Small MPU – Page 448

  • News

    Alien Vs Predator rules the roost with $38.3m debut

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    Twentieth Century Fox'shorror thriller Alien Vs Predator opened top at the weekend on anestimated $38.3m, eclipsing opening records for both Fox-owned franchises andmarking the studio's sixth consecutive picture to open on more than $20m.Sanaa Lathan and Raoul Bovastar in Paul W S Anderson's $60m high-adrenaline tale, which pits the twomonster ...

  • News

    Alien Vs Predator rules the roost with $38.3m debut

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    Twentieth Century Fox'shorror thriller Alien Vs Predator opened top at the weekend on anestimated $38.3m, eclipsing opening records for both Fox-owned franchises andmarking the studio's sixth consecutive picture to open on more than $20m.Sanaa Lathan and Raoul Bovastar in Paul W S Anderson's $60m high-adrenaline tale, which pits the twomonster ...

  • Reviews

    Alien vs Predator

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    Dir:Paul W S Anderson. US. 2004. 101mins.Withnew backgrounds but the same old bad attitudes, two of 20th Century Fox'ssci-fi icons go head to head in AVP (as the marketing folks havehelpfully abbreviated it), a franchise face-off that looks set to consolidateHollywood's latest genre trend. The match-up, enthusiastically brought to thescreen ...

  • News

    NEW ZEALAND 16 August

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    Walking Tallknocked Hellboy off the top of thebox office chart after only one weekend at the top, just as Hellboy did to The Chronicles Of Riddick the previous weekend, and The Chronicles Of Riddick did to I, Robot on the one before that.But it was a close call. WalkingTall grossed ...

  • News

    HONG KONG 16 August

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    Hong Kong revealedits weakness for cute animals this week as Japanese tear-jerker Quill topped the box office withUS$795,799 from 29 screens.Produced byShochiku and directed by Yoichi Sai, the film is about a Labrador pup who istrained to be a "seeing-eye" dog for a man who is initially reluctant to accepthelp ...

  • Reviews

    Tom White

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Alkinos Tsilimidos.Aust. 2004. 106minsWith a standout,hardly-off-the-screen central performance from Colin Friels, Tom Whitecharts the swift descent of its eponymous character from middle-class securityto a desperate life on the streets, utterly broke and hopeless. For his secondfeature, director Alkinos Tsilimidos keeps sentimentality at bay while crediblycharting his protagonist's identity crisis, ...

  • News

    Dinard unveils initial line-up of UK films

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    The fifteenth edition of the DinardBritish Film Festival will see the founding president, Thierry de la Fourniere,hand over to the mayor of Dinard, Marius Mallet.For fifteen years the town of Dinardhas celebrated its own "Entente Cordiale" between the French and British filmindustries and this tradition will be continued between October ...

  • News

    AUSTRALIA 16 August

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    Man On Fire heldon to the top spot for its second weekend on release, taking A$1,112,405 for20th Century Fox from 262 screens. Snapping at its heels was newcomer Walking Tall, which grossed A$1,031,611from 192 screens for the same distributor, and in third place but not farbehind was Columbia TriStar's WhiteChicks, ...

  • News

    Reding re-selected for EU media job

    2004-08-17T04:00:00Z

    Viviane Reding is to keep the audiovisual policyand MEDIA Programme portfolio in the new team of commissioners unveiled by JoseManuel Barroso, President-designate of the European Commission.Reding has been commissioner for Education,Culture, Youth, Media & Sport since 1999 and will now serve as theCommissioner for Information Society and Media. She will ...

  • News

    Locarno wrestles with growing pains

    2004-08-17T04:00:00Z

    The pains ofgrowing up were in abundant evidence this year in Locarno. And if this was notan intentional theme, it reflects the type of film the festival made itsselection from, according to at least two members of the selection committee.A boy is abandonedby his father in Catarina Ruivo's Portuguese Andre ...

  • News

    New chief for French Film Commission

    2004-08-17T04:00:00Z

    France's National FilmCommission (CNF), which promotes location filming in the country, will have anew president in mid-September.Unifrance's deputy generalmanager Patrick Lamassoure will take over from current CNF president BenoitCaron, according to Caron. Lamassoure could not be reached for comment.For his part, Caron, who hasheaded up the CNF since the late ...

  • News

    Upbeat Constantin raises targets for 2004

    2004-08-17T04:00:00Z

    German producer-distributor Constantin Film hasraised its sales forecast for 2004 to at least Euros 200m.The move came after Constantin posted a 175%year-on-year increase in sales for the first six months of this year. In the period up toJune 30, the Constantin Group achieved sales of Euros 99m, compared to Euros36m ...

  • News

    Civilian Content secures $13m in tax funding

    2004-08-17T04:00:00Z

    In a welcome boost after itsNew Zealand period piece River Queen stalled mid-shoot, UK media concernCivilian Content aims to double its production levels this year after securinga $12.9m (£7m) tranche of funding.The publicly-listed companyhas accessed the production funding through its partnership with financierSureFire, which has raised the money through UK ...

  • News

    Miracle works for audiences at Melbourne

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    Cannes competitor Life Is A Miracle, set in Bosniaand directed, co-produced and co-written by Emir Kusturica, was the mostpopular feature at this month's Melbourne International Film Festival.Runner up in the vote by audiences was The Life And DeathOf Peter Sellers, directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring festival patronGeoffrey Rush in ...

  • News

    UK's Screen East names Crown as production chief

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    Oscar-nominated film and TV producer Sheryl Crown has joinedScreen East, the Screen Agency for the East of England, as its Head ofProduction.In 2000, Crown received an Oscar nomination for the Welshfeature film Solomon And Gaenor.She also produced Marc Evans first feature, House of America. Crown has worked at the BBC ...

  • News

    UK's Screen East names Crown as production chief

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    Oscar-nominated film and TV producer Sheryl Crown has joinedScreen East, the Screen Agency for the East of England, as its Head ofProduction.In 2000, Crown received an Oscar nomination for the Welshfeature film Solomon And Gaenor.She also produced Marc Evans first feature, House of America. Crown has worked at the BBC ...

  • News

    Gayner comes aboard Arenas as svp marketing

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    LeAnne Gayner has joined the diversified Latino entertainment andmarketing outfit Arenas Entertainment as senior vice president of marketing.Gayner previously served at Artisan Entertainment and will setabout working on the company's slate of upcoming releases, which includesNicotina starring Diego Luna that is set to open in the US on Aug 20, ...

  • News

    King Arthur raises international cume to $71m for BVI

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    King Arthur wasspoiling for a fight at the weekend, grossing an estimated $12.2m through BuenaVista International (BVI) to raise its international running total to $70.8m.A couple of strong number one European debuts drove weekendbusiness as the epic took $2.6m on 403 screens in Spain and $1.8m on 210 inRussia.Elsewhere BVI's ...

  • News

    Columbia TriStar sets Oct 5 for Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD release

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment will release Fahrenheit 9/11on DVD and video in the US on Oct 5.The home entertainment release looks likely to keep the bandwagonrolling following a spectacular US theatrical run through Lion's Gate Films,IFC Films and The Fellowship Adventure Group.Michael Moore's picture opened on Jun 23 and went ...

  • News

    Yes claims $1bn value in run-up to float

    2000-04-04T12:29:00Z

    UK video-on-demand pioneer Yes TV yesterday said that it believes it is worth more than $1bn, although it has less than 1,500 subscribers.The valuation came as Yes unveiled details of its planned flotation on the London stockmarket and said that its shares will be priced in the 225p-275p range. That ...