Small MPU – Page 1820
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News
Blue Butterfly wings its way to Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis has made its first feature film acquisition since the reorganization of the company, taking all international rights including the US, but excluding Canada, to The Blue Butterfly starring William Hurt and directed by Lea Pool.The film, currently shooting in the rain forests of Costa Rica, was acquired by ...
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Richard Eyre to direct Compleat Female Stage Beauty for Artisan & Tribeca
Artisan Pictures and Tribeca Productions have hired British director Richard Eyre to direct the film of Jeffrey Hatcher's stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty which the two companies are teaming to co-produce. Eyre, who last directed Iris for BBC Films and Intermedia, is currently directing the Broadway revival of The ...
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Turkish director gets second look in Un Certain Regard
In a highly unusual move Cannes has decided to invite a second film by Turkish director Zeki Demirkurbuz to appear in Un Certain Regard alongside his previously announced Confession (Itiraf).The film Fate (Yazgy) and Confession were shot back to back as the first elements of a trilogy, loosely entitled Tales ...
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Controversy boosts results for Baise-Moi down under
The controversy, and subsequent awareness, surrounding French film Baise-Moi has led to its limited release performing about three times the business expected by its Australian distributor, Potential. The film's gross of $49,419 (A$91,426) from just three screens over its first four days to April 28, gave a screen average of ...
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South Africa launches Cannes campaign - as festival outsider
South Africa will this year host its second-ever pavilion at Cannes, despite the fact that no South African films have been selected for the competition - or indeed any section of the festival.While the absence of South African movies from everywhere but independent market screenings is largely due to the ...
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SAG rule could 'devastate' Australian films & limit offshore opportunities
Bob Carr, political leader of New South Wales, the Australian film industry's most significant state, today wrote to Screen Actors Guild (SAG) president Melissa Gilbert to urgently verify that Australian SAG members are able to work on Australian films without being paid SAG rates. Were this not the case, his ...
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Luc Besson creates two-way French-Japanese distribution joint venture
Luc Besson's Europa Corp has launched a rights, marketing and distribution venture in Japan to grow the company's business in the territory and to 'assist' the distribution of a number of Japanese films in France.Europa Corp Japan, which launched on April 19, is a joint venture backed by Europa Corp, ...
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Frailty shows potential strength on international debut
Actor Bill Paxton's directorial debut, Frailty, showed strength as it launched on the international circuit this week. Starting out in sparsely-populated Iceland, the thriller opened on just one screen for local distributor Myndform, grossing $3,869 (ISK 362,300). Its admissions of 645 outperformed Hollywood releases including John Q and Blade II, ...
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Eurimages appoints new board member, awards co-production funds
The European production fund Eurimages has for the first time appointed a Norwegian to its board - the 52-year-old Nils Klevjer Aas, who works for the new Norwegian Film Fund. Meanwhile, projects by Margarethe von Trotta, Alain Resnais, Gerardo Herrero and Mika Kaurismaki were among 11 European co-productions granted a ...
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Levine & Sella named co-chiefs of Fox domestic marketing
Pamela Levine and Tony Sella have been named co-presidents of domestic theatrical marketing at 20th Century Fox, in light of the abrupt departure of Alan Cohen last week. They report to Fox vice chairman Robert Harper.Sella was previously executive vice president of marketing and creative director, heading the studio's domestic ...
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Curb acquires international rights to Bug
LA-based sales outfit Curb Entertainment has acquired international rights to Hayland/Margolis Productions' ensemble drama Bug which stars Jamie Kennedy, Brian Cox, Ed Begley Jr, Sarah Paulson, John Carroll Lynch and Michael Hitchcock.The film, which won the audience choice award at the 2002 Santa Barbara Film Festival, tells the interconnected stories ...
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Wellspring buyer Marie Therese Guirgis gets promotion
Marie Therese Guirgis has been named senior director of acquisitions at US distributor Wellspring Media, reporting to Krysanne Katsoolis, senior vice president of acquisitions, at the company which recently became independent of its former owner Winstar. Guirgis joined Wellspring (aka Winstar) in 1999 and was soon after named manager of ...
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First Look gets worldwide rights to golfing drama
First Look Media has acquired worldwide rights to A Gentleman's Game, a drama set in the world of golf and featuring Gary Sinise, Philip Baker Hall, Dylan Baker and Mason Gamble. The film is directed by J Mills Goodloe, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tom Coyne, on whose novel it ...
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News
Blue Butterfly wings its way to Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis has made its first feature film acquisition since the reorganization of the company, taking all international rights including the US, but excluding Canada, to The Blue Butterfly starring William Hurt and directed by Lea Pool.The film, currently shooting in the rain forests of Costa Rica, was acquired by ...
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News
Sony tipped to take 40% of UK's DNA
Sony Pictures Entertainment is reportedly in talks to take a 40% stake in UK National Lottery franchise DNA.The deal would give Sony access to the $23.4m (£16m) in lottery cash that DNA has still not spent from its franchise of around $44m (£30m), as well as projects from Duncan Kenworthy ...
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First-time director to make Finland's first Kung-Fu movie
Lars von Trier's Dancer In The Dark co-producer, Blind Spot Pictures, is to produce Finland's first-ever Kung-Fu movie, from first-time director Antti-Jussi Annila.Producer Tero Kaukomaa, who formed Blind Spot in 1997 and has since made films like Geography Of Fear and Cyclomania, was so impressed with Tampere Film & Media ...
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Two Hong Kong film companies plan Growth Enterprise Market floatations
Two Hong Kong film companies - production house Milkyway Image and distributor Panorama International Holdings - plan to float on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) in the next few months.Milkyway - which is 50% owned by Hong Kong producer-director Johnnie To - is understood to be seeking a listing ...
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Spain's Via Digital re-asserts commitment to (fewer) Spanish films
Telefonica-backed digital satellite platform Via Digital publicly responded Thursday to growing concern in the Spanish film industry about the pay-TV sector's steep reduction in financing for both local productions and foreign acquisitions.At a press conference given at the Spanish Film Festival of Malaga to announce Via's and sister broadcaster Antena ...
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European production, admissions & BO market share unite in growth
The European film industry "flourished" last year on a number of levels, including an average 9% hike in local market shares for European films, according to new research. The findings were published by the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) in data that measured feature film output, box office and market share ...
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Spider-Man: flash in the pan or franchise in the making'
As the world waits for this weekend's release of Spider-Man, the question of whether it will outperform last year's $68.1m opening for The Mummy Returns, will soon turn into whether it will deliver a sustainable and lucrative franchise. Screendaily.com looks at the legacy of comic-book adaptations.Internet movie box-office spread betting ...