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Small MPU – Page 3972
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SPC flies with Zhang's Daggers
Sony Pictures Classics hasacquired North American rights to Zhang Yimou's House Of Flying Daggers which is screening in Cannes on Wednesdayout of competition.The epic action romancestars Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau and is produced by Bill Kong,whose Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonwas also an SPC release, and Zhang Yeiping.House ...
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Erin Brockovich stays at top of US box
Universal's Julia Roberts-starrer Erin Brockovich grossed $19m in its second weekend on general release to bring its ten-day total to $56.3m. Dropping about 32% from its opening, the Steven Soderbergh-directed film still scored a powerful screen average of $6,675.But coming close to dethroning the critically acclaimed Roberts hit was Warner ...
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Trio team for new Belgrade film studio
UK-basedtax financier Grosvenor Park, Serbian media group Pink International andWashington-based government lobbyist OCo International have partnered toco-produce a slate of horror films and build a new $20m film studio inBelgrade.Theinitial five low-budget productions will be set up as internationalco-productions accessing Serbian tax credits that the partners expect to beintroduced this ...
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THINKFilm buys N American rights to Nimrod Antal's Kontroll
THINKFilm has bought NorthAmerican rights to Kontroll, NimrodAntal's Hungarian hit which screened this week in Un Certain Regard. Antal is aUS-born director but the film is set in the world of the Budapest undergroundrail system where a hooded killer is on the loose. It stars Sandor Csanyi andZoltan Mucsi.The deal ...
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BBC, Content fast forward indie film-making scheme
Scottish Screen,BBC Scotland, BBC Films and ContentFilm have launched a low budget film schemeunder the banner Fast Forward Features that aims to bring US indie-stylefilmmaking to the UK.The initiativeaims to fully fund three low budget features from emerging talent costing up to£1.2 million per film. ContentFilm will handle international sales ...
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Paris boosts film funding
France's Ile de Franceregion - the area that incorporates Paris and its environs - has announced itwill increase its available film funding by Euros 2m to Euros 12m next yearwith a view to bumping the total up to Euros 15M over the course of the next fewyears.The existing Euros 10m ...
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Gayet named as Jobson's Woman
Rising Frenchactress Julie Gayet is to star in British director Richard Jobson'ssupernatural love story Woman In Winter.UK seller ParkEntertainment, which is handling Jobson's ThePurifiers and its follow-up The OnlyOnes, has acquired international rights. Shot digitally, the film beginsproduction in Edinburgh in November with the support of Adobe.The story,written by Jobson, ...
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Saddle Club set for big screen
Australia's CrawfordProductions and Canada's Protocol Entertainment are preparing to shoot afeature that is based on the hit TV series TheSaddle Club, which is currently screening on Discovery Kids in the US and,when last screened in Sydney, attracted an astounding 95% of all five to12-year-olds at its peak.Matt Carroll, who was ...
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Tartan names Schreiber as US video president
Tartan USA has named AndrewSchreiber president of Tartan Video USA, a division of the new US distributorset up by Hamish McAlpine of Tartan Films in the UK.Schreiber joins Tartan afterten years at Playboy Video where he was vice president, international sales,and a stint running his own consultancy Forward Marketing.The home ...
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Super sales for Fortissimo
Fortissimo Film Sales is on course for its best ever market."If we close everything that we expect by the end of the month we will exceedlast year's annual turnover," said company co-chief Michael J Werner.Its controversial documentary Super Size Me is close to selling out. Completed deals on thepicture are ...
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Focus boards Onimusha
Samuel Hadida's Davis Filmshas enlisted Focus Features to handle sales outside of France and Japan to Onimusha, the ambitious live actionmovie of Capcom's best-selling video game. Hadida will produce the film basedon the game created by Keiji Inafune.Davis sister companyMetropolitan Filmexport will handle distribution in France, while GagaCommunications, which is ...
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Shochiku engineers Casshern sales
Japanese major Shochiku is reporting strong sales interest in sci-fititle Casshern, about a futuristicworld where biologically-engineered humans attempt to take over the earth.Contracts have already been signed with unnamed distributors for the UKand Portugal, and head of international business Masaki Koga says he is innegotiations for almost all major territories.The ...
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Election scoops top Spirit Awards
Election, the dark high school comedy produced by MTV Films and distributed worldwide by Paramount Pictures, won three top prizes at the IFP West Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on Saturday afternoon (March 25).The sweep echoed themes brought up by many winners and speakers at the event that the ...
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Golden Harvest takes Grudge to Taiwan
Taiwan is now on the acquisitions radar for Hong Kong majorGolden Harvest.It has picked up Taiwanese rights to The Grudge, the English-language remake of Japanese chiller Ju-On being sold by SenatorInternational.Golden Harvest has previously licensed rights to the picturefor Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. The move may pre-empt expansion of ...
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UGC takes Bielinsky's Aura to UK
El Aura,the upcoming project reuniting NineQueens (Nueve Reinas) director Fabian Bielinsky with star Ricardo Darin,has been bought by UGC for the UK.The picture is scheduled tostart shooting in the third week of October for a May 2005 release.The deal is estimatedbetween $200,000 and $300,000. Pablo Bossi, president of Argentina's PatagonikFilm ...
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Seville, Capri team for Canadian releases
Two Canadian distributors -the newly formed Capri Films Releasing and Seville Pictures - have announced atwo-year distribution deal for theatrical releases serving French and EnglishCanada.Under the terms of the deal,Capri will service all Seville releases in English Canada, with Sevillereleasing all Capri films in Quebec.Discussions between Capri'sTony Cianciotta and Seville's ...
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Osher named COO at Columbia Pictures
Industry veteran Bob Osher has been named chief operatingofficer of the Columbia Pictures Motion Picture Group and began working at thestudio's Culver City-based lot yesterday (17).Osher's dutiesincludeoverseeing business affairs and physical production for the studioand he will report to Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Amy Pascal, workingalongside co-presidents of production Doug ...
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Van Helsing bearing down on $100m international
Official figures released yesterday (17) confirm Universal's VanHelsing grossed $24.5m on 5,121 screens in 41 territories in its secondweekend for a $95m industry running total.The picture added $23m from 4,876 screens in 38 UIP territoriesfor an $88.9m UIP total, while Russia, the Philippines and Iceland amassed$1.5m from 245 through third ...
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Initiative awards six completion grants
US-basedcharitable foundation Global Film Initiative has awarded six $10,000 completiongrants to film-makers from the developing world to be used with finishingproduction and post-production costs.The titles are: Manuel Niero Zas' story of a young man building ahouse in The Dog Pound (Uruguay), Albertina Carri's tale of anincestuous affair between siblings in ...
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Canadian film and video industry hits record
Canada's film and video industry saw a record-high $2.36bn(C$3.3bn) in revenues domestically and internationally in 2002-2003, up 8% fromthe year previous.According to numbers released by Statistics Canada, distributorssold a record $1.14bn (C$1.6bn) in DVD and video cassettes while the nation'scinema circuits saw a near 15% rise in revenues, reaching $331.2m ...