Small MPU – Page 2154
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Reviews
Devdas
Dir: Sanjay Leela Bhansali. India. 2002. 181minsDevdas is a bloated banquet with minimal nutrition for the grey cells, but a few spicy morsels to tease the taste buds along the way. Expectations are riding high for the $10 million production, which opens worldwide with around 1,000 prints today (July 12) ...
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News
Further claims emerge from collapse of Australia's HIH
The extent of the damage caused by its involvement in the film financing business is emerging as further evidence is given to the on-going Royal Commission into the 2001 collapse of Australia's HIH Insurance Group. This week documents were tendered that show outstanding claims could be as high as $225.5m, ...
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UK's Channel 4 rejected FilmFour rescue offer
Channel 4 rejected a last-minute rescue deal with Germany's Senator Film and UK tax financiers Matrix that was geared at allowing the broadcaster to slash its investment to $15m (£10m) but still save FilmFour as a going concern with an annual war-chest of $45m (£30m).This decision to reject the partnership ...
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Ireland gets multiple low-budget production schemes
In advance of the anticipated announcement of a new Irish-American low-budget production partnership - between Ireland's Rapid Film and Ed Pressman and John Schmidt's New York-based ContentFilm, the Irish Film Board has launched two new low-budget feature film initiatives.The first, called the Low Budget Feature Initiative seeks to create production ...
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Koelmels step down as MBO secures Kinowelt's future
Kinowelt co-founders brothers Rainer and Michael Koelmel have stepped down from the company as an investor group led by Kinowelt executives Marcus Schoefer and Jerry Payne moved to take over the company's core businesses of theatrical distribution, home entertainment and license dealing in a management buy out. Schoefer and Payne ...
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Sales chief Diederix quits Sogecine-Sogepaq for new post
Eva Diederix, director of international sales at production-distribution house Sogecine-Sogepaq, resigned from her post on Thursday July 11 to accept a new position in international sales outside of Spain. Diederix has worked for Sogepaq since 1998. She was promoted to her current position last year during the consolidation of producer ...
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Menemsha gets The Power Of Good at Karlovy Vary
LA-based sales and distribution outfit Menemsha Entertainment has picked up North American rights to the Czech-Slovak co-production The Power Of Good - Nicholas Winton at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival this week. Matej Minac's The Power Of Good is a documentary about an Englishman who saved 669 Jewish children from ...
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New regional Spanish film commission launched
A new regional film commission has been added to Spain's growing network of local organisations with the launch of an office in Castilla-LeonThe commission will oversee the Castilla-Leon Producers' Association's (ACALPA) already-functioning 'virtual commission,' an extensive on-line database of information to facilitate shoots in the region.The website (www.filmcommission-castillayleon.es) offers ...
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IM Internationalmedia releases second quarter results ahead of schedule
IM Internationalmedia generated Euros 75m - 85m in the first half of 2002 thanks to The Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys and overages from such films as Traffic and The Wedding Planner, according to preliminary figures for the second quarter which will be officially released on August 29.IM reported that ...
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News
Mandalay lands at Universal, launches new international sales offensive
Days after announcing that it was leaving Paramount Pictures on the expiration of its current deal, Peter Guber's independent film production company Mandalay Pictures has entered into a new multi-year financing and distribution agreement with Universal Pictures. The deal, which was closed yesterday lunchtime, sees Guber find a studio home ...
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Eileen Atkins, Lucas Black join Cold Mountain
Two new cast members, Eileen Atkins and Lucas Black, have been added to the mammoth ensemble of Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain which stars shooting on Monday on location in Romania. Minghella has adapted the novel by Charles Frazier for the screen himself.Black's credits include Crazy In Alabama and All The ...
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Year Of The Devil wins Karlovy Vary's Crystal Globe
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival wrapped in the Czech Republic on Saturday, with the Crystal Globe, the festival's main prize, going to a Czech film, Petr Zelenka's Year of the Devil. It was a weekend of surprises and disappointments in the Bohemian spa town. Zelenka's film, a part fiction, ...
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France's TF1, M6 team up for Canal Plus bid
French private broadcasting groups TF1 and M6 are considering joining forces with Pathe in order to acquire Vivendi Universal's Canal Plus Group, a source 'close to the deal' told French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur.TF1's chairman Patrick Le Lay and M6's president Nicolas de Tavernost have already both voiced their interest ...
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Italian government moves to overhaul entertainment laws
The Italian government has presented a draft law to Parliament proposing a number of dramatic changes to the country's entertainment laws, including the introduction of a tax shelter.The draft law proposes that public funding for Italian movies should be capped at 50% of the budget. The current state funding ...
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Fortune Star joins with DreamWorks for Hong Kong Cafe
Fortune Star, the new production division of News Corp's Star TV group, is teaming up with DreamWorks to distribute Hong Kong Cafe, a one-hour TV series celebrating Hong Kong action movies and martial arts. The series will feature clips from Star's 600-title library which includes films starring Jackie Chan, Bruce ...
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Vivendi Universal chief financial officer resigns
Guillaume Hannezo, Vivendi's Universal's chief financial officer has resigned, French newspaper Le Monde reported on Friday July 12.The unconfirmed report said that Hannezo had tendered his resignation on Tuesday (July 9) and was expected to leave within the next few weeks.Hannezo's departure had been widely anticipated as he was a ...
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$9m large-format Bugs! goes into production
Bugs!, a $9m 3-D giant-screen documentary film, has started principal photography in the jungles of Malaysia.A live-action film about the hidden world of insects, Bugs! will use macro-photography and 3D imagery to convey the tiny dramas of bug life on a grand scale - and will be hoping to repeat ...
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Can this summer's blockbusters break the pattern of 2001's one-week wonders'
Two more blockbusters passed the US domestic $100m mark this week. However, this summer is in danger of following last year's pattern of providing a couple of early pace setters followed by a series of 'one-week wonders'.Steven Spielberg's Minority Report passed the $100m mark on Tuesday, becoming the director's 11th ...
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New minister of culture heralds turning point for Polish film industry crisis
Last week's appointment of Waldemar Dabroski as the new Polish Minister of Culture may signal an end to the political divisions that have been crippling the Polish film industry. Dabroski, who as minister for cinematography in the early 1990's was responsible for establishing the government-backed agency for film production, is ...
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The Eye is eyed up for remake treatment
Danny and Oxide Pang's chiller The Eye could be the next Asian picture lined up for Hollywood remake treatment.Under a deal brokered by Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment, remake rights are to be acquired by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner's Cruise/Wagner company with a view to the film being made ...
