Small MPU – Page 1519
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News
Woolley, Jordan set first Dreamworks project
Stephen Woolley and Neil Jordan's production house Company Of Wolves has set a comedy to be directed by acclaimed playwright Conor McPherson as the first film to go through its housekeeping deal with DreamWorks SKG.As yet untitled, the project is set in Dublin and is to shoot this spring. "It's ...
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News
French loyalty cards plateau at 6% market share
The market for France's various cinema loyalty card schemes has reached a plateau just two and a half years after their introduction.Loyalty passes have seen little growth in the French exhibition market last year, accounting for 11 million admissions (5.9%) out of a total 186 million tickets sold, according to ...
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News
Sun shines at San Sebastian
Monday night's applause-filled screening of Spanish director Fernando Leon de Aranoa's competition entry Mondays In The Sun (Los Lunes Al Sol) marked the halfway point of Spain's San Sebastian International Film Festival, which runs September 19 to 28.But in some ways the screening represented a climax for the festival, even ...
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Norwegian film fund banks on Elling prequel
The Norwegian Film Fund is to back Maipo Film's follow-up to last year's local box office phenomenon Elling. The new film, Mother's Elling is a prequel, dealing with the title character's adventures at a Spanish holiday resort with his elderly mother. As with the first film, the script is by ...
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Vivendi Universal outlines debt reduction strategy
Vivendi Universal aims to reduce its debt by at least Euros12bn within 18 months through a drastic asset disposal plan which includes Canal Plus group's activities outside of France as well the sale of several non-core businesses. "The Board has noted with satisfaction the decisive progress made during the past ...
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News
Brett Ratner moves from Hannibal Lecter to Superman
Brett Ratner has signed on to direct the new live action feature film version of Superman for Warner Bros Pictures, the studio announced yesterday. The new version, long in gestation with McG, Tim Burton attached to direct at various times, comes 25 years after Richard Donner's blockbuster version Superman - ...
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News
Creative Financing For European Films
Lobby group, the European Film Companies Alliance (EFCA) this week published Creative Financing For European Films, a booklet containing papers and conclusions from its high-level conference on European cinema funding which took place in Cannes this year. The conference was partially-funded by the European Commission. Screen International ...
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News
Germany's Neuer Markt to close
Once home to a dozen upstart media companies which brazenly thought they could challenge the might of Hollywood, Germany's Neuer Markt is to close next year. The closure decision is part of a wider re-organisation of Germany's stockmarkets and comes too late to make much difference to anyone. The stockmarket ...
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News
Vivendi's Telepiu sale delayed again
Vivendi Universal was forced into retreat again today when chairman and chief executive Jean-Rene Fourtou had to admit that the sale of Italian pay-TV operation Telepiu to News Corp had been delayed.Only yesterday, as part of a major strategy announcement, Fourtou had proclaimed the sale for Euros1bn, a price already ...
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News
Magdalene Sisters to open Cork festival
In a year when Dublin, the country's capital, appears to have lost its film festival, the Cork Film Festival is consolidating its position with its 47th annual appearance from October 6 to 13.A total of 1,300 Irish and International shorts films were submitted to Cork's competitive shorts competition this year. ...
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Hamburg festival cheers on Beckham
Josef Wutz's final outing as director of the Filmfest Hamburg (Sept 23-29) was kicked off in fine form on Monday (Sept 23) with the world premiere of local filmmaker Fatih Akin's Italian immigrant family drama Solino, plus a gala screening of Mike Leigh's All Or Nothing.The real highlight of the ...
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News
Norwegian animated feature gets blockbuster treatment
Distributor Svensk Filmindustri is giving Vibeke Idsoe's $7.7m feature animation Karlsson On The Roof a blockbuster opening this weekend. It will be released on 173 screens across Norway and Sweden.It marks the biggest ever simultaneous opening in the two countries for a local production. Even most studio titles are released ...
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News
UK's Civilian Content 'cautiously positive' about half-year results
Civilian Content, the UK media concern currently bidding to extend its National Lottery franchise: The Film Consortium, is inching towards profitability after posting a pre-tax loss of $390,000 (£250,000) for the first half of the year.The loss marks an improvement of 68% on the first half of last year, when ...
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Reviews
Whale Rider
Dir: Niki Caro New Zealand-Germany 2002 105min.Whale Rider deftly melds in a spirited package a portrait of contemporary rural Maori life with a tale from its rich mythology. Avoiding the overt sentimentality that often mars coming-of-age tales, this New Zealand-Germany co-production offers something for every age group without pandering to ...
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Reviews
Cabin Fever
Dir: Eli Roth. US. 2002 94 min.This is not the next Blair Witch Project, nor does it aim to be. Cabin Fever is a throwback to the minimalism and stasis of a George Romero zombie movie. Indeed, the film says more about first-time filmmaker Eli Roth's attentive viewing of ...
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News
Russian film breaks local opening box office record
According to local reports Russian film The Oligarch (Oligarkh) has recorded the most successful opening for a local title ever in Russia.Based loosely on the violent rise to the top of self-exiled tycoon and Kremlin-fixer Boris Berezovsky, the film, directed by Pavel Lounguine and starring local star Vladimir Mashkov (pictured ...
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Asterix on a Mission at international box office
Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra continued its triumphant international run this week, opening in Italy for a three-day gross of $1.18m (Eu1.2m). Playing on 280 screens the film, which features Italian-born actress Monica Bellucci as Cleopatra, scored a good average of $4,221 for distributor BVI. However the film did have ...
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News
Future of Babelsberg studios secured
The future of Studio Babelsberg is secure after Vivendi Universal's announcement on Wednesday (Sept 25) to focus its activities in future as a conglomerate for the film, TV and entertainment industry.Commenting on the decisions taken at Vivendi Universal's administrative council sitting in Paris, Vivendi Deutschland chief Thierry Potok declared that ...
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News
Alain Chabat launches US company, signs with Endeavor
French actor, writer,producer and director Alain Chabat has signed with Los Angeles talent agencyEndeavor for all areas of representation in the US. Chabat, along with partnersAlex Berger of Content Participations and Amandine Billot who works with Chabatin his French company Chez Wam, has recently launched a US company Wamericaheaded by ...
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News
First Look takes North America to Czech favourite Autumn Spring
First Look Pictures hasacquired North American rights to Vladimir Michalek's Czech drama AutumnSpring, which recently screened atthe 2002 Toronto and Montreal film festivals. The deal was negotiated betweenMJ Peckos, president of First Look, with Neil Friedman of MenemshaEntertainment with a price tag in the mid-six figure range.First Look plans to ...