Small MPU – Page 772
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UK's Momentum provides revenue boost for Alliance Atlantis
UK-based Momentum Pictures has boosted its contribution to the bottom line of parent company Alliance Atlantis. Announcing its fourth-quarter and year-end results, the company said Momentum generated 20% of the fiscal 2003 EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) of its Motion Picture Distribution Group, or $7.9m of the ...
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Morris appointed new UK film minister
Estelle Morris has effectively succeeded UK film minister Kim Howells following a government reshuffle.Morris has a higher ministerial ranking than the outspoken Howells, although, along with film and creative industries, her brief as arts minister covers such diverse matters as museums and street crime.Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell confirmed that Lord ...
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Cruz steps up to Castellitto's Don't Move
Penelope Cruz has signed to star in Italian-Spanish co-production Don't Move (Non Ti Muovere) for actor-turned-director Sergio Castellitto. The film, which begins shooting in Rome on July 28, would mark Cruz's first Spanish co-production since 2001's No News From God (Sin Noticias De Dios) and her third film in Italian. ...
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Sequel rolls out fast and furious across Europe
UIP's 2 Fast 2 Furious screeched into 15 European territories over the weekend taking $19m from 2,282 venues. The film, which claimed more than $21m over the weekend including its holdover territories, has taken $33m to date from international markets after launching in Australia on June 5. The absence of ...
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CineMedia strikes co-prod deal with UK's Own2Feet
Following its entry into licence trading last month (Screendaily, Jan 26), expansionist German post-production entity CineMedia Film is becoming involved in international co-production through a strategic partnership with UK producer Own2Feet Productions.Under the terms of the deal, struck between Own2Feet and CineMedia production subsidiary TaunusFilm-Produktion, the two partners will each ...
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Imax reveals screen plans for Disneyland Paris
Imax Corp and French exhibitor EuroPalaces have signed an agreement to open an Imax 3D cinema at Disneyland Resort Paris, the 47th Imax cinema in Europe.The facility, which will be located within Disney Village and is set to open in June 2004, is expected to showcase Imax DMR films, that ...
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The Hulk explodes with five number one openings in Asia
The Hulk grossed an estimated $3.1m from 325 theatres in fivenumber one Asian openings over the weekend, complementing Universal'stable-topping bow in the US.In Hong Kong it took$700,000 from 39 venues, which Universal claimed was roughly twice as much asthe opening for Gladiator andjust ahead of X2: X-Men United.Universal scored its ...
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Sony revamps worldwide financial services dept
As part of itsongoing drive to consolidate marketing and distribution, Sony PicturesReleasing's (SPR) financial services department is expanding to handleservices including accounts receivable and worldwide collection.Eileen Lomis,senior vice president of worldwide theatrical financial administration for theColumbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, will oversee the division'sexpansion.Lomis, a 25-yearveteran of Columbia, TriStar and ...
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Eliasoph named new head of Warner China
Ellen R Eliasophhas been appointed to the new post of managing director of China at Warner BrosPictures International.Eliasoph willset up and run a company office in Shanghai, from where she will oversee thesubsidiary's Beijing office as well as its Hong Kong-based productionsand acquisitions staff.Herresponsibilities will include supervising the studio's theatricaldistribution ...
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Reloaded swipes another $14.7m for Warner
The MatrixReloaded kept up itsfine international form over the weekend as it grossed an estimated $14.7m from6,700 international screens and drew 2.5m admissions.The sci-fisequel's international running total is now $377m.The film held onto its number one position for the third consecutive week in Japan, adding$6.4m (Yen 763m) from 630 ...
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My Architect wins feature prize at new US doc festival
NathanielKahn's My Architect won the inaugural Sterling Award for a feature film at theSilverdocs: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival.More than 70films screened at the festival, a joint venture between the American FilmInstitute and the Discovery Channel, which ran from Jun 18-22 at the SilverTheatre And Cultural Centre in Silver Spring, Maryland.My ...
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Cinemark opens three new multiplexes in Latin America
CinemarkInternational, one of the leading Latin American exhibitors, has opened threenew stadium-seating theatres in Southern Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica.The Galerias Boulevardsite in Southern Mexico's Tuxtla Gutierrez region is an eight-screen, 1,850-seatcomplex and the first to open in the city of Chiapas.It was built incooperation with the existing Liverpool site, ...
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Break A Leg wins audience prize at CineVegas
Monika Mitchell's drama Break A Leg won the Audience Award for best featureat the fifth CineVegas Film Festival, which ran from Jun 13-21. In Break A Leg, John Cassini stars as a frustrated actor who decides to takematters into his own hands and make his dreams of success come true. ...
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Jones to quit UK's Mission Pictures
Damian Jones, co-founder of UK production outfit Mission Pictures, is to leave the company to return to independent producing.According to a statement, Jones felt removed from the independent film production arena as Mission's development and production management work increased. He leaves with a two-year, non-exclusive independent production arrangement with the ...
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Four bidders make formal offers for Vivendi Universal Entertainment
Four bidders met the June 23 deadline for proposals to buy all or part of Vivendi Universal's entertainment assets.Given that Vivendi Universal issued prospectuses of financial information for Vivendi Universal Entertainment (VUE) to six would-be acquisitors, the shortlist holds no major surprises.Oil billionaire Marvin Davis, who previously offered $15bn, has ...
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Barbarian Invasions to open Toronto
The Toronto InternationalFilm Festival has announced some of its major titles at this year's eventwhich runs Sept 4-14. Denys Arcand's Les Invasions Barbares (The Barbarian Invasions) which was in competition at Cannes will open thefestival, continuing the tradition of a Canadian film being the opening nightgala presentation.Three gala presentationswere also ...
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Music documentary Amandla! sings to South African audiences
On a screen for screen, basis music documentary Amandla! A Revolution In Four-Part Harmony, which was released in South Africa on Friday, June 20, outgrossed the Oscar-winning documentary, Bowling For Columbine on its first weekend of release. Amandla! earned $9,583 (R76 168) with eight prints, outgrossing Bowling For ...
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IMAX screens touted as remedy for over-screening
Cinema exhibitors with excess capacity following the multiplex building boom of the last decade should consider refitting theatres with IMAX screens, a seminar at Cine Expo in Amsterdam has heard. Two new systems unveiled earlier this year by IMAX Corporation mean it is now feasible for IMAX screens to be ...
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2 Fast, two French ride into UK cinemas
Following four weeks under the reign of The Matrix Reloaded UK audiences finally elected a new box office champion this week with 2 Fast 2 Furious taking pole position. The fast-paced UIP action vehicle helped rev up the total box office for the UK/Ireland top 15 by 12% on the ...
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Glover to chair International Black Panther festival
Danny Glover will serve ashonourary chair of the third International Black Panther Film Festival, whichruns in Harlem, New York City, from Jul 31-Aug 4.Screenings at the biannualevent are scheduled to include Raoul Peck's acclaimed Congolese true-lifedrama Lumumba, Cuban directorGloria Rolando's Eyes Of The Rainbow and Robert Mugge's concert film on ...