Small MPU – Page 126

  • News

    India Lotus to shoot Taj Mahal for Imax

    2001-04-12T15:25:00Z

    India Lotus Inc. a film production company owned by Indian filmmaker Bharat Bala has announced plans to produce an IMAX film on the Taj Mahal. The film will star popular Indian actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai who will play the queen Mumtaz Mahal who inspired the marble monument. ...

  • News

    Mexico updates 1992 film law

    2001-04-12T15:37:00Z

    Long pending guidelines to Mexico's 1992 Film Law have been published, including new regulations that call for a 10% screen quota for national films and the setting up of a trust fund, Fidecine, of $10m (100 million pesos) per annum, using taxpayers' contributions. While local production has tripled over recent ...

  • Reviews

    Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles

    2001-04-12T16:11:00Z

    Dir: Simon Wincer. Aus/US. 2001. 95mins.The reappearance of Paul Hogan's hugely popular creation Crocodile Dundee will solve the Easter holidays movie problem for many Australian families. Unashamedly soft-centred and sweet-natured, Hogan/Dundee has aimed to include "the kiddies and the grannies" in his audiences, so Good triumphs over Evil, the jokes ...

  • News

    Dreamworks signs to Universal for five more years

    2001-04-17T11:18:00Z

    After intense speculation that it was about to clinch a deal with AOL Time Warner's Warner Bros Pictures, DreamWorks SKG has extended for five years its distribution agreement with Universal Studios, now owned by Vivendi Universal.The agreement first struck in June 1995 gives Universal international theatrical distribution rights to live ...

  • News

    Fantasporto festival extends role as distributor

    2001-04-17T11:54:00Z

    Portugal's Cooperativa Cinema Novo, organisers of the Oporto International Film Festival (aka Fantasporto) have picked up all rights in Portugal on a handful of films from the festival's recent 21st edition. Recent pick-ups include The Price Of Milk, The Irrefutable Truth About Demons, The Filth And The Fury, Purely Belter, ...

  • News

    Miramax tops Easter weekend

    2001-04-17T12:03:00Z

    Spy Kids topped the box office for the third week running despite stiff competition from three new entries - Miramax Films' Bridget Jones' Diary, Columbia Pictures' Joe Dirt and Universal Pictures' Josie And The Pussycats. Over the three-day Easter weekend, Spy Kids from Miramax/Dimension grossed a sterling $12.8m, bringing its ...

  • News

    Highlights from this week's Screen International

    2001-04-17T12:29:00Z

    Raising Venezuela"They think I'm crazy and that has helped open doors," CNAC chief, Maurice ReynaExecutive Suite Disc Drive"You will see things on DVD that you couldn't sell on VHS"News focusMoney Talks"People have started to make films with a multiplex audience in mind"Round Table Hole new concept"It was ...

  • News

    IEG picks Pickering to head sales thrust

    2001-04-17T12:39:00Z

    Veteran sales executive Pamela Pickering has, as expected, announced that she is leaving her job as president of Mutual Film International to join Graham King at Initial Entertainment Group (IEG) where she will head up international sales and distribution operations.There she will be responsible for the international sales, distribution and ...

  • News

    Lot 47 appoints Scotland PA

    2001-04-17T14:04:00Z

    New York based Lot 47 Films has picked up all North American rights to Scotland PA, a new comedy from writer-director Billy Morrissette. The company describes Scotland PA as: 'a modern-day update of Macbeth crossed with an episode of Columbo'. It stars James LeGros and Maura Tierney and Christopher Walken. ...

  • News

    Dublin fest gets Wild About Harry

    2001-04-17T14:19:00Z

    This month's Dublin Film Festival (April 20-29) kicks off with Wild About Harry, the debut feature from Declan Lowney, the Irish director better known for his work on UK TV series such as Cold Feet and Father Ted. Written by Ireland's most prolific screenwriter, Colin Bateman, the Northern Ireland-set comedy ...

  • News

    EM.TV appoints banker as chairman

    2001-04-17T14:39:00Z

    Bernd Thiemann has replaced Nickolaus Becker as supervisory chairman at the beleaguered German entertainment concern EM.TV & Merchandising.Thiemann is a former chairman of DG Bank.Becker, who had clashed with EM.TV's founder Thomas Haffa on the share deal with the KirchGroup, left the company on March 31.EM.TV's supervisory board will ...

  • News

    Madden to be honoured in Bermuda

    2001-04-17T15:12:00Z

    John Madden, director of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Shakespeare In Love and Mrs Brown, is to receive the Prospero Award for Excellence in Film at the fourth edition of the Bermuda International Film Festival April 20-26. Opening the event is One Night At McCool's, starring Liv Tyler and Matt Dillon, while ...

  • News

    New York opens Los Angeles festival

    2001-04-17T15:29:00Z

    Ed Burns' fourth feature, Sidewalks Of New York, will have its world premiere as the opening night film of the Los Angeles Film Festival (April 20-28). Paramount Classics has domestic rights to the picture, a romantic comedy starring Burns, Heather Graham, Stanley Tucci, Brittany Murphy, Rosario Dawson and Dennis Farina. ...

  • News

    Seattle beefs up local industry support

    2001-04-17T15:43:00Z

    West Coast indie outfit, Seattle Pictures has beefed up its executive team with the formation of a Producer Advisory Board, headed by Larry Estes, Scott Rosenfelt and Thomas Lee Wright.Estes and Rosenfelt have already spearheaded the promotion, marketing and distribution of independent films through their company SearchParty Films. They ...

  • News

    Bridget Jones breaks UK opening record

    2001-04-17T16:34:00Z

    Handled by UIP, Bridget Jones's Diary achieved record opening figures in its crucial UK home market.Including two days of previews on Wednesday and Thursday, before its official opening, its $8.24m gross take (£5,720,292) from 417 sites makes it the biggest opening of all time for a British-made film. Even discounting ...

  • News

    Indie community mourns Kermit Smith

    2001-04-17T16:50:00Z

    A funeral service was held today for Kermit Smith, one of Italy's most highly recognised producers and distributors of independent film. Aged 48, he died on Thursday (April 12) after a brief illness. Widely admired for championing the causes of independent and quality film with passion and a strong business ...

  • News

    New top dogs give added bark to Dutch industry

    2001-04-17T17:18:00Z

    The complexion of the Dutch film industry could be set for dramatic change following the appointment of new chiefs at all three of The Netherlands' major film institutions: the Dutch Film Fund, the Filmmuseum and the Maurits Binger Institute.After months of speculation it was announced that broadsheet journalist Toine ...

  • News

    Online spending overtakes cinema ads in UK

    2001-04-17T17:48:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Filmline founder Clermont dies suddenly

    2001-04-17T18:35:00Z

    Nicolas Clermont, one of Canada's leading independent producers, has died aged 59. President of Montreal-based production company Filmline International, Clermont oversaw several major films, most recently The Art Of War, which was co-produced with Franchise Pictures and starred Wesley Snipes. It was the highest-grossing Canadian film of 2000. Clermont ...

  • News

    Terry Semel named new CEO of Yahoo!

    2001-04-17T18:55:00Z

    Former Warner Bros titan Terry Semel has surprised the entertainment world by being named the new chief executive and chairman of Yahoo!, the struggling Internet portal that has been frequently bandied as a merger candidate for virtually every Hollywood studio conglomerate in town.He replaces Tim Koogle, who will stay at ...