Small MPU – Page 484
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Reviews
Alone In The Dark
Dir: Uwe Boll. US. 2004.96mins.Feeling like a throwbackto the video quickies of the late 1980s, Alone In The Dark, from Germandirector Uwe Boll, is an amusingly cheesy screen version of the popular Atarivideo game of the same name. Economical screen versions of video game hits havesometimes worked well in the ...
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News
HONG KONG 31 January
Good word-of-mouth helpedpropel Universe Entertainment's Crazy N' The City from fourth to firstposition in its second week.The US$2m action dramaleapfrogged an almost spent Kung-fu Hustle and opener Blade Trinitywith US$284,289 from 22 screens. Directed and written by James Yuen, the filmtells the story of a spineless cop who is inspired ...
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News
AUSTRALIA 31 January
Closer has knocked Meet The Fockers off the top ofthe chart, where UIP's in-laws comedy has reigned for the previous fiveweekends. In its opening weekend SonyPictures' Closer took A$1,609,499 from 157 screens for the four days toand including January 30, equating to a screen average of A$10,252, the highestin the ...
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FRANCE 31 January
Mike Nichols' Closeropened in the top spot this week with nearly 500,000 admissions. Japanese legend HayaoMiyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle spent its second week at number two witha now cumulative $4,668,259. The film fared well against the competition, asdid many others this week, only dropping off by 13% from the previous ...
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News
Japanese box office surges in 2004
The Japanese box office was worth $2.05bn (Y211bn) in2004, an increase of 3.8% over 2003, according to figures released today by TheJapan Motion Picture Producers Association (Eiren). Admissions stood at 170 million.In comparison, the US box office reached $9.4bn in 2004 on ticket sales of 1.51 billion; the UK saw ...
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News
Tasca asks competition council to rule on UGC card
In her first decision as France's culture minister, Catherine Tasca has asked the country's competition authorities to rule on the controversial issue of cinema chain UGC's "Illimite" card, which gives unlimited access to UGC screens for FFr98 a month.UGC's new promotional effort has been opposed by independent exhibitors, who ...
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Van Gogh shadow hangs over Rotterdam
The shadow of the murdered director Theovan Gogh is hanging over this year's Rotterdam Film Festival (Jan 26-Feb 6).A new prize, the GoldenCactus Theo van Gogh Award for Maverick Filmmakers, was awarded on Sunday toIlya Khrzhavonsky for his subversive feature 4, which has been banned by Russian censors. The award ...
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News
Warner Bros to open five more cinemas in China
WarnerBros has signed an agreement with the state-owned Shenzhen International Trust& Investment Corp to open five joint venture cinemas in China, according tothe Xinhua news agency.Warner Bros will hold a controlling 51% stake in the fivecinemas with the Shenzhen-based investment firm holding the rest. In additionto Shenzhen, the partners will ...
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Demand heats up for Berlin market
The number of films submitted to Berlin's European Film Market (EFM) hasrisen by a third, underlining its growing importance as the first market of theyear following the AFM's move to autumn dates.Speaking to ScreenDaily.com,festival director Dieter Kosslick said that the market has seen "moredemand from all over the world, but ...
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News
Submarine drama triumphs at Russian Oscars
VladimirKhotinenko's 72 Metres, about a Russian submarine crew strandedbelow sea, has won the best film prize at the Golden Eagles, Russia'sequivalent of the Oscars.Theannual awards ceremony was presided over by its founder and Russian Oscarwinner, Nikita Mikhalkov.Controversially,Russian blockbuster Nightwatch failed to score a nomination in the bestfilm category. Produced by ...
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News
DVD retailers benefit from UK tax loophole
A tax exemption used byTesco, Amazon and others to avoid charging VAT on DVDs will this week facecriticism from MPs. According to the UK's SundayTelegraph, the retailers have set up operations in Jersey, in the ChannelIslands, where under a 20-year-old law, they can sell goods to consumers on theBritish mainland ...
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LA memorial service for Jorge Gallegos this Friday
A "Celebration Of Life"memorial service will be held for Jorge Gallegos on this Friday Feb 4 at 11amat the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.Mr Gallegos died tragicallywhile on holiday in Thailand on Dec 26 as a result of the tsunami disaster.He was a veteran in theworld of independent film ...
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Alexander takes $4m in 51 territories over the weekend
Alexander grossedan estimated $4m on 2,200 screens in 51 territories at the weekend, raising theinternational running total to $112.5m.The picture added $1.3m for a $10.1m running total in its thirdweekend in Italy through Warner Bros International and was expected to ranksecond behind The Aviator.In its third weekend in Australia, Alexander ...
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News
Jegeus takes up top marketing position at Fox International
Tomas Jegeus (pictured) has been named executive vice president of marketingat Fox International, where he will develop and supervise strategic marketingplans for all Fox releases overseas.The likelihood of Jegeus' appointment has been an open secret eversince Scott Neeson left the division 18 months ago.Effective immediately, Jegeus will oversee the Los ...
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Task force to investigate production decline
Although hopes were high atthe beginning of the year, the number of films produced in Hong Kong has fallento an all-time low of around 65 this year and many films performed belowexpectations over the summer. As a result, 20 film professionals have set up anemergency task force to find solutions ...
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News
Fox India closes distribution office
20th Century Fox has closedits Indian distribution arm in Mumbai after 73 years of operation. CEO AdityaShastri has already left the company to joinMumbai based UTV. Fox, which opened its officein 1932, had recently been suffering losses on its Hollywood releases and tried to diversify operations in India byparticipating in ...
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Kung-fu Hustle scoops Hong Kong Film Award nods
Stephen Chow's Kung-fuHustle heads the pack in the nominations for this year's Hong Kong FilmAwards, bagging 16 nods including best film, best director and best actor forChow.The box office smash wasnominated in every category apart from best supporting actress and best song.It picked up two best supporting actor nods for ...
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Reviews
Hardcore
Dir. Dennis Iliadis. Gre.2004. 98minsA promising sketch ratheran actual probe into Athens' sleazy dives, lo-fi drama Hardcorenevertheless shows distinct promise for debut feature film-maker DennisIliadis.While his film-making giftsclearly need more mileage to mature, Iliadis' first feature neverthelessmaintains a steady course between coyness and titillation, conveying in theprocess a credible and ...
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News
ITALY 1 February
The Aviator soared to the top of the Italian box office on itsopening weekend, on the back of its freshly announced 11 Oscar nominations.The Leonardo Di Capriovehicle earned $2,759,240 for 01 Distribution from 438 screens, registering astrong average of $6,300 per screen.At the same time, WarnerBros's Alexander, currently playing on ...
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Serbia and Montenegro has new box-office champ
SrdjanDragojevic's We Are Not Angels 2 (Mi Nismo Andjeli 2) has scored thebiggest opening of all time in Serbia and Montenegro. The sequel to his1992 blockbuster achieved 88,526 admissions over the weekend, and with previewssince last Tuesday, grossed $395,120 from a total 124,417 spectators. Despitesnowstorms closing many roads in the ...