Small MPU – Page 1768

  • News

    Corman earmarks $10m for Irish co-prods

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Roger Corman of Concorde Films has teamed with Kieran Corrigan of Ireland's Merlin Films to launch a $10m drive into financing low-to-medium budget productions primarily from Europe, the partners announced on Thursday.The duo have secured a $10m line of credit targeted at European co-productions with an element of principal photography ...

  • News

    Sandstone kickboxes with Anglo-German partners

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    LA-based production company Sandstorm Films is to partner with equity investors Media Cooperation One GmbH (MCOne) in Germany and Matador Pictures in the UK to produce a slate of films led by the kickboxing action film The Square Circle directed by France's Olivier Megaton (La Sirene Roge). Lightning Entertainment is ...

  • News

    Celestial goes wild in France

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Hong Kong's Celestial Pictures has signed a multi-year video distribution deal with France's Wild Side Films for numerous titles from its classic Shaw Brothers library. Wild Side will release more than 40 Shaw Brothers titles - including The One-Armed Swordsman and The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin - in French-speaking territories ...

  • News

    Scottish-Scandinavian love affair spreads

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    The love affair which has sprung between Scotland and the Scandinavian countries, and which has accelerated in recent years with films like Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself, The Bum's Rush and Skagerrak, is set to continue with a new collaboration between Sweden's Sonet Film and Brocken Spectre. Together they secured ...

  • News

    Cecchi Gori returns to production

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Beleaguered Italian media mogul Vittorio Cecchi Gori, whose production, distribution and exhibition empire recently fell apart in a morass of bad debts and corruption charges, is back. At a Cannes press conference, the carefully-coiffed helmsman of the Cecchi Gori Group, created by his father Mario, claimed that he has been ...

  • News

    Pippi's father heads for international seas

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Everyone knows Pippi Longstocking, but few know that her father was a real person. But with Pippi's Father - Captain Charlie And The Cannibal Princess (working title) he should be at least as well known as Harry Potter by family audiences across the world. At least that is the ambition ...

  • News

    Quantum secures completion funding

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Quantum Entertainment has signed an exclusive joint venture agreement with private investment Moviebank to raise $10m to $12m to provide completion financing for the films that the company will produce over the next three years.Under the venture, Quantum has teamed with Tony Shawkat's Basra Entertainment to produce gothic thriller Vlad ...

  • News

    Lisowsky jumps from DreamWorks to Universal

    2000-02-10T16:31:00Z

    Dirk Lisowsky has been appointed managing director of Universal Pictures Video Germany, replacing Haig Balian who headed up both theatrical and video operations for Universal in Germany before the decision to channel theatrical product through UIP.Lisowsky previously managed DreamWorks' operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Prior to that he held ...

  • News

    Rampling heads South with Cantet

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Haut Et Court, the French production company behind competition film Tiresia and anticipated Un Certain Regard picture Who Killed Bambi, has cast Swimming Pool-star Charlotte Rampling in the new psychological drama by hot shot Laurent Cantet. The film, Heading South (Vers Le Sud) is an adaptation of the novel of ...

  • News

    Sales life for After Death

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Bauer Martinez Studios has finalised international sales deals in nearly 30 territories for After Death, the new Jean Claude Van Damme actioner, which starts production in July.Deals have been closed with Gaga in Japan, American Film & Video in Spain and Portugal, VCK in Italy, Nordisk in Scandinavia, Prooptiki in ...

  • News

    Mifed tries to remove doubts

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Fiera Milano International (FMI) has signed a contract to run Mifed for the next 15 years and is committing to investing in improved services 'We want to make the market more modern and functional,' said Massimo Viviani, Managing Director of FMI, the market's new owners. 'We have been meeting our ...

  • News

    Miramax full of Eastern promises

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Miramax Films has acquired worldwide distribution rights excluding UK free TV to BBC Films' Eastern Promises, a contemporary thriller set in an immigrant community. The film is written by Steven Knight, who also wrote Dirty Pretty Things, another BBC Film which Miramax handled worldwide.BBC Films chief David Thompson is executive ...

  • News

    Myriad nets Little Fish

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Myriad Pictures has acquired worldwide rights outside Australia and New Zealand to Little Fish, the second film from Rowan Woods whose debut The Boys was one of the biggest Australian hits of 1998.The film is produced by Porchlight Films' Vincent Sheehan (Mullet) and will be executive produced by Myriad president ...

  • News

    Pavlikovsky re-teams with BBC on new slate

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Paul Pavlikovsky, the acclaimed director of 2000's Last Resort, is re-teaming with BBC Films on coming-of-age-tale This Summer Of Love.Pavlikovsky is working on the script, which tells the story of two adolescent girls from different classes and what happens when a dangerous man enters their lives.The BBC, which has The ...

  • News

    Canada's Max Films launches film sales arm

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Quebec-based film and television production outfit Max Film is returning to films sales through a new division, Max Films International.The first project to be handled, says Max co-founder and president Roger Frappier, is the company's La Grande Seduction, Jean-Francois Pouliot's comedy about the residents of a modest fishing village which ...

  • News

    Low budget films ride Shotgun

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Low budget, low overhead and low risk are the watchwords of a new Stuttgart-based production outfit, Shotgun Pictures, which yesterday unveiled a plans for a ten-picture slate.The company was formed by Kinowelt founder Peter Haeberle, German producer Peter Rommel, the UK's Mike Downey and Sam Taylor and Keith Rothman. Financial ...

  • News

    Trish Lake getting busy in Australia

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    With buzz building back home on her first credit, the unfinished Gettin' Square, Queensland-based producer Trish Lake is at Cannes with three projects. The most advanced is The Digger, which is being written by the mother/son/stepfather team of Jan Bradnam, Ashley Bradnam and Terry McCann.Babe director and co-writer Chris Noonan ...

  • News

    Korean war drama sold to Universal in Japan

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Korean powerhouse Kang Je Gyu has inked its long-anticipated first deal on war drama Tae Guk Gi, aftter. Japanese rights to the $12m picture was sold to Universal Pictures Japan (UPJ), for an undisclosed sum. The deal enables Kang Je Gyu, Korean distributor Showbox and UPJ to begin immediate ...

  • News

    Alliance, Canal Plus confirm UK distribution pact

    2000-02-10T16:32:00Z

    Alliance Atlantis and France's Le Studio Canal Plus have confirmed a deal for Alliance to handle UK distribution on a slate of Le Studio's high-profile English-language titles (Screendaily, Feb 3).The deal covers all UK rights to Simpatico, starring Sharon Stone and Jeff Bridges; Kathryn Bigelow's Weight Of Water, with Sean ...

  • News

    Kidron takes on Reluctant Matador

    2003-05-19T00:00:00Z

    Beeban Kidron is to direct romantic comedy The Reluctant Matador for Myriad Pictures.Myriad is financing and co-producing the film with Charles Finch and Luc Roeg's Artists Independent Network. Momentum Pictures retains UK rights after helping develop the project. The picture, which is expected to star Ryan Reynolds and Paz Vega, ...