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All articles by Sandy George – Page 45
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King Kong goes before the cameras
Director Peter Jackson and actors Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody,and Jack Black faced the media yesterday at Jackson's Wellington studio complexto mark the beginning of principal photography on King Kong.Camerasofficially roll on Monday on the remake of the 1933 classic, which is beingfinanced by Universal Pictures and will be released on ...
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Spooked scores NZ distribution
Arkles Entertainment has acquired New Zealand distributionrights for director Geoff Murphy's local conspiracy thriller Spooked.Cliff Curtis (Whale Rider) plays the lead role of ajournalist who becomes obsessive about investigating a mysterious fatal carcrash on the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The starting point for Murphy's scriptwas the true events depicted in Ian ...
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NEW ZEALAND 31 August
While UIP's The BourneSupremacy, in its first weekend in the charts, took about 10 times morerevenue than second placed Fahrenheit9/11, the documentary did climb two places despite being in its fifth weekon release.The Bourne Supremacygrossed NZ$618,691 from 54 screens, registering a screen average of NZ$11,457,while Fahrenheit took NZ$68,712 from19 screens ...
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Acclaimed directors lead Australia's upcoming slate
The directors of three of the most highly acclaimedAustralian films of recent years, Ana Kokkinos, Rowan Woods and Ray Lawrence,are named within the country's upcoming slate of financed but still-to-be-madefilms.The Book OfRevelation, Ana Kokkinos's second film after Head On, and Little Fish,Rowan Woods' second film after The Boys,are being represented ...
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International buyers clamour for Lord Of War
Lord Of War,billed as one of the biggest independent features currently in production inthe world, has relocated to South Africa after two weeks of shooting in NewYork.Executive producer and Arclight Films managing director GaryHamilton says he has already sold the US$50m action thriller starring NicolasCage and Ethan Hawke into "virtually ...
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AUSTRALIA 23 August
Besides Hellboyand The Ladykillers, three otheropeners registered in the chart. Roadshow's BeforeSunset (11th ) grossed A$166,871 from 24 screens, and Rialto's Coffee & Cigarettes (16th) grossedA$88,634 from just 11 screens. At A$6,952 and A$8,057 respectively, the screenaverages on both these films were the two highest in the chart apart from ...
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NEW ZEALAND 23 August
The top 20 films in New Zealand together sold less ticketson the weekend than any other top 20 group of films this year. Despite thislack-lustre result, the five most popular films grossed within NZ$10,000 ofeach other, intimating that it was a hard-fought race at the top.Two openers, JerseyGirl from BVI/Miramax ...
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Australia has mixed feelings about digital cinema
Hoyts executive chair Paul Johnson believes all Australiancinemas will be delivering pictures digitally within five years but UIP'smanaging director in Australia, Mike Selwyn, will be surprised if more thanhalf have converted to digital within a decade."I can't help feeling this is a product seeking anapplication," said Selwyn, during a robust ...
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NEW ZEALAND 16 August
Walking Tallknocked Hellboy off the top of thebox office chart after only one weekend at the top, just as Hellboy did to The Chronicles Of Riddick the previous weekend, and The Chronicles Of Riddick did to I, Robot on the one before that.But it was a close call. WalkingTall grossed ...
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AUSTRALIA 16 August
Man On Fire heldon to the top spot for its second weekend on release, taking A$1,112,405 for20th Century Fox from 262 screens. Snapping at its heels was newcomer Walking Tall, which grossed A$1,031,611from 192 screens for the same distributor, and in third place but not farbehind was Columbia TriStar's WhiteChicks, ...
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Miracle works for audiences at Melbourne
Cannes competitor Life Is A Miracle, set in Bosniaand directed, co-produced and co-written by Emir Kusturica, was the mostpopular feature at this month's Melbourne International Film Festival.Runner up in the vote by audiences was The Life And DeathOf Peter Sellers, directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring festival patronGeoffrey Rush in ...
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Australian producers mull alternative distribution models
Amending traditional distribution deals so that producersget more control and a greater share of returns was the dominant theme at Australia's annual conference ofproducers. Splitting rights was proposed, for example, as was adoptingwebsite-based sales systems, forfeiting high sales prices in exchange for boxoffice bonuses and under-reporting sales figures to avoid ...
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Impact of DVD boom on Cinema measured
The DVD boom is having a major impact on cinema-going -but it is a positive one and probably more pronounced in Australia than in anyother territory."As DVD sales continue to grow, and as rental behaviourstays strong, more people - not less -are attending the cinema," Video Ezy chief executive Stephen ...
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SPAA plans private development fund
Australia is to utilise its existing framework for pooleddevelopment funds (PDFs) to get more development money into the film industryand help provide producers with earnings between projects.The scheme is being put together by the Screen ProducersAssociation of Australia and Content Capital, one of two companies given theright to raise private ...
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Brown, Lake named producers of the year
Chris Brown was named independent producer of the year,while Trish Lake was named feature film producer of the year at the annualconference of the Screen Producers Association of Australia.Lake was producer on Gettin'Square alongside Martin Fabinyi and Tim White, and only moved recently intofilm from book publishing, although her early ...
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Oz production slumps as foreign investment soars
New research confirms that service work on US films issoaring while Australian features remain in the doldrums in terms of numbersmade and budget levels, while co-productions have practically disappeared.Only 15 homegrown films worth A$134m were made in the 12months to June 30, according to the Australian Film Commission's latest annualsurvey, ...
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Filming suspended on Vincent Ward's River Queen
In the face of rumours of trouble on the set, it has beenannounced that director Vincent Ward's RiverQueen has been delayed due to the illness of UK actress Samantha Morton,but that she remains committed to the project and the delays are covered byinsurance."She has been treated in hospital for severe ...
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Film New Zealand elects new chairman
David Madigan, former technicians guild president, is the new chair of Film New Zealand, which is responsible for marketing the country's filmmaking talents to the world.Elected deputy chair was Sue Thompson, ceo of Peter Jackson's Film Unit and Park Road Post and chair for four years up to when the ...
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Johnny To undertakes first production as financier
Milkyway Image, prolific Hong Kong filmmaker Johnny To's production entity, is to make its first investment in a film, despite the company having produced about 30 films since the mid-1990s.Election (working title) tracks a democratic election held within the world of triads, a subject To confidently expects to have strong ...
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AUSTRALIA 2 August
Fahrenheit 9/11from Hopscotch outperformed UIP's TheChronicles Of Riddickon the weekend despite beingon 110 less screens. Theywere in thesecond and thirdspots in thechart respectively. Bothfilms were intheir first weekof official release,although 9/11 was buoyedby two weeks of previews-- and continuing debate onjust how closelyAustralia should alignitself with theUS.Fahrenheit 9/11took A$1,643,953 from116 ...