Small MPU – Page 743

  • News

    Shall We Dance' opens top in Australia

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    Miramax's romantic comedy remake Shall We Dance' began its international roll-out with astrong $1.5m number one opening in Australia through Buena Vista Internationalat the weekend.The picture, which stars Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez andclimbed to third in the US charts this weekend, grossed AU$2.1m on 231 screens.Shall We Dance' is ...

  • News

    Myriad acquires world on Holland's Beethoven

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    Los Angeles-based Myriad Pictures has acquired worldwide rights toAgnieszka Holland's love story Copying Beethoven, starring Ed Harris and Diane Kruger.The story centres on a love affair between the composer and hisyoung assistant as he completed work on his last major piece, Symphony No.9.Michael Taylor and UK-basedDavid Pupkewitz serve as producers ...

  • News

    Levinson, Goldberg reteam to form DVD distributor Tango

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    UK industry veterans Paul Levinson and Warren Goldberg havelaunched DVD distributor Tango Entertainment, which will acquire product in allgenres for North America and the UK, with the aim of offering everything fromcut-price to star-driven titles.The company is currently based out of Santa Monica and London,with plans to open an East ...

  • News

    Trouble continues for River Queen

    2004-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Director Vincent Ward is off the New Zealand shoot of River Queen and, unlike Samantha Mortonwho earlier took time out because of illness, isn't coming back.A statement issued today from the production office saidonly that Ward "has been removed". It did not give a reason andpublicist Sue May declined to ...

  • News

    Kinowelt bags five-year deal with Gale Anne Hurd

    2000-04-12T06:12:00Z

    Kinowelt USA, the recently set-up US film production arm of German film giant Kinowelt, has signed its first major producer deal - with Gale Anne Hurd. Kinowelt and Hurd have entered into a multi-year, first-look development, production and distribution arrangement whereby Kinowelt USA will provide Hurd with financing to develop ...

  • Reviews

    Bullet Boy

    2004-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Saul Dibb. UK. 2004.91minsA low-budget blackBritish film with energy and attitude, Bullet Boy is among the moreinvigorating UK movie debuts of recent years. In his first feature, directorSaul Dibb (best known as a documentary maker) uses his north London locationsin eerie, atmospheric fashion and manages to deal with gun ...

  • News

    AUSTRALIA 25 October

    2004-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Shall We Dance'opened last Thursday and leads the box office chart for the four-day weekendending on October 24. It sold A$2,104,907 worth of tickets to 267 screens to beable to earn that honour.The BVI title pushed Collateralinto second place after just one week at the top. The UIP Tom Cruise ...

  • News

    Emmerich strikes first look deal with German fund

    2004-10-26T04:00:00Z

    Director Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow) has signed a "first look" agreement withthe German private media fund VIP for his own in-house developed film projectsas opposed to those offered to him by Hollywood studios.As part of the agreement, the German-born director and VIP'sAndreas Schmid are planning to set up ...

  • News

    Parker to head Marrakech festival jury

    2004-10-26T04:00:00Z

    Alan Parker is to head the jury at the fourth edition of theMarrakech Film Festival (Dec 6-12).Fourteen international films will be shown in the officialcompetition although their names have yet to be announced. The festival hasalso programmed tributes for Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, Egyptiandirector Youssef Chahine and Scotsman Sean Connery.In ...

  • News

    Czech features dominate Cottbus market

    2004-10-26T04:00:00Z

    New Czech feature projects dominate this year's ConnectingCottbus East-West co-development market which will be held during theFilmFestival Cottbus - Festival of East European Cinema (Nov 2-6) from November4-5.Five of the 13 projects selected from nine countries for themarket will be pitched by Czech production houses, including Bionaut Films (TheCarp), Endorfilm ...

  • News

    DENMARK 25 October

    2004-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Though the new release of stuntman-turned-filmmaker LasseSpang Olsen's romantic comedy Inkassomuscled its way into the top of the Danish chart with its high 77 prints, itdidn't quite have the draw of Kings' Game,which had a better screen and admission average on its 57 prints despite beingin its fourth week. However, ...

