Small MPU – Page 3276

  • News

    Oz exhibs slash ticket prices to counter Olympics

    2000-08-29T15:14:00Z

    Australia's three major exhibitors are dropping their ticket prices by more than 60% during September in anticipation of a downturn in business as a result of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.The move was lead by Hoyts, which also took into consideration the extended school holidays in some parts of ...

  • News

    Canada's Triptych readies High Life with Garry Yates

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Toronto-based Triptych Media, co-producers of TIFF Closing Night title Emotional Arithmetic, is readying its next feature, High Life, with director Garry Yates (Seven Times Lucky).Triptych's Robin Cass is setting the project up as an Ontario-Manitoba coproduction with plans to begin principal photography later this autumn. Based on the darkly comic ...

  • News

    Tom Green, Crispin Glover chill out with comedy Freezer Burn

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Tom Green and Crispin Glover have joined Film Bridge International and Panacea Entertainment's action comedy Freezer Burn.Principal photography is set to begin in October in Alberta, Canada, with Grant Harvey directing and Film Bridge's Ellen Wander producing alongside Panacea president and executive producer Josh Miller.Santa Monica-based Film Bridge is overseeing ...

  • News

    Graham King takes on pitch from Brave One writer Mort

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Graham King's GK Films has acquired a murder mystery pitch from Cynthia Mort, one of the screenwriters on the Jodie Foster crime drama The Brave One that gets its world premiere today.King will produce the project, which is styled as a fast paced morality tale 'in keeping with what was ...

  • News

    Charlotte Van Weede joins HanWay sales team

    2007-09-05T20:01:00Z

    HanWay Films has announced several new appointments to its sales team.Charlotte van Weede (formerly Arnold) has joined as a joint Director of Sales with Thorsten Schumacher, a four-year HanWay veteran who has been promoted. They will share worldwide sales responsibilities and both report to HanWay CEO Tim Haslam.Van Weede had ...

  • News

    Jim Harvey takes Media 8 VP post after leaving Element

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Jim Harvey has joined Los Angeles-based production, financing and sales company Media 8 as vice president of worldwide distribution after exiting the now defunct Element Films International (EFI).Harvey will be in Toronto to oversee all sales, licensing and distribution on a slate that includes the historical drama Eichmann starring Thomas ...

  • News

    Picturehouse promotes Crain to VP of acquisitions

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Lindsay Crain has been promoted to vice president of acquisitions at Picturehouse.Crain will continue to report to senior vice president of acquisitions Sara Rose and will work closely with her and president Bob Berney on all acquisitions and developments.'Lindsay has been an instrumental part of our team for close to ...

  • News

    Mad Detective screens as Venice's surprise competition entry

    2007-09-05T21:01:00Z

    The Venice Film festival unveiled Hong Kong crime film Mad Detective as this year's competition surprise film entry on Wednesday night.Co-directed by Hong Kong action film specialist Johnnie To and producer/director Wai Ka Fai, the film was presented Wednesday night at a press screening with no official pre-announcement but widespread ...

  • News

    Summit takes North American rights to Penelope

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Summit Entertainment has taken North American rights to Mark Palansky's fantasy drama Penelope starring Christina Ricci, James McAvoy and Reese Witherspoon.The film slots into Summit's nascent domestic distribution pipeline and looks likely to be a 2008 release. The first film to go is expected to be the thriller P2 in ...

  • News

    Loach's Free World lands more buyers in Venice

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    In advance of its Toronto screening, Ken Loach's It's A Free World has closed several more deals for Pathe Pictures International in Venice.The immigration-themed film has gone to Japan (Cinequanon), Portugal (Lusomundo), and Greece (Audiovisuel).Pathe's Mike Runagall is also reporting strong US interest in the film. 'Venice was very positive ...

  • News

    THINKFilm takes North America for My Brother Is An Only Child

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    THINKFilm has acquired North American rights to Daniele Luchetti's Italian-French hit My Brother Is An Only Child (Mio Fratello E Figlio Unico).The comedy caper is playing in the festival here after screening in Cannes last May and will open in North America in March 2008.THINKFilm International's head of sales Eve ...

  • News

    Ryan Phillippe and Abbie Cornish join the fight for Viking epic

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Ryan Phillippe, Abbie Cornish and Sean Bean have come on board Menno Meyjes' next film Last Battle Dreamer.The $20m Viking epic adventure will shoot starting Nov 19 for eight weeks in the UK and Germany, backed by Future Films with Handmade Films International handling international sales.Phillippe stars as Thorfinn, a ...

  • News

    MegaStar Media opens more Vietnam multiplexes

    2007-09-05T23:40:00Z

    MegaStar Media, the joint venture between Ted Shugrue's Envoy Media Partners and Vietnamese publisher Phuong Nam Corporation, has opened its third and fourth multiplexes in Vietnam. The MegaStar Cineplex Hung Voung Plaza 8 and MegaStar Cineplex Saigon Co-op Plaza 6 are situated in Ho Chi Minh City and raise ...

  • News

    Bartkowiak signs to direct Hyde Park's Street Fighter

    2007-09-06T05:00:00Z

    Andrzej Bartkowiak has signed to direct the live action feature film of video game Street Fighter for Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park Entertainment and games publisher Capcom Co Ltd. The film based on Capcom's Street Fighter game property will begin production pre-strike in early 2008 in Asia and North America, and ...

  • News

    Maximum and Fortissimo strike Canadian-Asian partnership

    2007-09-06T06:41:00Z

    Robert Lantos' new Toronto-based distribution and sales company Maximum Films has created an unusual partnership with Hong Kong-based Fortissimo Films whereby Maximum will distribute Fortissimo's films in Canada and Fortissimo will represent the sale of Maximum's projects in Asia. The deal, for an initial term of two years, was unveiled ...

  • News

    Mad Detective screens as surprise entry to Venice competion

    2007-09-05T07:00:00Z

    The Venice Film festival unveiled Mad Detective, co-directed by Hong Kong action film specialist Johnnie To and producer/director Wai Ka Fai, as a surprise competition entry. Mad Detective, produced by To's production company Milkyway Image, is the story of a rookie cop who teams up with an unvonventional criminal ...

  • News

    Tsi resigns as director of Hong Kong film festival

    2007-09-06T08:56:00Z

    Peter Tsi has resigned as executive director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), citing personal reasons. The festival, whichtakes placeat the same time as Hong Kong Filmart in March/April, has been forced to change direction over the past few years due to a sharp decrease in government funding. ...

  • News

    NFDC launches co-production market at Goa fest

    2007-09-06T09:40:00Z

    India's National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) is launching a co-production market for Indian projects to take place during the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa from November 24-26. The three-day event will be held at Goa's Marriott Resort as part of IFFI's Film Bazaar, which was launched last ...

  • News

    Johnnie To set to produce Ghost trilogy for Meridian

    2007-09-06T10:27:00Z

    Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To will produce a trilogy based on the popular Chinese online novel series Gui Chui Deng, about grave-robbing, treasure-hunting and ghosts, for Shanghai-based Meridian Pictures. 'We have bought the rights of the four books and plan to make three films,' Meridian 's director of int'l distribution ...

  • Reviews

    The Brothers Solomon

    2007-09-06T10:22:00Z

    Dir: Bob Odenkirk. US. 2007. 94mins.Coming only three months after another mainstream R-rated comedy revolving around an impending birth, The Brothers Solomon will likely enjoy neither the critical accolades nor the bountiful box-office that greeted the arrival of this summer's Knocked Up. Though not without its screwball charm and occasionally ...