Small MPU – Page 3426
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News
Blockbuster season: scary alternatives
Recent summers have produced a handful of lower budget horror and sci-fi hits and this year there are a number of potentially scary movies, several of them from international directors.The Screen Gems label of horror expert Sony opens Vacancy, with Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale as a couple staying at ...
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Blockbuster season: counter culture
The counter-programming success of last year's The Devil Wears Prada - which opened on the same weekend as Superman Returns and went on to gross $122m domestically - will not be easy to replicate.Several distributors, though, will try their hands with female-oriented offerings that might find a niche between the ...
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Blockbuster season: animated animals
After last year's glut, there are only two non-sequel animated films this summer.Sony's Surf's Up comes from Toy Story 2 co-director Ash Brannon and Tarzan director Chris Buck, with voices by Shia LaBeouf, Zooey Deschanel and others.Like Warner's Happy Feet, Surf's Up (opening June 8 in the US and aiming ...
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Blockbuster season: dark horses
Every summer schedule has a few unknown quantities and among this year's is a handful of films that look intriguing on paper and may perform in the marketplace.Dark horses with mainstream label studio distribution include Disturbia, which Paramount/DreamWorks will open in the US on April 13 but which Paramount Pictures ...
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Blockbuster season: Showest
The largest assembly of international exhibitors and distributors in the world, ShoWest (March 12-15) remains an informative and entertaining stopping-off point on the industry calendar. Yet as next week's 33rd incarnation approaches, there is a growing realisation that the Las Vegas shindig is of more use to some than others.While ...
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Kinowelt bags video rights to StudioCanal titles
German media group Kinowelt has reportedly acquired the video and DVD rights to 240 films from France's StudioCanal.The deal is understood to cover European rights outside French-speaking countries. In the UK the pictures are expected to go through Momentum Pictures, Kinowelt's joint venture with Canada's Alliance Atlantis. Kinowelt is expected ...
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Features
Summer Box Office - Summer Movies Release Schedule
Summer Movies Release ScheduleTITLEUSUKFRGERSPITJAPKORAUSMEXBRAAtonementAug 31Sept 14TBCSept 27Sept 21Oct 26Oct 6TBCOct 31Sept 28Nov 2The Bourne UltimatumAug 3Aug 3Sept 12Sept 6Aug 14Oct 19TBCSept 20Aug 9Aug 3Aug 17I Now Pronounce You Chuck & LarryJuly 20Sept 21Aug 29Sept 20Sept 7Sept 19TBCSept 6July 26Aug 17Sept 14Evan AlmightyJune 22July 20Aug 15Aug 9Aug 17June 15Sept 8TBCJune 28June ...
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Features
Marketing - Moving pictures
Movie posters have always generated anticipation in audiences, and have retained their effectiveness by adapting to the marketplace.In the 1970s, a gradual shift from matte to clay-coated glossy paper encouraged new designs. Star Wars and Star Trek posters increased in popularity and were responsible for making movie poster collectors out ...
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Features
Marketing - Poster technology - Sheets ahead
The poster is one of the oldest advertising media, and in an age of targeted internet campaigns and interactive pop-ups it would be understandable if film distributors had started to lose interest in paper and ink.But this is not happening. Not only does the film poster remain an important release ...
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Features
Data protection
This week, the Motion Picture Association of America (Mpaa) sent out a press release under the triumphal headline: '2006 box office rebounds'.The cause of this elation, according to the Mpaa, was the fact theatrical revenues in the US for the year - spearheaded by Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's ...
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Features
Ghost Rider revs up for third week
Ghost Rider holds top spot on the international chart for the third consecutive week, motoring past the $60m mark after it expanded into the UK, Brazil, Japan and Denmark. The Pursuit Of Happyness took $6.7m, with predictions from Sony Pictures Releasing International chiefs that it could end up in the ...
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Features
Market focus - Don't write off the DVD
Saturation ownership levels of DVD machines in the US and Western Europe have led to a steady slowing in the rise of DVD sales in recent years. But to talk of DVD as yesterday's technology is to take a narrow perspective.DVD slowdown is not a global phenomenon. In a number ...
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Spanish short Oscar nominee sets feature debut Flash
Spain's recently Oscar-nominated short film director Borja Cobeaga will shoot his first feature for producers Telespan 2000 and Estudios Picasso in October.The film, titled Flash, El Amigo De Las Chicas (literally, Flash, Friend Of The Girls), is based on the novel Flash by Massimo Bruni.The boy-meets-girl comedy is set against ...
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THINKFilm acquires Guttentag and Sturman's Nanking doc
THINKFilm has acquired North American rights to Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman's documentary Nanking, which premiered at Sundance in January.The distributor plans a late 2007 release on the account of the bloody Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, in the early stages of the second world war. AOL vice chairman Ted ...
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New York publicity co Falco Ink promotes three account executives
Falco Ink partners Janice Roland and Shannon Treusch have promoted three account executives at the US publicity firm.Steve Beeman becomes senior vice president, Erin Bruce is named vice president, and Betsy Rudnick becomes senior account executive.'It's rare to find a team that has worked together as long as ours has ...
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Norbit looks big for PPI in 15 territory launches
Sony Pictures Releasing International (SPRI) will be looking to dominate the overseas arena with Ghost Rider for the fourth consecutive weekend.However with no new releases planned for major territories and a concerted push for the Eddie Murphy comedy Norbit through Paramount/PPI, Ghost Rider will struggle to hold on to its ...
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Granada pays $2.65bn for United's ITV assets
Granada Media has agreed to pay $2.65bn (£1.75bn) for the ITV interests of rival United News & Media.Granada will pick up the Meridian, Anglia and HTV regional UK channels in the deal, but is expected to sell off HTV. The move, which means Granada becomes the dominant commercial broadcaster in ...
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Fortissimo teams with Entertainment Farm for Sonata
International sales and production company Fortissimo Films is partnering with Japan's Entertainment Farm to co-produce the tentatively titled Tokyo Sonata, to be directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Fortissimo will also handle international sales on the film. The project is one of 25 that have been selected for this year's edition of ...
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Oscar nominee Cobeaga ready for first feature
Spain's recently Oscar-nominated short film director Borja Cobeaga will shoot his first feature for producers Telespan 2000 and Estudios Picasso in October.The film, titled Flash, El Amigo De Las Chicas (literally, Flash, Friend Of The Girls), is based on the novel Flash by Massimo Bruni.The boy-meets-girl comedy is set against ...
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HanWay strikes deals on Strummer; Vertigo sets UK release for May
HanWay Films has closed a number of new international deals for Julien Temple 's Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten after its screenings in competition in Sundance and at the European Film Market in Berlin. The documentary about the late Clash frontman has now sold to more than 35 territories. ...