Small MPU – Page 261
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News
Mongol and 12 drive Russian boom at international box office
Russian films made their mark this weekend as three films from the territory collectively accounted for 4.7% of the international revenue from the top 40 films over the three-day period. (See Screen International's full International Box-Office Chart, compiled by Len Klady, here.)Two new entries - Mongol and 12 - both ...
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Reviews
Glory To The Filmmaker (Kantoku Banzai)
Dir. Takeshi Kitano. Japan. 2007.Takeshi Kitano's last couple of films confirm that Japan 's maverick filmmaker is having a hard time deciding which way to go next and feels the urgent need to share it with his audience. After the jaundiced look at the film industry in general, and his ...
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News
Warner Bros forms large-scale alliance in Abu Dhabi
Warner Bros Entertainment has formed a long-term strategic alliance with two companies in Abu Dhabi - real estate developer ALDAR and the newly established Abu Dhabi Media Company. The arrangement calls for the creation of a theme park and hotel, jointly owned multiplex cinemas, a co-finance agreement covering feature film ...
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Italy backs Tornatore's Unknownin tough Oscar competition
Oscar winning director Giuseppe Tornatore's The Unknown (La Sconosciuta) will be the Italian candidate to the Oscars, in a reportedly tight race which gave eight votes to Tornatore's Northern Italian set noir, and seven to Daniele Luchetti's Certain Regard entry My Brother Isan Only Child (Mio fratello e' figlio unico).The ...
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Reviews
Flash Point (Aka City With No Mercy)
Dir. Wilson Yip. Hong Kong/China. 2007. 87 mins.Wilson Yip's new martial arts extravaganza is action-packed and honed along well-tested genre formulas, with an adrenalin-pumping soundtrack and a story that moves ahead with the speed and ruthlessness of a runaway train. It will leave its audience breathless after seeing so much ...
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News
Media Most benefits from Ostankino tragedy
The tragic fire at Moscow's Ostankino Television tower that claimed four lives last week and wiped out nearly all broadcasting in the city has proved a windfall for Media Most Group's satellite service NTV Plus.The Media Most Group, which has been beset by financial problems over the past year, reported ...
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News
Jim Orr promoted at MGM domestic theatrical distribution
Jim Orr has been promoted to executive vice president, general sales manager, domestic theatrical distribution, at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM).Orr joined MGM in Feb 2006 as senior vice president, head of domestic theatrical distribution operations.In his new position, Orr takes on responsibility for supervising distribution of all MGM's theatrical films in ...
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News
Brazil names Hamburger's Year its Oscar submission
Cao Hamburger's The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (O Ano Em Que Meus Pais Sairam De Ferias) is Brazil's entry for the foreign language film Oscar. The decision, announced today in Rio de Janeiro, came as a surprise since the controversial Elite Squad was considered the favorite for its ...
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News
Fujimura's Filosophia forms partnership with Petzel's Fierce
Christopher Petzel's Fierce Entertainment, which represents international distributors and financiers in Los Angeles among other things, has signed a new partnership with Japan's Filosophia Entertainment Alliance whereby Fierce will represent Filosophia in tracking Japanese rights of projects around the world and Filosophia will represent Fierce in Japan.Fierce also represents VCL ...
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News
UK boasts record summer at cinemas
Summer admissions in the UK reached a record 50.8 million, according to the Film Distributor Association (FDA).From June to August, cinema-going reached levels not seen in the territory for 40 years. Year-on-year admissions for the period jumped 27% and wereup a massive 44% on the same three months in 2000.Weatherconditions, ...
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News
MD departs troubled German media fund
Beleaguered German private media fund VIP Medienfonds has been dealt another blow with the sudden departure of managing director Dirk Specht from the company. Specht had been brought to VIP in March 2006 to take over responsibility for the finances and controlling of the VIP funds and he was the ...
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News
Forbidden Kingdom moves to South Korea for effects work
Relativity Media's kung-fu action adventure The Forbidden Kingdom, starring Jet Li and Jackie Chan, has wrapped in China and will now move to South Korea for visual effects work. A consortium of three South Korean effects houses - Macrograph Inc, Digital Tetra Inc (DTI) and Footage - has been assembled ...
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News
Eros signs Kajol, Devgan for 3D animated feature
Eros International has signed up leading Indian actress Kajol and her husband Ajay Devgan for a 3D animated feature, Toonpur Ka Super Hero. To be directed by commercials filmmaker Kireet Khurana, the film will combine live-action and 3D animation in a story about a hero who accidentally lands in a ...
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News
Coote appointed as CEO of Dune Entertainment
Australian producer Greg Coote has been appointed chairman and CEO of Dune Entertainment, the production company affiliated to multi-million dollar hedge fund Dune Capital Partners. Dune Entertainment has committed to invest more than $500m in a slate of Fox films over the next three years. 'I am greatly looking forward ...
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News
Warner Bros, TWC sign up for two Imagi features
Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based Imagi Animation Studios has signed a deal with Warner Bros Pictures and The Weinstein Company for worldwide distribution of its upcoming 3D animated features Gatchaman and Astroboy. The three companies previously partnered on Imagi's first theatrical production, TMNT, which opened in March 2007 at the ...
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News
FFC greenlights four including Mao's Last Dancer
Australia 's Film Finance Corporation (FFC) has given the greenlight to four high-profile feature films, including Mao's Last Dancer to be directed by Bruce Beresford, and granted provisional approval to four more. In a move that sees Australian filmmakers looking beyond their shores for stories, four of the films are ...
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News
UIP and EFA expand short film co-operation
The European Film Academy (EFA) and international distributor United International Pictures (UIP) are to extend their co-operation in supporting short films.Having last year sponsored the EFA Short Film Award, the Prix UIP at Venice - which went to Italian director Enrico Verra for Benvenuto In San Salvario - UIP now ...
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Bangkok World Film Festival to open with Blue Wolf
The 5th World Film Festival of Bangkok (October 25 - November 4) will open with Japanese director Shinichiro Sawai's The Blue Wolf: To The Ends Of The Earth And Sea about legendary Mongolian warrior Genghis Khan. Shinji Aoyama's Sad Vacation, Semih Kaplanoglu's Egg, Royston Tan's 881, Nina Menkes' Phantom Love, ...
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News
Lust, Caution has strong opening in HK, Taiwan
Ang Lee's Lust, Caution had a record-breaking opening in Hong Kong and Taiwan on September 25, which was also the date of this year's mid-autumn festival public holiday. In Taiwan, the Venice Golden Lion winner grossed $1.07m (NT35m) in two days. It claimed the biggest mid-autumn holiday single day record, ...
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News
Rome Film Fest unveils full line-up include Ruiz world premiere
The second Rome Film Fest, which runs Oct 18-27, has announced its full programme.World premieres in the Cinema 2007 programme include:La Recta Provincia (Raul Ruiz)Youth Without Youth (Francis Ford Coppola) August Rush (Kirsten Sheridan)Hafez (Abolfazl Jalili)L'Abbuffata (Mimmo Calopresti)And The Spring Comes (Chang Wei Gu)The Three Robbers (Hayo Freitag)The Private Man ...