  • News

    UK tax fund, Foresight, pulls out of two projects

    2004-10-26T04:00:00Z

    UK tax fund Foresight has had to pull out of Michael Winterbottom's Tristram Shandy and FilmFour's quirky Brothers Of The Head, citing what it says is the latest problem to hit the UK financing sector.The fund has just bankrolled Terry Gilliam's Tideland but had to abandon the other two films ...

  • News

    Bavaria closes further Bombon sales

    2004-10-26T04:00:00Z

    Bavaria Film International (BFI) has closed further sales onArgentine director Carlos Sorin's Bombon - El Perro following its market screening at MIFED.Deals for all of the Germanspeaking territories were concluded with Alamode Film (Germany), Poly Film(Austria) and Trigon Film (Switzerland), while all rights were also sold toMikado Film (Italy), Arthaus ...

  • News

    BVI's King Arthur rules in China

    2004-10-26T04:00:00Z

    King Arthur, which has been a star performer forBuena Vista International (BVI) this year, scored the distributor's thirdbiggest ever debut in China at the weekend.The epicadventure opened on an estimated $870,000 on 335 screens, ranking behind PearlHarbor and Pirates OfThe Caribbean in theall-time opening pantheon.Overall thepicture grossed $1.5m for a ...

  • News

    MGM teams with NTV-PLUS in Russia channel

    2004-10-26T04:00:00Z

    MGM Networks hasannounced a deal with Russia's largest Pay-TV provider NTV-PLUS to localise anddistribute a Russian-language version of the MGM channel to NTV-PLUS'direct-to-home subscribers.The agreementfollows the launch in 2002 of MGM Channel in the former Soviet Union countrieson a number of cable and MMDS systems."We have beenassiduously trying to expand ...

  • News

    IMAX lands in Pakistan

    2004-10-26T04:00:00Z

    Imax Corp. and the Pakistaniprovince of Punjab have signed a deal that will see the first-ever Imax cinemain the country. The new facility, which will be capable of presenting 3D filmsas well, will be located in Lahore as the anchor tenant of a leisure centre thePunjab Government is developing. The ...

  • Reviews

    The Grudge

    2004-10-26T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Takashi Shimizu. US.2004. 90mins.The second Hollywoodremake of a J-horror movie after blockbuster hit The Ring, The Grudgehas confirmed the wide appetite for this kind of unsettling chiller with a $40mopening weekend in North America.Domestic distributorColumbia Pictures positioned the film to perfection, scoring a teen-friendlyPG-13 rating, creating intriguing TV spots ...

  • Reviews

    The Polar Express

    2004-10-26T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Robert Zemeckis. US.2004. 92mins.Only Hollywood couldproduce a film as lavish and technologically ground-breaking as The PolarExpress, and Warner Bros is banking on that fact to entice millions offamilies around the world into their seasonal heartwarmer.The film brings to lifeChris Van Allsburg's classic US kids' book using a new animation ...

  • News

    Dead Man's Shoes leads BIFA contenders

    2004-10-26T00:00:00Z

    The British Independent Film Award (BIFA) nominations wereannounced today, with Shane Meadows' DeadMan's Shoes leading the field with eight nominations, closely followed byMike Leigh's Vera Drake with seven nods including Best Actress for ImeldaStaunton.Other strong contenders include Pawel Pawlikoski's My Summer Of Love; Kevin Macdonald's Touching The Void and Shaun ...

  • News

    UK/IRELAND 26 October

    2004-10-26T00:00:00Z

    Aliens and predators may have fought their way into secondplace in the UK/Ireland chart but they were still no match for UIP's animatedsharks.Shark Tale heldthe lead for a second weekend, dropping 36% from its opening week, notincluding previews. It has quickly established a strong $22.7m (£12.4m)cumulative gross.Alien Vs Predator(AvP) got ...