Small MPU – Page 2153

  • News

    Hong Kong's Filmko sells Inner Senses to Horizon for Europe

    2002-07-10T04:05:00Z

    Hong Kong production outfit Filmko Pictures has sold European rights to supernatural thriller Inner Senses to Vancouver-based sales company Horizon Entertainment.Horizon has several years experience handling Asian films in the European and North American markets. Its slate includes the celebrated Ring series, produced by Japan's Asmik Ace, one of its ...

  • News

    Halcyon hooks Weisz, Denneen for thriller projects

    2002-07-10T00:00:00Z

    Los Angeles-based independent production outfit Halcyon Entertainment has attached two hot music video and commercials directors to two films in active development. Halcyon was created in Los Angeles by British producer Chris Coen in 1999.Martin Weisz will direct The Sett, a thriller based on the novel by Ranulph Fiennes and ...

  • News

    Brandon Fowler sets up Transdermal Entertainment

    2002-07-10T00:00:00Z

    Independent Los Angeles producer Brandon Fowler has set up Transdermal Entertainment, a financing and production company focused on films with "mid-range" budgets.The company is has two projects in development: Reverie, a drama about two young men making a documentary about the homeless and how it changes their lives forever, and ...

  • News

    Ethan Hawke & Fisher Stevens among new director Gotham nominees

    2002-07-10T00:00:00Z

    Six film-makers have been nominated for the Open Palm Award for outstanding directorial debut at this year's Gotham Awards which will be presented in New York City on Sept 29. The awards, presented by IFP/New York, celebrate outstanding achievement in New York's film-making community.Nominees for the $10,000 award are Bertha ...

  • News

    Men In Black II takes $11.7m in first five international territories

    2002-07-10T00:00:00Z

    In its first international roll-out weekend Columbia's Men in Black II scored a combined gross of $11.7m from Australia, Japan, Russia, New Zealand and Columbia, averaging $10,400 from 1,129 screens. In Japan MIBII took $5.3m - coincidentally the same amount Men in Black grossed when the original came out in ...

  • News

    Li Ka Shing makes play for HK TV group

    2002-07-10T00:00:00Z

    Tom.com, a Hong Kong multimedia company owned by the territory's richest tycoon, Li Ka-shing, is buying a 32.75% stake in local free-to-air broadcaster Asia Television (ATV).The move marks Li's first foray into TV broadcasting and forms part of Tom.com's diversification strategy. The company was listed as an internet portal in ...

  • News

    Vivendi subject to accounting probe as it secures Euros 1bn loan

    2002-07-10T00:00:00Z

    Vivendi Universal confirmed today (July 10) that it has obtained a Euros 1bn unsecured credit line from a group of international banks. But there are more problems for the group as the stockmarket opened a preliminary investigation into its accounting practices.The widely expected credit move is likely to be followed ...

  • Reviews

    Nowhere In Africa (Nirgendwo In Afrika)

    2002-07-10T00:00:00Z

    Dir. Caroline Link. Germany. 2001. 134mins.A sprawling epic about a Jewish family sheltering in Africa just before World War Two, Nowhere In Africa is a natural crowd pleaser that has already stormed to success in Germany. Adapted from Stefanie Zweig's best-selling autobiography, the film, which is now playing on 224 ...

  • News

    New Line taps UK's Stevenson for Double Au Pair duties

    2002-07-11T04:05:00Z

    British writer/actress Jessica Stevenson, who co-created, co-wrote and co-starred in hit TV series Spaced, has landed a deal with New Line Cinema to write and star in Double Au Pair, a family adventure comedy about a nanny spy. Stevenson, who also starred in comedy Tomorrow La Scala! which played in ...

  • News

    Korean films take 46% local market share in first half of 2002

    2002-07-11T04:05:00Z

    Korean films leapt 7.8% to take a 46.1% share of the Seoul market with 44 films released during the first half of 2002, according to figures published by the Korean Film Commission. The hefty 7.8% increase over the same period in 2001, bodes well for the full-year tally ending up ...

  • News

    Korea's Shinabro gets $50m for acquisition and production drive

    2002-07-11T04:05:00Z

    Korean distribution company Shinabro Entertainment has secured a $50m cash pool for acquisition of rights to Hollywood movies and a drive into Korean production.The funding comes from Isoo Venture Capital, part of the giant Isoo Chemical group. The five-year, non-exclusive deal sees Isoo put up financing for the acquisition of ...

  • News

    Box-office still going up Down Under

    2002-07-11T04:05:00Z

    Australian cinemas have sold $240m (A$423m) worth of cinema tickets in the six months to June 30, a 6.7% rise on the same period last year and an indication that a growth pattern spanning more than a decade is not yet over.Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia chair Mike Selwyn ...

  • News

    Sweden's box-office revenue growth outstrips admissions by 7 to 1

    2002-07-11T04:05:00Z

    Reflecting a global pattern of box-office growth outstripping that of an increase in cinema admissions, Sweden has seen 2002's first quarter revenues outperform admissions by a factor of 7 to 1.Yet, despite allowances for inflation and increases in ticket price, Sweden's cinema industry is continuing its upward curve, with 2001 ...

  • News

    Belt-tightening squeezes pre-Mifed screenings

    2002-07-11T04:05:00Z

    The pre-Mifed screenings in London this October look set to be a smaller affair than in previous years. Many film sellers, including some based in London, have decided to set up stall only once this autumn - in Milan.The various London organisers are faced with what comes close to a ...

  • News

    Benelux's Paradiso expands into video via Laurus acquisition

    2002-07-11T04:05:00Z

    Growing Benelux distributor Paradiso is to move into video releasing following the take-over of well-established outfit Laurus Entertainment.Laurus, headed by Hans Goosens, has been in business for ten years covering the rental and retail sectors in The Netherlands and Flemish-speaking Belgium.The acquisition means that within the dominant part of the ...

  • News

    Intermedia's London operation moves inside Box

    2002-07-11T00:00:00Z

    Leading independent Intermedia, which faces a tough test when its biggest film to date K19: The Widowmaker opens in North America on July 19, is strengthening its ties in the UK with Box TV in which it has a 24.9% ownership stake. Intermedia will relocate its key creative team to ...

  • News

    di Bonaventura promoted at Warner, production restructured

    2002-07-11T00:00:00Z

    Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the head of worldwide production at Warner Bros Pictures, has got a promotion to a new corporate position within Warner Bros itself, prompting a restructure of the film production arm at Burbank.Di Bonaventura is now executive vice president, worldwide motion pictures, at Warner Bros, reporting to president ...

  • News

    Sci-fi action-thriller boosts Cruise & Spielberg's report card

    2002-07-11T00:00:00Z

    Sci-fi action-thriller Minority Report received a host of strong international openings this weekend - including the UK and Hong Kong - to gross $12.7m over the weekend, its third on international release. 20th Century Fox's film has taken $22.3m internationally so far and has yet to open in eight of ...