Small MPU – Page 1410
-
News
Spain's Alquimia signs co-production deal with France's Mandarin
Spain's Alquimia Cinema and France's Mandarin have signed a two-picture co-production agreement.According to Alquimia founder and chief Francisco Ramos, the reciprocal agreement will encompass Alquimia's Swindled (Incautos), director Miguel Bardem's con-man tale starring Victoria Abril and Federico Luppi, and Mandarin's The Elementary Particles (Les Particules Elementaires), directed by Philippe Harel, ...
-
News
Gaga set for Japan's first digital screenings
Japan's Gaga Communications plans to start public screenings of computer-graphics animation A*LI*CE from February 25, using a digital projection system that operates without film. The screenings will mark the first time a digital film has been released theatrically in Japan. Gaga also produced A*LI*CE, a sci-fi drama which is directed ...
-
News
Internationalmedia losses force board shake-up
Production and finance group Internationalmedia announced pre-tax losses of Euros35.7m for the first nine months and as part of a cost cutting programme halved its management board from four members to two. Graham King will step down from the board although will continue to serve as managing director of Initial ...
-
News
Asian Film Industry Network to be launched at Pusan film festival
The Korean Film Commission has unveiled a long-term initiative to promote Asian film industries, to be launched at the upcoming Pusan International Film Festival.The Asian Film Industry Network (AFIN) which will launch in association with the Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) which runs November 19-20, will initially function as an annual ...
-
News
Dubbed Shoe gets world premiere
The most successful German film of all time Der Schuh Des Manitou (Manitou's Shoe) got its English-language version world premiere at AFI FEST in Los Angeles last night.Following its box-office record in Germany, where it attracted nearly 12 million viewers and some $60m, Michael Herbig's irreverent comedy has been sold ...
-
News
KWA sells three Latin American titles to the UK
Spain-based sales agent Kevin Williams Associates (KWA) has sold three Latin American titles to the UK.Arthouse exhibitor and start-up distributor City Screen picked up theatrical rights to hot Mexican titles Violet Perfume (Perfume De Violetas) and Streeters (De La Calle), while the Feature Film Company took theatrical rights on Argentine ...
-
News
Vivendi Universal reports 2002 third quarter results
Vivendi Universal today released provisional third quarter results for 2002. The company said its revenues had increased 9% to Euros 44.5bn across all businesses for the first nine months of 2002. However, revenues for its media assets in the third quarter were down to Euros 7.4bn, a 4% drop, year-on-year ...
-
News
Talk To Her prospers for Fox in Latin America
Fox's Ice Age is expected to pass $200m by the end of November after a $142,800 weekend haul raised its international cumulative total to $198.8m. The animated picture will get a boost once it resumes its run in China following a nationwide blackout on foreign pictures declared by the government ...
-
News
Double Vision nears $2m after three weeks in Taiwan
Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI)'s Double Vision followed its chart-topping $1m record opening for a thriller in Taiwan with an impressive third weekend $67,968 haul that brings its cumulative score to $1.91m nationwide including previews. The picture, which is billed as Seven with a Taoist twist, took $1m including ...
-
News
BVI scores with exclusive Treasure Planet run in France
Buena Vista International (BVI) opened Treasure Planet in an exclusive presentation in France, grossing a worthy $280,000. The animated feature is based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel Treasure Island and is scheduled to open in the US on Nov 29. Signs took $3.6m over the weekend for a $166m ...
-
News
12 finalists named for Sundance/NHK Award
The Sundance Institute and public Japanese broadcaster NHK today announced the 12 finalists for the 2003 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards. The annual award goes to an emerging international film-maker and is designed to help them with their next project. Each finalist is eligible to win a cash award of $10,000 ...
-
News
Euro animation enjoys production surge
Production of animated feature films in Europe is at an all-time high, according to a study of the industry published by Cartoon, the European animation association. Some 34 films are currently in production or about to be released in cinemas, according to the report. This compares with 56 animated films ...
-
News
Soccer pic producers score in battle against BSkyB
UK film-making duo Mary McGuckian and John Lynch have succeeded in their bid to prevent satellite broadcaster BSkyB from carrying the film Best on one of its movie channels.The duo secured a court injunction against the satellite powerhouse in the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday to prevent the film from ...
-
News
Italy, Iceland bring list of foreign language Oscar hopefuls to 40
Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio from Italy and Baltasar Kormakur's The Sea (Hafid) from Iceland have brought the current number of national submissions for the best foreign language Oscar to 40.Pinocchio, which has grossed a phenomenal $24.3m in just five weeks on release in Italy, is the most expensive film ever ...
-
News
Ireland appoints veteran producer as censor
The Irish Minister for Justice has appointed film and television producer John Kelleher (pictured) as the new Irish Film Censor. Kelleher takes up his post in April 2003, succeeding Sheamus Smith who has held the position since 1986.John Kelleher is a film and television producer and a former RTE television ...
-
News
Internet video-on-demand system launched
Movielink, the first internet video-on-demand (VoD) system backed by the Hollywood studios, got off to a "soft launch" yesterday.The service, which is available to US-based broadband homes, starts life with 170 films provided by its five studio backers, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal and Warner Bros. It will ...
-
News
Potter-proof Rabbit leads art house success
The spectre of Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets previews loomed large over the UK box office holdovers this weekend, however several of the previous week's openers, led by 28 Days Later, held up valiantly. Meanwhile Buena Vista International's Rabbit-Proof Fence led this week's openers in a strong week ...
-
News
Sandrew Metronome picks up Finnish kung-fu comedy
Sandrew Metronome has picked up all Scandinavian rights (except for Finnish TV rights) for first-time Finnish director Aj Annila's kung fu-fantasy-comedy Jade Warrior which was presented to international producers at this week's Mannheim Meetings co-production market.Blind Spot Pictures, the Finnish co-producer of Lars von Trier's Dancer In The Dark, plans ...
-
News
German star to headline English-language Ghetto
Hot German star Moritz Bleibtreu (The Experiment, Luna Papa, Taking Sides) is to play the lead role of the Nazi officer Kittel in Audrius Juzenas' adaptation of Joshua Sobol's Ghetto based on real events in the Jewish ghetto of Vilnius during the Second World War."Normally, the Nazi is played ...
-
News
UK's Prism Leisure acquires Odyssey
UK video and DVD distributor Prism Leisure has acquired the Odyssey group of companies, distributor of titles including Merchant Ivory's Howards End and Scum.The acquisition comes hard on the heels of Prism's take-over of home entertainment merchandising operation Music & Video International. The budget trade distributor now boasts a catalogue ...