Small MPU – Page 1757
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News
Constantin Film reports decreased sales, improved earnings
Constantin Film has announced increased earnings for the first quarter of 2003 ahead of a May 10 meeting to decide on a response to the takeover bid from Highlight Communications.Earnings improved by Euros 600,000 over the first quarter of 2002 to Euros 1m, but sales fell 35% from 2002's Euros ...
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Fireworks acquires Nola for US release
Fireworks Pictures has acquired US theatrical rights to theromantic comedy Nola,which premiered at the second Tribeca Film Festival this week and will bereleased in theatres in the autumn.The deal was negotiated by Andrew Herwitz of The FilmSales Company and Bob Aaronson, vice president of acquisitions andco-productions at Fireworks Pictures.Based on ...
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Monarch targets drug-free 'urban' titles for US video
Monarch Home Video (MHV) has signed a four-film deal with Tim Reid's Obsidian Home Entertainment to supply four urban comedies, all of them purposefully free of drug references or excessive violence.The deal starts on June 24 with the release of Tim Reid's For Real, a romantic comedy set in the ...
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Miami Gay & Lesbian festival names winners
Mark Rucker's murder comedy Die Mommie Die and Geoff Sax's nineteenth century lovestory Tipping The Velvet took top honours at the Fifth Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian FilmFestival, which ran from April 25-May 4.The best documentary award went to Even Benestad's profile of histransvestite father in All About My Father, ...
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3D films enter new box office dimension
TwoImax large-format 3D films, T-Rex: Back To The Cretaceous and Space Station, passed box office milestones this week, havingearned $75m and $50m respectively. Releasedin 1998, T-Rex remains thehighest grossing 3D film while Space Station, released in 2002, continues its position as thefastest-growing 3D film.WhileSpace Station's 55 weeks at thebox office ...
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Reviews
The Matrix Reloaded
Dir: The Wachowski Brothers. US. 2003. 138 mins.If The Matrix (1999) remains memorable for its elegant visuals, ingenious story and cool humour, its sequel Reloaded is a case of system overload. Faced with the challenge of crafting back-to-back sequels (part III Revolutions is due in November), the mysterious and ...
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Reviews
The Heart Elsewhere (Il Cuore Altrove)
Dir: Pupi Avati. Italy. 2003. 107mins.The Heart Elsewhere (Il Cuore Altrove), Pupi Avati's sentimental period drama set in 1920s Bologna, has its good points, notably the emergence of Neri Marcore - so far known mainly for his appearances on Italian TV comedy shows - as a serious actor but it ...
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Reviews
Bright Future (Akarui Mirai)
Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Jap. 2002. 115 mins.Bright Future is more arthouse than midnight screening material, but its style and concerns are vintage Kiyoshi Kurosawa - and it should interest his growing international fan base, especially when they hear that a poisonous jellyfish is a central character. Although the film may ...
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News
BAFTA re-schedules 2004 film awards
BAFTA has changed the date of its film awards next year to avoid a clash with The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' annual nominees' lunch, held in Los Angeles.The BAFTAs were originally set to take place on Sunday February 8 next year, but with the nominees' lunch scheduled ...
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News
EasyCinema finds film programming not so easy
The UK's controversial easyCinema venture - which will sell tickets for as low as £0.20 and have no concessions stand or box office - has secured four titles from Pathe for the opening of its first cinema in Milton Keynes on May 23. But the company is now planning to ...
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News
Myriad beefs up London operation with double hire
Bolstering its London operation, production and distribution company MyriadPictures has hired former Winchester executive Christine Howard as head of international business affairsand Alice Weston, formerly at Universal, as sales executive. Both appointments come asthe London office expands its role as a stand-alone production and acquisitionsentity led by Marion Pilowsky, head ...
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News
Sundance acquires Die Mommie Die for US release
The Sundance Channel has acquired all US rights to Mark Rucker'sdirectorial debut Die Mommie Die with a theatrical release through the Sundance Film Series slatedfor autumn.An ode to the Ross Hunter-style cinema soaps of the 1960s, DieMommie Die deals withthe fall-out from a two-timing pop diva's attempt to murder her ...
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Australia's FFC chief outlines new funding model
Six weeks into his new role as chief executive of Australia's Film Finance Corporation (FFC), Brian Rosen has called on local producers to make better use of his organisation's funds and to vary the ways they finance films. He also wants them to tell bigger stories that will attract the ...
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Bavaria Film takes int'l sales on Spanish Hours Of The Day
Bavaria Film International (BFI) has picked up international sales rights to Spanish filmmaker Jaime Rosales' directorial debut The Hours Of The Day (Las Horas Del Dia) which will have its world premiere in Cannes' Director's Fortnight sidebar on May 19.The story about the monotony of life in a small town ...
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Portugese exhibitor to double screen count in 2004
Portugal's Socorama-Castello Lopes Cinemas exhibition chain plans to nearly double its screen count across the territory by the end of next year.The company, a joint venture between local exhibition pioneer Castello Lopes and four-year-old holding company JRP, aims to go from the 67 screens in 15 complexes it owned at ...
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News
Welcome to Dogville
Whenever Danish maverick Lars von Trier premieres a new film at Cannes, audiences can expect something innovative and provocative. Breaking The Waves, The Idiots and Dancer In The Dark all aroused strong reactions on the Croisette - and his latest film, Dogville starring Nicole Kidman, should be no exception. Like ...
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Germany's VCL looks to US distribution
Germany's VCL Film + Medien has announced that it is advanced negotiations with an unnamed US major to have part of its feature film repertoire distributed by the studio through an independent label.In a statement, the video/DVD distributor-license trader stated that this deal "would give [..] the urgently needed ...
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X2 storms to $149m in second week
TwentiethCentury Fox's X2: X-Men United stayed top in its second session with anestimated $41.4m weekend haul that puts the sci-fi sequel on a mighty $149mafter 10 days.Thefilm is unlikely to extend its reign next week when Warner Bros opens TheMatrix Reloaded, but will now set it sights on putting as ...
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Anger, Darkness score abroad for CTFDI
Anger Management grossed $3.5m over the weekend ,scoring several number one openings to raise its international running total to$10.5m.The comedy, which is being handled by Columbia TriStar FilmDistributors International (CTFDI), opened top of the table in Germany on $2.3mon 870 screens, beating X2 in its second week.In the German-speaking parts ...
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Anger, Darkness score in foreign openings for CTFDI
Anger Management grossed $3.5m over the weekend, scoring severalnumber one openings to raise its international running total to $10.5m.The comedy, which is beinghandled by Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI), opened topof the table in Germany on $2.3m on 870 screens, beating X2 in itssecond week.In the German-speaking partsof Switzerland ...