMedia's management board.They replace Dieter Hahn who has been appointed deputy chairman of the board of KirchHolding with responsibility within the group for communications, sports, multimedia and pay-TV.Mojto will ...
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Craven moves to Alibi from United Artists
UK-based media concern Alibi Communications has appointed David Craven as head of post-production and technical delivery.Craven previously worked in the London office of United Artists Films, which parent US studio MGM recently announced its was shutting down. The appointment is effective immediately.Alibi includes TV and feature production interests as well ...
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Altavista builds slate of exportable Mexican films
Altavista Films - the two year-old production arm of Mexican entertainment giant Corporacion Interamericana de Entretenimiento (CIE) - has lined up a production slate headed by Tear This Heart Out aka Arrancame La Vida, a $4.2m period epic to which Salma Hayek is attached to star.Roberto Sneider, who was once ...
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Altavista boards Saura's Bunuel fantasy
Growing Mexican production outfit Altavista Films is one of three international partners to board veteran director Carlos Saura's forthcoming feature Bunuel And King Solomon's Table (Bunuel Y La Mesa Del Rey Salomon).France's Les Films Sans Frontieres and Portugal's Hora Magica have also joined Spanish producers Rioja Films and CPI to ...
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Bialek, Jonas form US-German 310 Entertainment
Sales and marketing veteran Chris Bialek has teamed up with Stefan Jonas, co-founder of Germany's post-production facility Das Werk, to form 310 Entertainment, a new independent production and financing outfit with bases in Los Angeles and Munich and plans to make both live action and animated films and TV series.The ...
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Civilian in talks to up stake in The Sales Co
Civilian Content, owner of UK National Lottery studio franchise The Film Consortium, is continuing talks about raising its stake in international sales outfit The Sales Co, despite last week's resignation of highly-regarded Sales Co chief executive Alison Thompson.While Thompson's departure to join Pathe's London arm will no doubt lower the ...
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FilmFour seals package deal with Spain's Alta
FilmFour International, the sales arm of the UK's FilmFour, has closed an all-rights package deal with Spain's Alta Films, the division's first with a Spanish company.Titles in the deal include Alan Taylor's The Emperor's New Clothes, which is currently shooting in Malta and Italy; Werner Herzog's Invincible, starring Tim Roth; ...
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FilmFour launches money back stunt for Dancer
In a highly unusual move, FilmFour Distributors is offering UK audiences for Dancer In The Dark their money back if they are unsatisfied. Cinema-goers will be given a full refund if they walk out of the film in its first 30 minutes.The move is the latest step in FilmFour's "see ...
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Harris to head UK production at CTIT
Columbia TriStar International Television (CTIT) in the UK has named production and programming executive Ann Harris to the post of vice president, production.Harris will be responsible for developing and producing original programming by working closely with the UK independent production community. The former managing director for Delta Ventures/Circle Communications has ...
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EC extends deadline on Vivendi-Seagram probe
The European Commission (EC) has extended its deadline for examining the proposed Vivendi-Canal Plus takeover of Seagram. "They've offered us concessions and so we've extended the deadline (to rule) from October 2 to October 13," said EC spokeswoman Amelia Torres.The proposed creation of the $40bn Vivendi Universal group has already ...
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Legends 2, new Exorcist storm US box office
Although the North American box office was some 21.6% down on the same week last year, at least it picked up on last weekend by about 15% as a result of two new horror movies on the market. Or rather, one new horror movie and one very old horror movie ...
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Gilliam, Scott support genre shorts competition
Terry Gilliam and Ridley Scott have lent their support to a new competition for short films, backed by the Sci-Fi Channel and the First Film Foundation.Sci-Fi Shorts said it is "the first genre-dedicated short film competition to guarantee theatrical distribution". It has teamed up with exhibition chain UCI to ensure ...
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Germany's VCL buys Denmark's Scanbox
Datty Ruth's Munich-based media company VCL Film and Medien has acquired 100% of Danish distributor Scanbox Entertainment.The cost of the acquisition, around $2.5m, will be mostly paid in VCL stock, which was valued at $17 per share for the purpose of this deal. Although the deal is subject to the ...
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San Sebastian festival opens on poignant note
The 48th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival got off to a halting start on Thursday night with the cancellation of the traditional party as a protest against the latest assassination by Basque terrorist group ETA.But the opening film of the festival's Official Section, the much-anticipated Common Wealth ...