Small MPU – Page 1561

  • News

    Barbara Windsor wins Women in Film and TV lifetime award

    2003-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Barbara Windsor is to be awarded the Working Title Films Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2003 Five Women in Film and Television Awards (WFTV).The annual awards ceremony celebrates the achievements of women in all aspects of the British film and television industry and will be held on the Dec 5 ...

  • News

    Japanese studio abandons move plans

    2003-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Game maker Namco has abandoned its plan to move the studio of film subsidiary Nikkatsu from its current location in a Tokyo suburb to a new site in Yokohama. The plan, announced by Namco president Masaya Nakamura in July 2001, called for the construction of a new studio on a ...

  • News

    Italians protest against Rai 'censorship'

    2003-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Italian composer Nicola Piovani and Nobel winning playwright Dario Fo were among more than 15,000 people who attended a live show at the weekend to protest against censorship at Italian state broadcaster RAI.The show was conducted by local comic Sabina Guzzanti, whose satirical TV programme was closed down by Italian ...

  • News

    McKellar cranks up Childstar

    2003-11-24T00:00:00Z

    Principal photography is underway in Toronto for Don McKellar's second film, Childstar through Toronto-based Rhombus Media. Written by McKellar and Michael Goldbach, the comedy features an ensemble cast including McKellar, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mark Rendall Dave Foley, Gil Bellows, Brendan Fehr, Kristin Adams, Peter Paige, Noam Jenkins, Alan Thicke, Eric ...

  • News

    Koelmels face charges for bankruptcy delay

    2003-11-25T04:00:00Z

    The spectre of the former Kinowelt's demise is coming back to haunt brothers Michael and Rainer Koelmel with news that Munich's public prosecutor's office may bring charges against the brothers for delaying the declaration of the bankruptcy of Kinowelt Medien.The prosecutor's spokesman Anton Winkler told the news weekly Focus that ...

  • News

    Independent coalition sues MPAA over screener ban

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    A group of independent film-makers including Robert Altman, Christine Vachon, John Sloss, Ted Hope and John Penotti has teamed up with IFP/Los Angeles and IFP/New York to file a lawsuit against the MPAA in an effort to have the screener ban lifted immediately.The move comes as the dust was starting ...

  • News

    Jones appointed senior programmer at IFP LA Film Festival

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    Doug Jones has been appointed senior programmer at the IFP Los Angeles Film Festival which this year runs from June 17 to June 26. He will work year-round with the festival's programming director Rachel Rosen.The festival, formerly the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, was taken over by IFP/Los Angeles in ...

  • News

    Revolutions takes fast declining $21.5m over third weekend for Warner

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    The Matrix Revolutions slowed down in its international run over its third weekend in theatres, taking an estimated $21.5m in 94 territories for a cumulative total to date of $230.2m.It appears that the film will stop considerably short of the $454m international total scored by its predecessor Reloaded.In Japan, the ...

  • News

    JAPAN

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    Michael Winterbottom's In This World led all new openers with a screen average of $36,760. Distributor Amuse, now merged into Toshiba Entertainment, saturated leading Tokyo art theatres with trailers prior to the November 15 opening at the Cine Chanter theater in Tokyo and the Kannai MG theatre in Yokohama. Also, ...

  • News

    ITALY

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    Robert Rodriguez's gun-slinger Once Upon A Time In Mexico knocked Love Actually off the top spot at the Italian box office over the weekend, grossing a strong $1.8m from 283 screens for BVI.The Johnny Depp vehicle, which premiered to much publicity at the Venice Film Festival in September, scored an ...

  • Reviews

    Michel Vaillant

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Louis-Pascal CouvelaireLuc Besson is backseat driving again. The latest model to roll off his EuropaCorp action movie assembly line is called Michel Vaillant, the name of a champion race car driver who is indeed valiant on wheels or off but who won't keep the ghost of Steve McQueen up ...

  • News

    GERMANY

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    Finding Nemo exceeded even the wildest hopes of exhibitors, who are in desperate need of a good fourth quarter, by scoring over 2m admissions (without previews) and Euros 13.3m in box office takings from its 1,004 prints. Not only was the Buena Vista release the best opening of 2003 ...

  • News

    AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND Prod Lists - Nov 25 2003

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    AUSTRALIA - November 25PRE-PRODUCTIONIRRESISTIBLE(Irresistible Films, Kennedy Mellor, Spice Factory, Movision Entertainment) Backers: Film Finance Corporation Australia, Movision. Int'l sales: Arclight. Dist: Palace (Aust/NZ), Momentum (UK), Blue Star (Italy). Psychological thriller. Sophie Hartley is convinced she is being stalked. She becomes increasingly certain that her husband's beautiful co-worker, Mara, wants her ...

  • News

    Busy new year ahead for Oz production

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    For full current production listings click hereThere are just four films in production in Australia for the next three months, The Human Touch, some of which has already been shot in France, The Oyster Farmer, Ten Canoes and the Kennedy Miller animation Happy Feet. There may be an unknown ...

  • News

    DENMARK

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    Though Finding Nemo had no problem hanging on to the top spot this week, with twice the screen average of two new releases Love Actually and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, this weekend's box-office total was down no less than 51,8% from last year. Matrix Revolutions continued its rapid retreat from the ...

  • News

    Teze returns to TFI as film sponsorship chief

    2003-11-26T04:00:00Z

    Former TF1 International executive Perrine Teze is to head up a new film sponsorship division at TF1 Publicite.Teze, who has been on maternity leave for the past six months after helping to oversee the birth of TFM - the film division's joint distribution venture with Miramax - will work in ...

  • News

    Schultze sweeps Stockholm festival prizes

    2003-11-25T00:00:00Z

    The 14th edition of the Stockholm International Film Festival, which wrapped on Sunday night, showered most its awards on German newcomer Michael Schorr for Schultze Gets The Blues.The picture won best film, best actor, best script and writer-director Schorr was also named best debutant. The film, which previously screened in ...

  • News

    Full Monty writer sparks off British Muslims drama

    2003-11-26T04:00:00Z

    Simon Beaufoy, the writer of This Is Not A Love Song and The Full Monty, has tackled the experience of British Muslims post-September 11 in Spark, a drama which started shooting this week for Channel 4.The production is UK director Kenny Glenaan's follow-up to Gas Attack, a controversial asylum-seeker ...

  • News

    Blair Witch hits $100m internationally

    2000-03-03T18:39:00Z

    The gang-busting opening of The Blair Witch Project in Italy has pushed the release of the spook-fest to $100m on the international circuit. This brings the micro-budgeted production to a huge worldwide total of $240m and confirms its position as the most profitable film ever.The film's opening three-day weekend in ...

  • News

    New Line plunges back into German funds

    2003-11-26T04:00:00Z

    New Line Cinema has again joined forces with German private fund specialist Hannover Leasing (HL) to raise up to Euros 100m for a raft of international English-language features.The latest fund, MERADIN Produktions GmbH & Co. KG, which is being co-initiated by HL with the Stuttgart-based financial investment company DaimlerChrysler Services ...