Small MPU – Page 257
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Icon boards Assumption Of The Virgin for UK
Icon Film Distribution has boarded Intermedia and BBC Films' highly-anticipated period drama Assumption Of The Virgin for the UK.The UK distribution arm of Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey's Icon Entertainment beat two rivals to the tentatively-titled adaptation of Katie Campbell's novel, which is expected to shoot in Italy in the ...
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Lucas announces new Star Wars title on the net
George Lucas has used the internet to announce the title of his hotly-anticipated next Star Wars film. The official site, starwars.com. revealed that the title, "harking back to the sense of pure fun, imagination and excitement that characterized the classic movie serials and pulp space fantasy adventures that inspired the ...
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Reigning Cats & Dogs at UK box office
Warner Bros' latest family release Cats & Dogs has proved a big hit at the UK box office opening last Friday (August 3) to take an excellent three-day gross of $5.3m (£3.7m) from 452 sites, including previews of $793,401 (£555,381) from 303 sites. With a site average of $11,717, the ...
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Cronenberg's Spider starts to roll
After financing through the UK's Cobalt Media Group fell apart at the last-minute, David Cronenberg's Spider finally started shooting last week with Capitol Films on board as sales agent and key pre-sells to buyers including Helkon SK for the UK.The psychological thriller is also being backed by Metropolitan Films in ...
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Local comedy takes Danish box office record
Anja & Viktor, the feature debut of Danish actor/scriptwriter/director Charlotte Sachs Bostrup has smashed local box office records over its opening weekend taking just short of $1m in its home territory.The romantic comedy, produced by 'midas-touch' Regner Grasten, opened on Friday August 3, achieving 157,305 admissions from 101 prints and ...
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Carlton America recruits NBC's Jody Brockway
Jody Brockway has been appointed vice president, development and production for Carlton America, the U.S.-based television development and production arm of Carlton International Media Group, it was announced by Stephen J. Davis, president and CEO of Carlton America, and Gary Goldberger, executive vice president of Carlton America. Brockway will join ...
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Spain's Quiero TV begins staff reshuffle
At least four top executives have departed from Spanish pay DTT platform Quiero TV, casualties of a top-down restructuring by majority shareholder Auna (Retevision).Director of contents Gino Nattaliccio, director of institutional relations Angel Martin Vizcaino, communications director Eva Tormo and marketing director Mishka Harnden left their positions at Quiero last ...
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STAR Movies acquires Canal Plus output
News Corp's STAR Movies channel is to acquire output from Canal Plus group under a three-year deal whereby it will get exclusive pay-TV rights to new films from StudioCanal France and the UK's Working Title. French group StudioCanal is majority owned by Canal Plus, which is the pay-TV unit of ...
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Malaysia to ban street sale of video discs
Following a recent rise in sex-related crimes, the Malaysian government is considering a ban on the street sale of video discs in an attempt to eradicate the easy availability of pornography, according to a report from Reuters."It is a blanket ban which will include genuine CDs and VCDs," consumer affairs ...
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Hoyts Cinemas returns to Oz distribution
Major Australian exhibitor Hoyts has acknowledged that it will be re-entering the distribution business and announced that the head of the new division will be Robert Slaviero, who recently stepped down from his role of managing director at 20th Century Fox Film Distributors in Australia. It will acquire both international ...
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Cinemark embarks on alternative programming
In an exploratory move which will test the viability of alternative programming in cinemas, US circuit Cinemark Theatres has announced plans to screen a live concert by US rock band Sugar Ray in a handful of its US theatres. The band's August 15 concert in Georgia will be broadcast live ...
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Irreversible re-teams Bellucci and Cassel
Real-life couple Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel, lately seen in French film-maker Christophe Gans' hit title Brotherhood Of The Wolf, are joined again in Gaspard Noe's Irreversible, which started shooting at the end of July.In Irreversible, which is Noe's second film after the award-winning horror Seul Contre Tous (I ...
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Germans dominate Montreal line-up...
Four German titles, including new films from Joseph Vilsmaier and Roland Suso Richter, will make their world premiere in Official Competition at the Montreal World Film Festival, from Aug. 23 to Sept. 3. Competing against the four is two-time Montreal Grand Prize winner Majid Majidi. The Iranian filmmaker returns with ...
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Sixth Sense producers reteam with Shyamalan
Producers Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy and Sam Mercer have re-teamed with writer-director M Night Shyamalan for his next project Signs which is being backed by Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. Marshall, Mercer and Shyamalan will be producers, with Kennedy executive producer.The film, which follows Unbreakable (2000) and The Sixth Sense ...
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London sales exec Horley leaves Summit for Myriad
Samantha Horley, former vice president of international sales at Summit Entertainment, has joined Myriad Pictures as London-based senior vice president of international distribution.She will report to Eric Christenson, executive vice president of sales & distribution based in Los Angeles, and manage the distribution operations in London. She will be responsible ...
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FilmFour teams with Elmore Leonard
The UK's FilmFour Ltd has bought film rights to Tishomingo Blues, the 37th novel by Elmore Leonard which will be published by Harper Collins in Feb 2002. Leonard will serve as a producer on the film and a full creative partner on the project with FilmFour.The project, which was brought ...
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Aardman's Tortoise vs Hare back on track
Aardman Animations is to appoint Rob Sprackling and John Smith, two of the UK's hottest script talents, to write the next draft of its DreamWorks SKG-backed Tortoise Vs Hare. Aardman last month halted production of the $40m Richard Goleszowski-directed claymation picture citing story issues (Screen Daily, July 9). At the ...
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Mexico heats up as location choice for gringos
Mexico's film commission has revealed that it expects up to 40 foreign films to be shot in the country during 2001 - a gigantic leap from the mere six features shot there just five years ago.Leading the production frenzy is Miramax Films' Frida, a pet project of Mexican actress Salma ...
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Film Council and FilmFour's UK shorts schemes
The UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund for low-budget films has partnered with FilmFour's FilmFour Lab to launch four short film schemes.The two operations are each investing £250,000 a year into the schemes - Cinema Extreme, Comedy Shorts, Internet/Viral Shorts and the Completion Fund. The schemes, which may change in ...
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Warner Village Cinemas' millionth online ticket
Warner Village Cinemas UK, a division of Warner Bros. International Theatres, has sold its millionth online ticket, through its website (www.warnervillage.co.uk), just two years after launch.Since going live in July 1999, the system, which was conceived and created in-house, has posted a 20% year-on-year rise in online bookings, and there ...