All News articles – Page 5416
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Lagardere, Deutsche Telekom form internet alliance
Europe's internet-oriented merger frenzy is showing no signs of slowing down. In the latest deal, French defence and media conglomerate Lagardere is merging its internet service provider (ISP), Club Internet - which has 380,000 subscribers - with Deutsche Telekom's T-Online, which with 4.3 million subscribers is Europe's largest ISP.Following a ...
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France's GMT gears up for Napoleon four-parter
Leading French drama producer GMT Productions is developing a four-part mini-series, Napoleon, which is set to Christian Clavier (Asterix & Obelix, The Visitors) in the title role. The big-budget historical drama will be co-produced by French public broadcaster France 2 and will be filmed in both French and English. The ...
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DreamWorks sponsors Bristol animation fest
DreamWorks SKG, the US studio which recently struck a long-term deal with Bristol-based animation production house Aardman Animations, is sponsoring a new animation festival in the city. The event, titled Animated Encounters (May 19-21), will include preview scenes from Aardman's highly-anticipated June release, Chicken Run, which Pathe Distribution is handling ...
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Newmarket, BVFS hold hands along Burns' Sidewalks
Newmarket Capital Group and Buena Vista Film Sales (BVFS) have teamed up to back Sidewalks Of New York, the latest film from Ed Burns, who will write, direct, produce and star in the film alongside his girlfriend Heather Graham and Stanley Tucci.It is the fourth picture on which Burns has ...
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Spain's Filmax rolls out fantasy Factory blueprint
Spain's aggressively expanding Filmax Group has announced a new slate of films for its fledgling Fantastic Film Factory and is now moving ahead on plans to construct a studio in Barcelona with the aim of transforming the city into the sci-fi and fantasy film capital of Europe.At the same time, ...
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Bronson named international chief at Universal
Nadia Bronson, for years the lifeforce behind Universal Pictures' international marketing department, has been promoted to president, international theatrical marketing, distribution and operations at the studio.Bronson who since 1997 has been president, international marketing, will now be responsible for international distribution and operations related to all feature film releases ...
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Estudio's debut release powers Mexican box office
The first feature produced by start-up Mexican film company Estudio Mexico, Gimme Power (Todo El Poder), has burst into Mexico's box office chart. After a successful debut on 320 screens on January 20 the film continues to dominate in cinemas falling just 11% in the last two weeks. To date, ...
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Tokuma to enter exhibition with Warner Mycal stake
Japan's Tokuma Group plans to invest in the country's largest multiplex operator Warner Mycal, as well as make films exclusively for the chain, according to group president Yasuyoshi Tokuma. The moves form part of Tokuma's strategy to create a vertically integrated film company. The group already includes the Tokuma Shoten ...
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BFC appoints Jones as first director
The British Film Commission (BFC) has made a raft of appointments headed by the recruitment of Terri Jones as the body's first director.Jones, formerly director of production at UK TV station LWT, will oversee the day-to-day running of the BFC. She will also assist commissioner Steve Norris in setting and ...
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American Beauty leads Oscars race
As expected, Sam Mendes' American Beauty led the pack in the nominations for the 72nd annual Academy Awards with eight nominations including those for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.But the Academy came up with some major surprises including six nominations for box office ...
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CAA strikes first-look deal with Bloomsbury
US talent and literary agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has struck an innovative first-look deal with Bloomsbury Publishing, a leading UK independent publisher with a portfolio that has yielded The English Patient, The Piano and Shine.Under the terms of the deal, Bloomsbury will filter the manuscripts it believes have most ...
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X-Filme launches German distribution label
X Filme Creative Pool, the production company behind German hit Run Lola Run, has launched a distribution label along with a new development slate that includes its first non-German production.The new label - X Verleih - plans to release 4-8 films a year. Its first release will be the next ...
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Bengal offers security to Mehta's troubled Water
The Indian state of Bengal has offered Deepa Mehta's troubled production, Water, safe passage if the film relocates to Calcutta or elsewhere in Bengal.Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu said: 'If anyone tries to be disruptive after we grant the film permission to shoot, my government will ensure that such disrupters ...
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Channel 5 shareholders buy out Warburg stake
Luxembourg-based CLT-Ufa and the UK's United News and Media and Pearson have increased their stakes in UK broadcaster Channel 5, as financial investor Warburg Pincus sold out of the channel.The three shareholders paid $277m (£172m) for Warburg's 18% stake in a move that is regarded as an endorsement of the ...
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BFI to unveil plans for new London film centre
UK Government-backed film and TV body the British Film Institute (BFI) will this week unveil plans for a film centre at London's South Bank complex.The new development will replace the institute's often-criticised National Film Theatre, a venue for some screenings during November's London Film Festival (LFF). The new complex will ...
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Time Warner grabs key foothold in Spanish pay-TV
Warner Bros. International Television (WBIT) has paid around $32m for a ten per cent stake in Spain's leading pay-TV operator, Canal Satellite Digital (CSD), exercising an option first offered in 1997. Sogecable remains the majority shareholder of CSD with 83% of the digital platform that had more than 800,000 subscribers ...
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Blockbuster adds overseas rights to shopping list
Blockbuster Entertainment, which has just added The Opportunists to its haul of Sundance festival pick-ups, now wants to extend its aggressive acquisition policy to include all English-language rights to independent films that can be branded internationally as video store exclusives.The world's most extensive home entertainment rental chain, with approximately 6,900 ...
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Japanese partners join forces for movie channel
News Corp, Sony, Fuji TV and Softbank are forming a joint venture company - Nihon Eiga Eisei Hoso (Japanese Movie Satellite Broadcasting) - to create a cable and satellite movie channel specialising in Japanese films. The partners aim to build the country's leading Japanese film channel with the co-operation of ...
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EU challenges assumptions behind box office growth
Media Salles, the European Union-financed exhibition research and support operation, has called into question the widespread assumption that multiplex growth in Europe is responsible for the growth in admissions seen over the last ten years.'There appears to be a rather weak relationship between the two,' said Joachim Wolff, president of ...
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Almodovar adds Oscar nomination to glory list
Pedro Almodovar's route to the Oscar podium came one step closer this morning as his All About My Mother ended a year of awards glory and won an Academy Award nomination for foreign language film of the year.The film marks Spain's 18th foreign language film Oscar nomination and could be ...