Small MPU – Page 3279
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Features
In Focus - German production - Keen on the kino
Finding crew members has not been an easy task this summer with local production booming throughout Germany. In an echo of the motto 'diversity is our strength' from the halcyon days of New German Cinema in the 1970s, German film-makers are trying their hands at a smorgasbord of genres.Following the ...
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Features
United States - The Film's The Thing
I was at pains to try and make this not feel like a playwright's movie," says David Auburn, the award-winning playwright of Proof, whose directorial film debut The Girl In The Park has its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. "I wrote it for the screen. ...
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Features
United States - Writing Partners
The 3:10 To Yuma writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas say their working relationship is "like a marriage", but that doesn't mean they share an antique writers' desk a la George Clooney and Grant Heslov on Good Night, And Good Luck."We work separately," Brandt says. "One of us writes a ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Heart of darkness
Neil Marshall indulges his influences in Doomsday, the $30m follow-up to his acclaimed 2005 low-budget horror hit The Descent. "Raiders Of The Lost Ark was the film that made me want to make movies," Marshall says during a recent promotional trip to Comic-Con in San Diego.From the sound of it, ...
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News
X-Men, Shanghai Noon top tepid weekend
The UK box office over the August bank holiday weekend was disappointing, with the aggregate gross around $1.5m lower than the same weekend last year. The major opener, Shanghai Noon (pictured), released and highly-publicised by Buena Vista International, grossed $1,095,159 (£744,631) over the three-day weekend taking second place in the ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Laying down the law
Had David Alexander lasted more than a day studying to be a lawyer, he might not have been responsible for the award-winning short, Growing, or be on his way to the Talent Lab at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he is one of the first three international participants in ...
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Features
Industry moves
HIGGINSON ON THE RISE AT FOX INTERNATIONALPaul Higginson has been promoted to senior vice-president of Europe Theatrical at Fox International, filling the post that will be left by the Universal-bound Christian Grass. Todd Huntley has been promoted to vice-president of Europe Theatrical. Both promotions take effect immediately. Higginson will remain ...
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Features
Lebanon - Going for a song
Hany Tamba's 2005 short After Shave (Beyrouth Apres-Rasage) marked the Lebanese director out as a major talent. Stunningly shot, witty and poignant, it won the French Cesar for best short film in 2006. Tamba is now editing his first feature, a comedy about a one-hit-wonder French singer (played by Patrick ...
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Features
Mexico - Duo draw on local inspiration
Young film-making duo Israel Cardenas and Laura Guzman are typical of a new generation of Latin American film-makers in their desire to portray the continent without resorting to stereotypes. Their debut feature, Cochochi, explores the life and culture of an indigenous Mexican tribe, the Tarahumaras, through two young brothers' search ...
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News
Sequel opportunities - reviving franchises
With three sequels grossing more than $300m apiece at the North American box office and another half dozen passing $100m, summer 2007 proved the point yet again: sequels can be very big and very reliable business. No wonder the sequel rights market appears to be growing.By acquiring sequel rights to ...
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Features
Production - How sequel rights work
Sequel and other derivative rights to a film - such as prequel, remake and TV or stage-adaptation rights - generally belong to the studio or production company that makes the film for the entire term of the copyright. Exceptions might occur when a script is written on spec or when ...
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Features
Production - Upcoming sequels: old franchises with new homes
HalloweenReleased on August 31 in North America, the new Halloween is the ninth film in the series overall and the fourth since the franchise was acquired by the Weinstein Company's Dimension Films. Writer-director Rob Zombie (The Devil's Rejects) has described the film as part prequel to and part remake of ...
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Marketing - Bollywood spreads the net
Bollywood's global reach has expanded rapidly in recent years with the development of solid theatrical markets across disparate territories. This expansion, combined with a range of demographics that now includes non-Indian audiences, means that international Bollywood and Indian film marketers need to be on the cutting edge.'The trend is now ...
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Features
Marketing - Brand marketing - learning the hard sell
In India, the sight of Bollywood stars on posters or television promoting the biggest brands is an everyday occurrence. But despite their popularity now across the globe, it seems their brand appeal has yet to take off."We have a lot of brands tying up with the films and actors in ...
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Features
Argentina - Chasing foreign interest
Directors Lucrecia Martel, Pablo Trapero and Daniel Burman were all key figures in the emergence of Argentinian cinema on the international scene a decade ago. All three are now in production on new projects, with an array of foreign partners."We have solid contacts with established companies in Europe," says rising ...
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News
Korea's Digital Nega backs Asian digital package
Seoul-based venture capital firm Digital Nega, a subsidiary of entertainment magazine publisher Nega, is financing a trio of digital features by prominent Asian directors Fruit Chan, Park Ki-Hyung and Hideo Nakata.Although the themes of the three films differ, all are being shot using Sony HD Cam 1080/24P digital cameras and ...
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Features
International - A bigger picture
As far as the film industry is concerned, it's a long hot summer. It defies seasonal or calendar considerations, running 18 weeks from early May through to the first weekend in September.At the conclusion of summer 2007, about $4.2bn was spent in North American multiplexes and an additional $6.3bn worth ...
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Features
Analysis: International box-office - Weekend August 31-September 2 - Shrek The First
Shrek The Third knocked Jason Bourne out of the top spot this weekend, taking $17.8m over the three-day period after expanding in Italy and Scandinavia. The green ogre shot up a whopping 2,086% after generating $8m in its opening weekend in Italy, the best opening for an animated film ever ...
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News
Critical Mass - the sci fi and Westerns debate
Sci-fi films are as 'dead as Westerns', according to Ridley Scott. He recently informed us of the future genre's demise while in Venice to present the 'definitive' director's cut of Blade Runner, which he began working on in 2000. One senses a certain desire for closure.Of course, Sir Ridley's obituary ...
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News
Gdynia announces 21 competition titles
A bumper crop of 21 titles will compete for the grand prize at the 32nd Polish Film Festival in the seaside town of Gdynia. Palm D'Or laureate Andrzej Wajda's highly anticipated new film Katyn will screen at the opening ceremony Sep 18. Katyn examines the Katyn massacre of 1940, where ...