All News articles – Page 5364
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Universal dubs specialised arm Universal Focus
Universal Pictures has named its domestic specialised film division Universal Focus. Created in 1999 as the studio's marketing and distribution unit for "niche-oriented productions and acquisitions", Universal Focus is run by executive vice president Claudia Gray and senior vice president Paul Hardart and will handle films from sources including WT2 ...
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Prisa up 18% after first day's trading
Spanish multimedia conglomerate Grupo Prisa - which took a risk on a volatile stock market by floating 20% of its shares yesterday (June 28) - came out a winner with a revaluation of its shares by 18.32% to Euros24.61 at day's end on the Bolsa, the Spanish stock exchange.Prisa's IPO ...
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Edinburgh lines up Dancer as opening night film
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (August 13-27) is lining up Lars von Trier's Dancer In The Dark as opening film and Wong Kar-Wai's In The Mood For Love to close the event.While neither title is finalised, festival chief Lizzie Francke is currently putting the final touches to a programme that ...
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CINE EXPO: Internet makes release dates go global
One of the strongest messages to emerge at this week's Cinema Expo conference in Amsterdam is that the growing influence of the internet - particularly among cinema's prime audience of 14 to 19-year-olds - is driving distributors towards global release dates.Driving the point home was a screening of Sony Pictures ...
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Kinowelt makes first direct move into broadcasting
German film giant Kinowelt has bought a 10% stake in satellite broadcast start-up B.TV Television.The company is a sister operation to B.TV Baden and B.TV Wuerttemberg, which are successful local broadcasters in the Baden-Wuerttemberg (BW) region. It begins broadcast of the new channel on July 15 using the Astra satellite ...
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China Star confirms Star TV output deal
China Star Entertainment has confirmed that it has struck a three-year output deal with regional broadcast powerhouse Star TV covering the 100 features produced under its 100 Years Of Cinema banner (Screendaily, May 16).The three-year deal gives Star exclusive video-on-demand, pay-per-view and pay-TV rights in both Mandarin and Cantonese versions. ...
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Jet Set takes off at French box office
Two smaller French titles - Fabien Onteniente's comedy Jet Set and Lionel Delplanque's horror film Promenons Nous Dans Les Bois - have been the hottest tickets in France for the week ending June 20.Jet Set, a fish out of water tale, has attracted a smash 428,000 admissions in its first ...
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Alliance Atlantis reports 21% revenue boost
Fuelled by an increase in library revenue, Alliance Atlantis released strong fourth quarter results this week, with revenue up 21.8% to $771.6m compared to $633.4m the previous year. Gross profit was up 37.1% to $179.2m compared to $130.7m. The company's television group was the principal engine, with library revenue up ...
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Australian film-makers win tax battle
Screen writers, actors, up-and-coming producers and others at the low salary end of the Australian film industry are breathing a sigh of relief following the Federal Government's decision to give them the same tax exemption that they recently gave to farmers.An earlier draft of Australia's new tax bill stated that ...
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Star in talks to buy stake in India's Hathway
Rupert Murdoch's Star TV is in talks to acquire a 20% stake in Indian cable operator Hathway Cable & Datacom as part of its plan to re-enter the Indian cable industry.If the talks are successful Star will gain access to a broadband network capable of delivering internet and cable TV ...
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Internationalmedia strikes deal with Johnson
Internationalmedia, the company formed from the merger between Intermedia and Pacifica, has finalised a first-look deal with US producer Mark Johnson.The move, which was expected, comes after Intermedia, Johnson and USA Films reportedly boarded The Code, a WW2 story currently in development. Johnson, who may set up Brad Silberling's Baby's ...
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Japan's Hitachi develops digital satellite venture
Japan's Hitachi is developing a data broadcasting system that will automatically beam content such as films, music and restaurant information from a communications satellite to the internal hard drives of subscribers' dedicated digital receivers. Subscribers can then view the content at their leisure. Hitachi is assembling a consortium of partners, ...
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Wheels rolls away with Sochi grand prize
Serbian comedy Wheels, written and directed by newcomer Djordje Milosavljevic, won the grand prize at this year's Sochi International Film Festival, which took place in Sochi, Russia from June 7-17.The international jury, chaired by veteran Indian director Mrinal Sen, also awarded its special prize to Can Togay's A Winter ...
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Kirch, Axel Springer create German TV giant
A new German TV giant is to be born following the merger of SAT1 and ProSieben (Pro7) Media which was announced today. The new group, ProSiebenSAT1 Media, which overtakes CLT-Ufa's RTL grouping, will be floated on the stock exchange later this year, but remain controlled by the Kirch group.With an ...
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Regent & Media Asia strike co-production pact
LA-based Regent Entertainment has sealed a co-production deal with Hong Kong's Media Asia kicking off with Gen-Y Cops, the sequel to Media Asia's hit Gen-X Cops, which will star Paul Rudd and a largely Asian supporting cast.Rudd, whose credits include Clueless, The Object Of My Affection, The Cider House Rules ...
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Winchester hooks Midler's All Girl, Merv Griffin
The UK's Winchester Entertainment, which unveiled pre-tax profits up a record 205% yesterday (June 27), has struck first-look deals with entertainment impresario Merv Griffin and Bette Midler and Bonnie Bruckheimer's All Girl Productions.The UK film and TV concern will act as overseas sales agents on films from the two production ...
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Industry turns out for closure of Shochiku studios
Nearly 700 film industry figures and other guests, including director Yoji Yamada and veteran stars Chieko Baisho and Rentaro Mikuni, turned up for the ceremony held yesterday (June 26) to mark the closing of Shochiku's historic Ofuna Studio complex.First opened in 1936 near the seaside town of Kamakura, the Ofuna ...
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Cinema industry puts date-stamp on digital dawn
Digital cinema pioneer QUALCOMM became the first company to commit to a date for the commercial launch of its new technology at the Cinema Expo convention in Amsterdam this week.QUALCOMM said it expects to launch and roll out its first generation digital cinema delivery system within the next 12 months. ...
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Telefonica responds to Villalonga controversy
Spain's Telefonica responded this week to reports published in Spanish daily El Mundo that president Juan Villalonga benefited from insider information in the purchase of Telefonica stock options in 1998.The report alleged that Villalonga had already initiated merger talks with both British Telecom and WorldCom-MCI prior to his buying 264,224 ...
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Leader of the pack
Pierre Lescure, the new head of film and TV activities following the Vivendi Seagram merger, is unlikely to impose French culture on Universal Studios if his record collection is anything to go by. Patrick Frater reports.If Pierre Lescure were re-cast as an animal, he might come back as a bloodhound. ...