Small MPU – Page 1723
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News
Premiere boss ups stake in German pay-TV platform
Georg Kofler, managing director of German pay-TV platform Premiere has more than doubled his shareholding in the subscription service.Kofler's stake has risen from 10.19% to 20.46%, meaning he is now the second largest shareholder after the investment group Permira which will now hold a 54.76% interest.The interests of the other ...
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News
Tomb Raider sequel sparkles on Euro debut
Paramount's action sequel Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life received its European debut this weekend, launching in pole position in The Netherlands.Following success in five Asian countries in the past two week's the launch marks another good sign for the film, which is released in most international territories ...
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News
Cuban film-makers pitch projects to Euro financiers
Cuban film-makers pitched a string of projects to potential European co-production partners and buyers at the Locarno International Film Festival over the weekend.Daniel Diaz Torres, Humberto Solas and Humberto Padron were among ten Cuban filmmakers invited to launch the three-year project "Open Doors - World Producers Meet The World Cinema" ...
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DreamWorks' new indie label goes fishing with anime
Hot on the heels of the launch of Warner Independent Pictures,DreamWorks SKG has launched specialty distribution arm Go Fish and will openfor business with the release of Japanese anime hits Millennium Actress in September and Ghost In The ShellII in 2004.The unit will be run by Joan Filippini, the current ...
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News
Spacey biopic finds new backing singer after MDP exit
Mark Damon's MDP Worldwide has pulled out of Kevin Spacey's BeyondThe Sea, the Bobby Darinbiopic it was co-producing with Spacey's Trigger Street productions. In a statement released yesterday, Damon, the company's chairmanand chief executive officer, said the withdrawal was entirely amicable and dueto scheduling conflicts.It is understood Spacey, who will ...
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News
Fox enjoys South African honeymoon with Just Married
Fox International opened the comedy Just Married in South Africa at the weekend on anexcellent $134,000 from 60 screens, raising the film's international runningtotal to $44.3m.The film grossed around $152,000 in total and has threemarkets to go, including Japan.Elsewhere, the thriller Phone Booth added $2.6m from 754 screens in 12 ...
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Hulk bulks up in India
Universal enjoyed several excellent openings at the weekendincluding number one bows for The Hulk in India and American Pie: The Wedding in Australia.The Hulkgrossed $214,000 from 81 theatres in India for Universal's ninth biggestopening ever in the territory.It also opened top of the table in Lebanon, grossing a decent$40,000 from ...
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News
Neeson re-surfaces at Columbia TriStar Int'l
Weeks after leaving his post as president of theatrical at FoxInternational, Scott Neeson has joined Columbia TriStar Film DistributorsInternational (CTFDI) as senior executive vice president of marketing.Neeson will start work on Sept 8, when he will set aboutdevising overseas marketing strategies on upcoming Columbia Pictures andRevolution Studios' films including Spider-Man ...
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BAFTA/LA puts kettle on for Emmy nominees
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles(BAFTA/LA) is teaming up with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences toco-host an inaugural annual tea party honouring the British 2003 Emmy nominees.The event will take place one week prior to the awards onSept 20 at The St Regis Hotel in ...
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Reviews
Perfect Strangers (NZ, 2003)
Dir: Gaylene Preston. New Zealand. 2003. 96mins.After its sold-out premiere at the Melbourne Film Festival, Gaylene Preston's "chilling romance" has, unsurprisingly, been invited to Montreal in September, a timely reminder that New Zealand cinema has more to offer than Lord Of The Rings blockbuster fantasy. Perfect Strangers is an adult, ...
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News
BVI's Pirates strikes gold in the UK
Buena Vista International enjoyed its second highest opening of the year, after Bruce Almighty, in the UK and Ireland this weekend as Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl sailed into the lead position.The Jerry Bruckheimer production defied sweltering weather (see separate ScreenDaily.com story) to take a ...
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News
Flach Pyramide takes on Bosnian Fuse sales
Bosnian director Pjer Zalica's feature debut Fuse (Gori Vatra) which had its world premiere in the Official Competition at the Locarno International Film Festival on August 11, has been picked up for international distribution by Flach Pyramide International.The tragicomedy about a small-town in Bosnia embarking on a race against the ...
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News
Zombie debut earns Melbourne festival praise
A self-financed debut film about zombies has been awarded the 2003 FIPRESCI Award for Emerging Filmmakers at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Undead, directed by Queensland brothers Michael and Peter Spierig, was earlier this year picked up for distribution in the US by Lions Gate. It set to be released ...
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News
BVIP falls for F&ME's Loving Glances
UK-based independent production house Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) has struck a deal with Bjorg Veland's BVIP to represent its UK/Serbia and Montenegro co-production Loving Glances (Sjaj U Ocima) for international sales.The move comes ahead of the film's competition screening at the Venice International Film Festival and its presentation in ...
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News
Notting Hill director to mentor for Directing Change
Notting Hill director Roger Michell is to mentor newcomer Shreepali Patel on the first production to go though training scheme Directing Change.Patel, a Cardiff based director-producer with credits on documentaries such as Falkland Stories and Heavenly Bodies, will work alongside Michell on Pathe UK's upcoming production, Enduring Love.The scheme, set ...
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News
Gaga blames losses on bad timing
Japanese distributor Gaga Communications has blamed its release strategy for Hollywood films as one of the reasons for cutting its earnings forecast earlier this month. At the beginning of August, Gaga said it would post a consolidated net loss of $12.3m (Y1.47b) for the financial year ending September 31. The ...
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News
Copenhagen festival gets off to turbulent start
The first Copenhagen International Film Festival (Aug 13-20) has had a turbulent few weeks in the lead up to its launch on Wednesday night. Festival programmer Michael Soeby has resigned and will not be returning next year, despite lining up a decent first programme with a strong focus on European ...
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News
Swiss producers set for government funding boost
Swiss Federal President and Minister of Culture Pascal Couchepin has proposed that the national cinema funding budget should be increased by up to 15%. At the same time, however, he called on Swiss producers to be more commercially minded in the future.Speaking during the weekend at the Locarno International Film ...
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News
Another Oz studio planned
A major new studio facility is set to be built in Australia - the fourth in the country. Paul Hathaway, a business consultant and engineer, and his property developer brother Michael Hathway, are confident they will have all the necessary final approvals by the end of this year to construct ...
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News
Montreal unveils full competition line-up
New films from African filmmaker Idrissa Ouedraogo and Japan's Yoshimitsu Morita (Copycat Killer) are among 15 titles unveiled by the 27th Montreal World Film Festival (Aug. 27-Sept. 7), which has announced the balance of its Official Competition line-up. But the announcement also reveals anticipated conflicts with rival Venice festival (Aug. ...