All articles by Sandy George – Page 47
-
News
NEW ZEALAND 1 June
The Day After Tomorrowdid huge business in New Zealand on the weekend. The 20th Century Fox eventfilm grossed NZ$1,040,090 from 68 screens to record a screen average ofNZ$15,295.Roadshow's Troygrossed NZ$446,928 from 73 screens in its third weekend on release to takesecond place and it was followed by Columbia TriStar's You ...
-
News
Rialto announces five Cannes pick-ups
Cannes Grand Jury winner OldBoy, the thriller by director Park Chan-Wook, is one of five films pickedup for distribution in Australian and New Zealand by Rialto Entertainment.The distributor is likely to release Old Boy this year but hold the controversial The Woodsman, the debut feature by director Nicole Kassell starringKevin ...
-
News
Distributors leap for Somersault
Sales agent Fortissimo Films has signed off withdistributors from a range of territories on Cannes Un Certain Regard title Somersault,including Metrodome for the UK, Prokino for Germany and Austria, and Vision forFrance.Somersault was the only Australian film inofficial selection at Cannes. It is the debut feature for both writer/directorCate Shortland, ...
-
News
Oz exhibition player mulls German cinemas stake
Australia's Amalgamated Holdings Limited (AHL), owner of Kieft& Kieft, has signalled that it is reviewing the 50% holding that the Germanexhibitor has in joint venture company Neue Filmpalast GmbH & Co KG.The joint venture operates the Ufa circuit consisting of 187screens at 31 sites across Germany. AHL has said that ...
-
News
Dendy takes three for Australia
Dendy chiefs Andrew Mackie and Richard Payten areparticularly pleased that Mike Leigh's VeraDrake is among the three films they have just picked up for Australia andNew Zealand.This is because it will be the fourth film they have handledfor the UK writer/director under various distribution guises. They fought offvigorous competition for ...
-
News
AUSTRALIA 24 May
Local comedy Thunderstruckwas the fourth most popular film at cinemas on the weekend, taking A$358,890from 162 screens for Icon. While this was well behind the big Hollywoodblockbusters Troy and Van Helsing, it measured up reasonablywell against third placed Twisted,the new release from UIP, which took A$477,471 from 138 screens.Troy and ...
-
News
NEW ZEALAND 24 May
Roadshow's Troyhad no trouble maintaining its title as the most popular film at the box officefor the second consecutive weekend and UIP's Van Helsing held on to second place but three of the next fourspots in the chart were occupied by new releases.They were Columbia TriStar's You Got Served, which ...
-
News
Saddle Club set for big screen
Australia's CrawfordProductions and Canada's Protocol Entertainment are preparing to shoot afeature that is based on the hit TV series TheSaddle Club, which is currently screening on Discovery Kids in the US and,when last screened in Sydney, attracted an astounding 95% of all five to12-year-olds at its peak.Matt Carroll, who was ...
-
News
NEW ZEALAND 17 May
As is happening around the world, Roadshow's Troy had no trouble claiming the crownof top film at the box office on the weekend. It grossed NZ$987,503 from 73screens, pushing UIP's Van Helsingdown to second place with a gross of NZ$358,049 from 66 screens, a fall ofabout 45%. Troy's screen average ...
-
News
Becker boards Islamic omnibus
LeBrocquy FraserProductions, whose first feature credit was Osama, has signed on BeckerFilms International to help finance and later sell Five Worlds - anomnibus of 20-minute films from different Islamic countries by fivehighly-regarded local directors.Each of the five films is avery personal story but also demonstrates the effects of recent political ...
-
News
NEW ZEALAND 11 May
As expected, Van Helsing had no trouble claiming thecrown as the most popular film at the New Zealand box office on the weekend,grossing NZ$658,698 from 65 screens for UIP.It pushed Kill Bill: Volume 2, which is in its secondweekend, off the top spot. Kill Bill also got a battering from ...
-
News
AUSTRALIA 10 May
Van Helsing sold more tickets on its opening weekendthan any other film released so far this year in Australia. It grossedA$4,596,027 from a whopping 338 screens for UIP. This was nearly six times morethan the second placed, Gothika, while its screen average, at A$13,597,was more than A$3,000 ahead of every ...
-
News
NEW ZEALAND 4 May
Kill Bill: Volume 2opened on the weekend and claimed the top spot from another BVI/Miramax film, Starsky& Hutch, just as it did in Australia on the previous weekend. KillBill took NZ$364,251 from 32 screens while Starsky & Hutch, inits second weekend on release, snapped at its heels with A$347,516 from ...
-
News
Moneypenny expands into SA, NZ
Financial services company Moneypenny, which has been anintegral part of Australia's film industry for 25 years, is expanding intoSouth Africa and New Zealand within the next few months.Principal Jane Corden (pictured) relocates to Capetown for 12 monthsfrom late June - one of her first tasks will be to find a ...
-
News
Arclight, Instinct capitalise on Strange Bedfellows
On the eve of the film'sinternational premiere in the Cannes market, Arclight Films has signed on as'subagent' for the Australian comedy Strange Bedfellows, which openedstrongly enough to claim third place in the local weekend box office charts.The film sold A$1,373,957worth of tickets from 194 screens during the five-day long weekend ...
-
News
AUSTRALIA 27 April
Despite a cold receptionfrom the critics, Australian comedy Strange Bedfellows was able to claimthird place in the charts on the five-day holiday weekend due to its verystrong A$1,373,957 gross from 194 screens.Obviously there remains alot of affection for the Becker film's stars, Paul 'Crocodile Dundee'Hogan and Michael Caton from The ...
-
News
NEW ZEALAND 26 April
The NZ$555,222 gross for Starsky& Hutch on its opening weekend was the biggest at the New Zealand boxoffice since The Last Samurai opened over three months ago. TheBVI/Miramax comedy went out on 48 screens, considerably less than the screencount of each of the next four films in the chart.Starsky & ...
-
News
NEW ZEALAND 19 April
After Columbia TriStar warmed up audiences on previews starting a week ago, 50 First Dates confidently claimed the top spot in the box office charts with a gross of NZ$505,506 from 56 screens. It also had the highest screen average of the weekend at NZ$9,027.It replaced UIP's Along Came Polly, ...
-
News
Oz film set for radical funding overhaul
In an attempt to drag Australian films out of the doldrums, Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) has unveiled a plan to radically overhaul its funding procedures.The proposals would give the government-owned financier much more control over which films get funding.Under the existing model other industry players make the decisions and ...
-
News
Sydney to get two more sound stages by July
Two additional sound stages, each with a floor area of 1,000 square metres, are to be open for business in Sydney by July."We have been a little behind schedule due to building delays but as promised we will have fully sound proofed stages available for hire," said Serenity Cove Studios ...