All articles by Sandy George – Page 46
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Oz funding body gets proactive about scripts
In a challenge to Australia's filmmaker-is-kingculture, state agency the Pacific Film and Television Commission (PFTC) istesting a couple of US people for the job of in-house development executive.PFTC head of production Henry Tefay is looking for someonewho understands cinematic storytelling and reaching audiences, could well takeexecutive producer credits on projects ...
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AUSTRALIA 5 July
Columbia TriStar secured 441 prints for Spider-Man 2 for its opening weekend, four more than UIP's Shrek 2 was released on two weeksearlier, but the A$7,132,602 gross of the red superhero came nowhere nearneither the first nor the second weekend of the green giant.Five openers besides Spideyhit the chart on ...
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NEW ZEALAND 5 July
Spider-Man 2grossed NZ$1,156,748 from 75 screens on its opening weekend for ColumbiaTriStar. The result secured it the top position but only just: the filmattracted only about NZ$3,500 more in ticket sales than UIP's Shrek 2, which is in its third weekendin cinemas and is on 10 more screens.The best performer ...
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Hopscotch takes Oz rights to 2046
Distributor Hopscotch has taken all Australian rights toWong Kar Wai's 2046 fromFortissimo Film Sales.Hopscotch managing director Troy Lum plans to release whathe calls the "scifiesque film" later this year or early next. Lumreleased Wong's previous film In The Mood For Love while he was still working at Dendy."It did reasonably ...
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Restored classic, period piece are toast of Sydney
The 85-year-old Australian silent film The SentimentalBloke, directed by prolific pioneer filmmaker Raymond Longford, anddirector Ondrej Trojan's Czech Republic/Austria/Slovakia period film Zelarywere the audience favourites at the Sydney Film Festival's two key venues.The festival wrapped on Saturday June 26 and organisers saythat the 132,500 admissions represented a 9% increase on ...
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Wax fire destroys Oz soundstage
A so-called controlled fire sequence on the set of HouseOf Wax went badly wrong on Saturday evening (June 27), sparking a blazethat destroyed one of the eight soundstages at Queensland's Warner RoadshowStudios.Aspokesperson for the film's publicist, Denis Davidson Associates, said thatthree sets and all the camera and sound equipment were ...
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NEW ZEALAND 28 June
UIP's Mean Girlsclaimed third place in the chart this week with a gross of NZ$207,859 from 44screens for its opening weekend. But neither it nor second placed Harry Potter, came close to the mostpopular film of the four days, UIP's Shrek2, which was also a very long way ahead in ...
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NEW ZEALAND 21 June
UIP's Shrek 2 didconsiderably better in its opening weekend then Roadshow's Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban did during the weekendearlier. There was a difference of only three screens between them. Shrek 2 sold NZ$2,202,050 worth oftickets to 85 screens for a screen average of NZ$25,906 while Harry Potter ...
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AUSTRALIA 21 June
The first outing in cinemas by UIP's Shrek 2 got an amazing response from Australian families on itsfour-day opening weekend, taking A$13,156,604 from 437 screens. By way ofcomparison, Roadshow's Harry Potter Andthe Prisoner of Azkaban took A$14,799,003 a week earlier, but it was on 16more screens and had one more ...
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Somersault to open Melbourne festival
Executive director James Hewison announced that newAustralian film Somersault will open the 53rd Melbourne InternationalFilm Festival (MIFF) on July 21 and Thai film Ong Bak from director PrachyaPinkaew will close it 18 days later.Other Thai directors will also have their recent workshowcased in a country spotlight. Australia's longest-running film festivalalso ...
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Distributor welcomes McDonald's attack
McDonald's Australia has launched a two-week cinema andtelevision campaign labelling Super SizeMe filmmaker Morgan Spurlock as 'irresponsible' but which will, accordingto the film's distributor, merely boost the film's takings."This is publicity we could never have dreamed ofgetting without them," said Dendy Films general manager Andrew Mackie."What makes it so effective ...
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Oz arts minister slow clapped off stage at Sydney fest
Australia's Federal Minister for the Arts and Sport Rod Kempwas slow clapped off the stage prior to this week's Sydney Film Festival worldpremiere screening of the reconstructed version of the 1919 romantic comedy TheSentimental Bloke.Theoutbreak of bad manners appeared to be either cineastes annoyed at thespeeches, invited VIPs and delayed ...
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AUSTRALIA 16 June
Harry Potter And ThePrison Of Azkaban grossed nearly A$14.8m from 452 screens on the weekendfor Roadshow. Even taking into account that it was a holiday weekend, afive-day period instead of the usual four, it was an extraordinary result forthe third film of the trilogy. Nothing else came close.There were three ...
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NEW ZEALAND 15 June
Harry Potter And ThePrison Of Azkaban's NZ$1.79m gross for its opening weekend is nearly doublethe combined result of the rest of the films in the top 20 chart, and about 75%up on the result for The Day AfterTomorrow two weeks earlier. Roadshow released Harry Potter on a whopping (for New ...
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AusFilm names new Los Angeles-based commissioner
Marketeer Tracey Montgomeryhas been named as the new AusFILMcommissioner based in LA - the executive charged with leadingAustralia's efforts to attract international production to its shores.Mongomery, who is currently executive manager of locations andinternational production for the Pacific Film and Television Commission, basedin Queensland, is replacing David Pratt, who finishes ...
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Oz production awaits fresh cash injection
Mark Eder mortgaged his house in order to direct his debutfeature Twists Of Fate, which he alsoco-wrote and is now editing, after being unable to secure any other sort offinancing or to find distributors that would take him or his film seriously.Eder lives in regional Australia and works the early ...
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Global anti-piracy trailer debuts in Australia
An anti-piracy trailer that likens illegally downloadingmovies from the Internet with othercrimes such as stealing cars and television sets and snatching handbags, waslaunched today in Australia by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.The content and style seemed to meet the approval ofdelegates at the 8th annual conference of the Cinema Owners Association ofAustralia ...
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AUSTRALIA 7 June
There are four newfilms in the top ten but Fox's The DayAfter Tomorrow, in its second week on release, and Roadshow's Troy, in its fourth week, have held onto the two top spots.The best of theopeners, BVI's Raising Helen, took$1,353,609 from 199 screens to claim the third spot and Columbia ...
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Yari takes on sales for big budget Oz feature
Bob Yari Productions is tohandle international sales on an ambitious $US 26.7m (A$32m) Australian film, ClancyOf The Overflow, a story about a quintessential bush hero to be directed bySimon Wincer.The producers are Yari, afinancier and partner in the Stratus Film Company, Wincer and Mark Pennell.Patrick Edgeworth has written the script ...
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AUSTRALIA 1 June
For the third time in four weeks the record for the highestopening weekend for a film released in 2004 has been broken, this time thanksto 20th Century Fox's The Day AfterTomorrow. The film took a massive A$6,664,837 from 402 screens and showed ascreen average of A$16,579.But there was only about ...