All News articles – Page 5333
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Catch 23 acquires two Melissa Banks short stories
Catch 23 Entertainment has announced that it has acquired the film rights to two stories from Melissa Banks' short fiction collection The Girl's Guide To Hunting And Fishing. The stories are The Worst Thing A Suburban Girl Could Imagine and My Old Man, personal favourites of Catch 23 chairman Bob ...
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London Film Commission appoints Hayes as head
The London Film Commission (LFC) has appointed Sue Hayes as its commissioner and announced that Richard Attenborough will be its first patron.Hayes worked as a documentary producer in the UK and US and has been director of the Edinburgh International Television Festival. The commission has also appointed Graham Anderson, managing ...
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Canada's Rogers buys Cable Atlantic for $102m
Days after bowing out of the battle for Groupe Videotron, Rogers Communications has purchased Newfoundland-based cable outfit Cable Atlantic for $102m.The acquisition raises Rogers' Canada-wide subscriber base to 2.3 million and boosts the company's maritime presence. Cable Atlantic has approximately 75,000 subscribers.Rogers used a chunk of its consolation prize for ...
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Carlton scores $1m DVD deal with Spain's Filmax
Carlton International has scored a $1m DVD deal with Spanish distributor Filmax.The 15-year deal provides Filmax with over 100 titles from Carlton's ITC library for distribution on DVD in Spain and Portugal. Classic titles covered by the latest deal include All Quiet On The Western Front, The Big Sleep, The ...
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O Brother wins audiences despite UK fuel crisis
Despite the UK's fuel crisis and the start of the Olympic Games, cinema-going was not as disrupted as first thought - a relief for several of the weekend's new releases. Although the Top 15 box office tally of $8.4m (£6m) was $1.8m (£1.3m) down on last weekend's Top 15 aggregate, ...
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Europe ready to block AOL and EMI deals
The European Commission (EC) is proposing to reject America Online (AOL)'s $113bn takeover of Time Warner (TW), having already warned that it is likely to ban the related merger of TW and EMI. The EC has apparently drafted a preliminary rejection of the AOL-TW deal citing concerns over vertical integration ...
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Spain's Planeta steps up rights buying with Sins
Raising the stakes in the competitive Spanish rights acquisitions market, start-up Planeta 2010 has acquired all Spanish rights to Sins Of The Father, starring Andy Garcia.Sins, currently shooting in Canada, marks the first major North American product to be picked up by Planeta, the media division of publishing giant Grupo ...
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WMA's Steve Kenis unveils own UK talent agency
Steve Kenis, former managing director at William Morris Agency (WMA) in London, has launched UK-based talent agency Steve Kenis & Co to represent clients including Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris, Bruce Beresford and Rowan Atkinson.Kenis, who left WMA in May when it closed theatrical activities in London, has recently cut deals ...
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Arctic Circle wins Athens and local distribution
Julio Medem's The Lovers Of The Arctic Circle (Los Amantes Del Circulo Polar) secured the main prize at the Athens International Film Festival - and local distribution through Greek distributor Rosebud in a deal cut at the festival.The prize, awarded by festival audiences, came complete with a $6,000 purse to ...
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DVD sales drive Italian video sector growth
Italy's home video market grew 3% last year, buoyed by the blossoming DVD sector and an upswing in news-stand videocassette prices and rentals.The home-video market posted a turnover of approximately $575m in 1999, according to Univideo, Italy's home entertainment association. DVD sales soared, with a 450 % increase in ...
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Mediaset to acquire Kirch stake
Italian broadcaster Mediaset has announced that it will acquire a 2.48 % stake in its German partner, Kirch Media, underscoring both companies' aim to cement their film buying and production alliance, Epsilon.Additionally, Mediaset's board of directors approved a plan to increase the group's share in Spain's Telecinco by 5% to ...
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Canada's Corus to buy Nelvana for $374m
Corus Entertainment, one of Canada's leading media concerns, is to buy Canadian children's entertainment house Nelvana for $374m, the two companies announced on Monday.Boards at both companies have approved the acquisition, which was expected. Nelvana shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange climbed to record levels this week."Nelvana's focus - children's ...
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Robert De Niro set for tribute at San Sebastian
Robert De Niro has confirmed his acceptance of the second Donostia Award for career achievement at this month's San Sebastian International Film Festival.De Niro will be presented with the award on September 29th by Spanish actor Javier Bardem. De Niro also stars alongside Gerard Depardieu in Bernardo Bertolucci's Novecento, which ...
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Maybe Baby opens Dinard British cinema festival
Ben Elton's Maybe Baby opens the Dinard Festival Of British Film, which runs October 5-8.In the competition section, Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels' follow-up Snatch will square up to another much-anticipated, low-budget UK crowd-pleaser - Stephen Daldry's Billy Elliot. Also up for the Hitchcock d'Or at the ...
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waydowntown, Crouching Tiger top Toronto prizes
Gary Burns' waydowntown, a comedy about a group of young people who make a bet about who can last the longest without going outside, won the Toronto-City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film at this year's Toronto International Film Festival which finished on Saturday. A domestic distribution deal for the ...
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Lions Gate buys worldwide rights on comedy Vulgar
Reflecting its ambitious expansion plan among North American independents, Lions Gate Films announced its second acquisition at the Toronto Film Festival on Friday, taking worldwide rights on Vulgar, the comedy starring and executive produced by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier, the talents behind Dogma, Chasing Amy and Clerks, and directed ...
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Almost Famous shines at Olympics-struck box office
The North American box office reached a stunning low over the weekend as the Olympic Games TV coverage began. The weekend grosses were down 33% from the same period last year and represent the lowest since Sept 11-13, 1998.Only DreamWorks SKG's Almost Famous - which is co-financed by Columbia TriStar ...
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Nelvana takeover, merger on cards
Animation house Nelvana hasconfirmed it is in talks "to investigate the possibility of a businesscombination".The company's shares hit a record high on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday, climbing to $41.25, up $3.45. Trading volume reached approximately 350,000 shares.While Nelvana did not name the other party in the negotiations, rumours ...
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Blair Witch kicks off Jugendfilm re-release drive
German distributorJugendfilm is to handle all re-releases of parent company Kinowelt, starting with another outing for The Blair Witch Project ahead of rivaldistributor Highlight's premiere of Blair Witch Project 2: Book of Shadows.The re-release of the horror phenomenon will open on October 19 on more than 150 prints three weeks ...
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Baise-Moi, Dios head Gijon competition selection
Spaniard Pablo Llorca's La Espalda De Dios and controversial French film Baise-Moi will competeat Spain's International Film Festival of Gijon.Known as the Spanish Sundance, the festival has also announced a sidebar dedicated to new Scottish cinema, which is co-sponsored by the British Council and Scottish Screen. Thestrand features films such ...