Small MPU – Page 1622
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News
Jackson, Weir are Bafta's King and Master
Sunday night's BAFTA Awards threw up almost as many surprises as Saturday's Berlinale Golden Bears.While The Return Of The King was always a hot favourite for best film; that Master And Commander could equal its awards tally was less predictable. And while Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson were tipped for ...
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Biondi, Chen tip in for Reelplay financing
US virtual market player Reelplay.com has raised $4.5m from Hollywood and Silicon Valley as it closed a second round of financing led by Japan''s Softbank Venture Capital. Amongst the equity investors are former Viacom chief Frank Biondi''s Waterview Advisors and Pehong Chen, president and CEO of Broadvision. Launched last year ...
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Sandler's back at number one for Valentine's Day
Columbia's romantic comedy Fifty First Dates was the emphatic box office winner atthe weekend as it opened top on a superb estimated $41m - another smash hitopening for its star Adam Sandler.Estimatesput it at the second biggest February bow ever behind Hannibal in 2001 ($58m) and a pinch above Daredevil, ...
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Translation takes $1m in Spain, Actually is top in Taiwan for Universal
Universal's Love Actually opened top in Taiwan on a strong $235,000 from 60 prints,which includes $62,000 from previews.The romantic comedy had a strong holdover in its second weekend inJapan, adding $1.6m from 234 sites for $5.7m.Overall the picture has grossed $161m at the international boxoffice.Focus Features' Lost In Translation scored ...
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Something's hot for Warner with $16.1m weekend
The romantic comedy Something's Gotta Give grossed an estimated $16.1m throughWarner Bros Pictures International at the weekend, raising its early cumulativetotal to an impressive $38.6m.It opened top on Germany on$3.7m from 536 screens and top in Spain on $1.8m from 232.The UK dropped 4% on $2.1m for $5.6m in its ...
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Mona Lisa Smile adds $3.3m for Columbia TriStar
Mona Lisa Smile grossed an estimated $3.3 from 1,920 screens for Columbia TriStarFilm Distributors International (CTFDI) at the weekend, raising its CTFDI totalto $39.9m and $48.6m industry-wide.The drama fell to second place in Germany, slipping 37% on $1.2mfor a $10.7m total there.The drama Big Fish opened second in New Zealand ...
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Reviews
Head On (Gegen die Wand)
Dir. Fatih Akin. Germany. 2004. 120 mins.Reinforced by this year's Golden Bear award, Fatih Akin's reputation as the foremost exponent of emigrant life in Germany shines through in this tale of a mismatched couple, one a 20-year-old rebellious girl of Turkish origin, the other a self-destructive drunk twice her age ...
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Reviews
Lost Embrace (El Abrazo Partido)
Dir Daniel Burman Argentina/France/Italy/Spain. 2003. 101 mins.Argentinian director Daniel Burman's fourth feature, which picked up the Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear at this year's Berlinale, is a bittersweet comedy of national, personal and religious identity set in a Jewish inner city suburb of Buenos Aires at the low point of ...
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Reviews
Ae Fond Kiss
Dir: Ken Loach. UK-It-Ger-Sp. 2004. 103 mins.Ken Loach is famous for shooting in sequence and not revealing key plot details to his actors beforehand, in order to catch the freshness of their shock or anger unfiltered by rehearsal. It's been a while since he's startled his fans in the same ...
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NEW ZEALAND
There was considerable jostling for the top spot over the weekend and at the final count there was just NZ$560 separating the two top films, both of which were officially on release for the first time.Under The Tuscan Sun was victorious with a gross of NZ$248,940 from 44 screens for ...
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Irish Censor issues statement on Gibson's Passion
The Irish Film Censor, John Kelleher, has taken the unusual step of issuing a press release which sets out the reasoning behind his granting of a 15PG certificate for Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ.The statement [see below] deals with the issue of the film's purported anti-semitism, and with ...
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Ster-Kinekor embraces digital future
South Africa's Ster-Kinekor has revealed that it is to roll out digital high definition (HD) film servers at five cinemas nationwide over the next few months. This is the first time in South African film history that full-length mainstream features will be screened in digital HD format.Three cinemas in Johannesburg ...
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Bavaria enjoys Berlin business
Bavaria Film International (BFI) reported "good business" at this year's Berlinale and European Film Market despite the fact that its films were scheduled quite late into the festival programme.Deals on the Golden Bear winner Head-On by Fatih Akin were closed with Spain (Golem), Italy (BIM Distribuzione), Benelux (Cinemien), Turkey (R-Films), ...
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New awards event planned for Asia-Pacific
The Queensland Government and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) have announced that they are to create a new film and television awards event to be broadcast across the world."We want to create an annual televised event to acknowledge the outstanding work of producers, directors and actors, and the cultural diversity ...
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Kosslick mulls market future, festival dates
Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick declared himself "very pleased" with the running of this year's edition which had "conceptually achieved everything we wanted to."Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily.com, Kosslick described the official competition as a "varied programme of old masters and young first-time directors" and pointed out that the focuses on South ...
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Netherlands lays groundwork for film institute
While there are plenty of individual Dutch film bodies, the Netherlands is one of the last of the mature European film markets to have an official Film Institute.However, with the launch of a Dutch independent film research initiative only three weeks away, the Dutch film industry is taking another step ...
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Spain's KanZaman strikes deal with Columbia TriStar
Spanish production powerhouse KanZaman has signed a five-title distribution deal with Columbia TriStar Films of Spain for local theatrical and DVD/video rights.The deal includes three of KanZaman's high-profile international co-productions: Robert De Niro-starrer The Bridge Of San Luis Rey; Helen Hunt-starrer A Good Woman; and Willem Dafoe-starrer The Reckoning (Morality ...
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Columbia TriStar ups Indian release slate
Columbia Tristar's Indian office is to release 40 new films this year, 10 more than last year. Among the films scheduled to be released are Spiderman 2, Hell Boy and Anaconda 2.Spiderman 2 will have a 250 print release - the largest ever for a Hollywood movie in India. Previously, ...
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Premiere, Constantin conclude extensive deal
Germany's digital pay TV platform Premiere and producer-distributor Constantin Film have concluded an extensive multi-year programming deal.The agreement covers such films as Constantin's current box office hit Lost In Translation, 21 Grams and Alexander, which are being theatrically released by Constantin Film, as well as all of Constantin's own output ...