Small MPU – Page 1878
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News
Gladiator leads nominations for revamped Baftas
Ridley Scott's Gladiator leads the race for the 2001 film awards of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which are lent extra significance this year with a pre-Oscar date on February 25.Gladiator, which has grossed $444.7m worldwide, racked up 15 nominations, including film, original screenplay, cinematography, sound and ...
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Irish cinema admissions up 18% in 2000
Cinema admissions in the Republic of Ireland leapt by 18% to 14.89 million in 2000, compared to 12.45 million in 1999 - the largest year-on-year increase on record - according to figures from Carlton Screen Advertising.The month of February, 2000 showed a massive 68% increase over the previous year to ...
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News
Billy Elliot, Gladiator, Chocolat lead SAG noms
The nominations were announced yesterday for the 7th annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, set to take place on March 11 in Los Angeles. The nominees were chosen by 4,200 randomly selected SAG members and are dubbed the only acting awards voted on entirely by the actors' peers.In the five ...
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Chan's biggest opener in four years is no accident
Golden Harvest allowed no mishaps with the release of Jackie Chan's latest title, The Accidental Spy. Teddy Chan's US$25m action-comedy, which opened over the highly competitive Chinese New Year period on 49 screens, has proved Chan's biggest opener in four years, taking US$1.78m in its first week on release. January ...
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Reviews
The Wedding Planner
Dir: Adam Shankman. US. 2001. 100 mins.The Wedding Planner is an exceptionally lame romantic comedy only partially redeemed by a charismatic turn from lead actress Jennifer Lopez. Lopez rises above the sub-standard material and shows great promise as a romantic comedy star. The film opened with a respectable $13.5m over ...
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Battle Royale, Jalla! stir up Rotterdam
Japanese director Fukasaku Kinji's Battle Royale, Swedish debutant filmmaker Josef Fares' comedy Jalla! Jalla! and Juan Pablo Rebella's dry-humoured slacker drama 25 Watts from Uruguay are among the buzz films on festival guests' lips at the 30th Rotterdam International Film Festival this week."I received phone calls from Sundance from ...
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News
KC Medien boards third Mandalay project
German film investment fund KC Medien has confirmed Reginald Hudlin's latest feature Servicing Sara, starring Liz Hurley, Matthew Perry and Bruce Campbell, as the third Mandalay Pictures project that it will co-finance.In the last year, KC Medien has put up part of the financing for Mandalay's production of Jean-Jacques Annaud's ...
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Kirch, Cologne Gemini buy into Prima Idee
One of Germany's leading independent producers, the Cologne Gemini Group, and Kirch Media's new subsidiary, Kirch Media Entertainment, have taken stakes in Berlin-based production outfit Prima Idee which specialises in TV entertainment format ideas and concepts. In addition to taking a 30% stake in Prima Idee, Kirch Media Entertainment, a ...
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Alliance Atlantis confirms domestic Maelstrom sale
Alliance Atlantis Communications has confirmed that Arrow Features has acquired US rights to Denis Villeneuve's Maelstrom, which world premiered at the Montreal Film Festival last year and screened last week at the Sundance Film Festival.The deal was announced by Patrice Theroux, president of Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution, and Dennis ...
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Reviews
Intimacy
Screened at Sundance (Premieres). Dir: Patrice Chereau. UK. 2001. 119mins.Based on short stories by famed UK writer Hanif Kureishi, Intimacy, Patrice Chereau's first English-speaking feature, is a stunningly-made film that explores the mysteries of sexual desire in a dauntless way. This audacious treatment, accompanied by graphic portrayal of sex (showing ...
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News
BBC Films ups Scoffield, appoints Bennette
The UK's BBC Films has revamped its production team, promoting Tracey Scoffield to executive producer and appointing Rachel Bennette as a producer.Scoffield, previously head of development, will executive produce projects as well as retain overall responsibility for BBC Films' development slate. Bennette was previously development executive at Uberto Pasolini's production ...
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News
Grupo Boca adds thriller to expanding slate
Spanish production outfit Grupo Boca is seeking an Italian co-production partner on forthcoming thriller They're Watching Us (Nos Miran), to be directed by first-time feature director Norberto Lopez, from a script by Jorge Guerricaechevarria (Live Flesh, Common Wealth co-writer).The film, which is scheduled to start shooting next week, will star ...
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News
Menemsha picks up Sundance winner
Los Angeles-based international sales company Menemsha Entertainment has picked up worldwide rights to Brazilian romantic comedy Possible Loves (Amores Possiveis), directed by Sandra Werneck, which won the Latin American Jury Prize at this year's Sundance.20th Century Fox holds the Latin American rights to the film which is represented by Brazilian ...
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News
Cinema Novo launches production fund
Bruges' Cinema Novo Film Festival, which focuses on films from Africa, Asia and Latin America, has announced initial steps towards its long-awaited production fund for feature films from the southern hemisphere.On the occasion of Bruges being a "European Capital 2002", Cinema Novo will award two post-production grants - each worth ...
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News
Japanese DVD sales more than double
According to figures released by the Japan Video Association, DVD video sales in Japan more than doubled in 2000, to $900.7m (Y104,488m) on 30,261,000 units, accounting for 37.9% of all video software sales. Meanwhile, sales of video cassettes fell 22.5% to $1,369.9m (Y158,797m) on 33,752,000 units, for a 57.6% share. ...
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Christina Ricci joins FilmFour's Miranda
Christina Ricci is to star opposite UK actor John Simm in the provisionally-titled UK romantic comedy Miranda.The $5.9m (£4m) production is being financed by the UK's FilmFour, which is handling international sales. To be directed by Marc Munden from a script by Rob Young, the project marks the feature debut ...
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News
Corman, Schwarzenegger, Zellweger get AFMA Honours
The American Film Marketing Association (AFMA) is to launch its own awards ceremony at this month's American Film Market (AFM), giving out a series of "AFMA Honors" to celebrate the talent integral to independent film-making.The first awards event will take place on the beach near the Loews Santa Monica Beach ...
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Svankmajer to be awarded Freedom Prize
Veteran Czech filmmaker-artist Jan Svankmajer is to be presented with the Andrzej Wajda/Philip Morris Freedom Prize by Polish director Wajda at a special ceremony in Berlin's Academy of Arts on February 11.The presentation will take place as part of the Freedom Film Showcase of films from Central and Eastern Europe ...
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News
TF1 takes 100% control of Eurosport
Leading French broadcaster TF1 - which recently reported a 57.8% jump in its net revenues for 2000 - has acquired Canal Plus' and Havas Images' stake in the Eurosport group, which it now owns 100%.Eurosport, which reaches 92 million households and is available in 54 countries and 17 different languages ...
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News
CinemaxX embarks on $9m cost-cutting programme
The board of German exhibitor CinemaxX has agreed to a "massive programme of reducing costs" which should lead to a $9.6m (DM20m) improvement in its results. The company also said that it now plans to focus on the German market, and will only pursue expansion abroad "in co-operation with a ...