All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 58
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News
Les Visiteurs cause heavy losses at Gaumont
Beleaguered French major, Gaumont announced plans to produce some ten films over the next 18 months as it concentrates its efforts on production and distribution. But two of its big productions forced the company into massive losses for last year.Gaumont announced net losses of $60.1m (FF437m) compared with a profit ...
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News
Amelie charms French audiences across Europe
UGC International's Amelie From Montmartre opened well in French-speaking Europe, making Cannes selector Thierry Fremaux's decision to programme the film as a special open-air screening a popular one.Handled by UFD, the Jean-Pierre Jeunet-directed charmer achieved 125,000 admissions from 432 copies on the first day on nationwide French release, giving a ...
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News
New talent finds its home in Directors Fortnight
Marie-Pierre Macia in her second year as chief selector of the Directors' Fortnight (La Quinzaine Des Realisateurs) has picked an eclectic mixture with very few well-known directors. The biggest names are Amos Kollek, in Cannes last year with Fast Food, Fast Women and Sandrine Veysset, who previously directed festival favourite ...
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News
TEAM weaves web of distribution deals
Shares in beleaguered film and TV group TEAM Communications climbed 20% to Euros1.27 today after it announced two distribution deals.In the UK it signed a deal with Indigo Film and Television which will see Indigo handle international sales of TEAM's 2000-hour catalogue worldwide, except the Americas. In the US October ...
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News
Tele+/Stream deal hands Italian pay-TV to Vivendi
Vivendi Universal boss Jean-Marie Messier today forecast swift regulatory approval for the Italian pay-TV venture with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp that he announced today.Messier said that Vivendi Universal will have two-thirds of a joint venture which will be born from the merger of Vivendi's Telepiu and the News Corp-Telecom Italia-controlled ...
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News
Bac Majestic misses profit targets
Bac Majestic, the French distribution and exhibition group headed by Jean Labadie, reported profits below the target announced at the time of last year's flotation.Pre-tax profits were $1m (Euros1.1m), and net after tax profits were $180,000 (Euros0.2m). But the company blamed the difference on a policy of accelerated film depreciation. ...
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News
Vivendi grabs control of Canal Plus Poland
Vivendi Universal has obtained majority control of Canal Plus Poland, its Polish pay-TV venture. The move is expected to smooth the path towards a full merger of the service with Wyzja, the UPC-owned group of channels.Belgian investment group Deficom sold its stake to Vivendi Universal for Euros90m, while Polish investors ...
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Reviews
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Dir: John Madden. UK-US-FR. 2001. 125 minsWhile its aspirations and ingredients should ensure a strong release in all territories where the original Louis de Bernieres novel was triumphant, Captain Corelli's Mandolin curiously lacks harmony for a work with music as one of its core values. There is discord between its ...
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News
Korea's Myung launches own sales operation
Myung Film, the company behind Korean box office breakaway Joint Security Area, is to expand its production capacity and launch its own sales outfit in time for Cannes. The new sales division, E Pictures, will handle international distribution of the ten or so domestic Korean films produced annually by Myung. ...
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News
Critics' Week selection takes to the road
The Critics' Week, which earlier this week unveiled its line-up of films by first and second time directors, is to reach a public beyond Cannes by going on tour. The 2001 selection will replay at the Cinematheque Corse in Porto-Vecchio (Corsica) on May 23, 24, 25 and 26 and Cinema ...
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News
Hong Kong legends light up Filmko's debut slate
New films by leading Asian directors Tsui Hark, Ann Hui and Stanley Kwan top a debut slate unveiled by Hong Kong-based production newcomer Filmko Pictures. The company, which is headed by Alex Wong and directors Derek Yee and Jacob Cheung, was set up last August with the aim of expanding ...
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News
Shore, Fridriksson top debut UK slate for F.&.M.E.
New films by Get Real director Simon Shore and Icelandic maestro Fridrik Thor Fridriksson head the debut slate of F.&.M.E. (UK), the new British outpost of German group F.A.M.E.F.&.M.E. (UK), which is managed by Mike Downey and production head Sam Taylor, has unveiled a line-up of five new features it ...
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News
Online spending overtakes cinema ads in UK
For all the predictions of dotcom gloom and doom, the UK's on-line advertising sector overtook cinema advertising last year.The data compiled by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for the Internet Advertising Bureau shows that the UK did not follow the US internet advertising market into downturn. Figures from Forrester Research shows advertising revenue ...
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News
Hong Kong's Pay-TV market in turmoil
They cannot both be right. On the one hand, Television Broadcasts (TVB) says it's now ready to pull out of Hong Kong's pay-TV market, joining two other companies that have already abandoned the highly competitive Chinese harbour colony, Rupert Murdoch's STAR TV and also the Hong Kong Network (NETV). On ...
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News
French government tries to sell SFP group again
The French government has pressed ahead once again with the privatisation of Societe Francaise de Production (SFP), the massive studios and facilities group that has been a cash-swallowing albatross around its neck. The plan is due to be formalised in the next few days, presented to works committees and completed ...
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News
Germany's free TV applauded at MIP-TV
Although the notion may not be applicable in every economic sector, public-private partnership was put forward as an explanation for the recent success of Germany's free TV market. "Partnerships between public and private sectors in Germany have helped improve quality and increase programme exports," said Gerhard Zeiler, CEO of RTL ...
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News
Vivendi to give up BSkyB for more of USA Networks
French media giant Vivendi Universal has informed analysts at a behind-closed-doors briefing that it is seeking to increase its 43% stake in Barry Diller's USA Networks to 63% by acquiring a 20% shareholding from John Malone's Liberty Media. As part of the deal, Vivendi would be looking to get majority ...
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News
Viacom relents over Blockbuster business
In the week when Disney slashed 4,000 jobs or 3% of its workforce, Viacom has ditched plans to sell video rental giant Blockbuster, after reporting improved business and a boost from DVD.Blockbuster has struggled for several years and Viacom, which is also the parent of Paramount Pictures, MTV and the ...
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News
Japan's Cine Canon prepares kidnap
Japanese production house Cine Canon is to make a film chronicling the 1973 kidnapping of South Korean president Kim Dae-jung in Tokyo. The picture is to be directed by Junji Sakamoto, who previously directed Face. The incident, was alleged to have been organised by then president Park Chung-hee, in an ...
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News
Cable giants UPC and PrimaCom merge in Germany
UPC, Europe's troubled cable giant is to combine its German operations with those of PrimaCom, creating the third largest cable player in the country.At the end of 2000, PrimaCom had 1.01 million German cable subscribers chiefly in the Berlin Brandenburg and Saxony Anhalt areas, and a further 297,000 in the ...