Small MPU – Page 3811

  • News

    Kiss The Bride, Cinemania win top prizes at Hamptons Fest

    2002-10-22T00:00:00Z

    Director-screenwriter Vanessa Parise's Kiss The Bride and James Coburn were among honorees as the tenth Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) closed amid a flurry of awards on Oct 19 and 20. Jury panel and audience awards were selected from 129 independent features, documentaries and short films screened from Oct 16-20. ...

  • News

    Fox's Perdition past the $50m mark in international

    2002-10-22T00:00:00Z

    Fox's Road To Perdition grossed $3.1m on 1,935 international screens over the weekend, bringing the picture's cumulative total to just under $50.1m. In the gangster drama's only opening it took $112,000 from 45 screens in Poland. In its second week in Australia Road To Perdition dropped 38% for a $475,000 ...

  • News

    Signs becomes BVI's biggest Italian live action opener ever

    2002-10-22T00:00:00Z

    Signs grossed $13.6m in a record-breaking weekend for Buena Vista International (BVI) that produced the distributor's biggest live-action opening of all time in Italy. The supernatural drama took $4.1m from 414 screens and was also the fifth highest industry opening ever for a US-produced picture in the territory. In France ...

  • News

    Hong Kong government plans film guarantee fund

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    The Hong Kong government has issued a consultation paper proposing the establishment of a Film Guarantee Fund to help local companies obtain bank loans for film production.The paper suggests that $6.4m (HK$50m) of the existing $12.8m (HK$100m) Film Development Fund should be used to guarantee loans to filmmakers from banks ...

  • News

    South Korea adds to list of foreign-language Oscar submissions

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    Lee Chang-dong's third film Oasis has been picked to represent South Korea for the best foreign language Oscar. The film joins a rapidly-growing list of national submissions, including, most recently, Bohdan Slama's Wild Bees from the Czech Republic and Fernando Lopes's O Delfim from Portugal Oasis (pictured) an ...

  • News

    Jackie Chan, Arclight join EMG's Twins Effect

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    Jackie Chan has joined Hong Kong pop idols Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung in the cast of Emperor Multimedia Group's The Twins Effect.In addition, EMG announced that Sydney-based production and sales house, Arclight Films, will represent the film, which started shooting in Hong Kong on Tuesday, in all territories outside ...

  • News

    Locally-produced family films dominate Nordic box office

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    Locally-produced family films are enjoying a strong run at the Nordic box-office, with home-grown films proving more than a match for US product. Hayflower And Quiltshoe (Heinähattu ja Vilttitossu) (pictured) had the biggest opening for a family feature in Finland this year with a weekend gross of Euros 224,453 and ...

  • News

    French porn ban could cost national film industry dear

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    Appearing late at night exclusively on encrypted channels, pornographic films have been a staple of the French pay-TV scene since Canal Plus launched in 1984. Now elements of the political establishment and the broadcast regulator, the CSA, are considering banning X-rated films from television. The Association of Cable and Satellite ...

  • News

    Digital opener for 36th Hof Film Days

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    Marc Ottiker's digitally shot feature Halbe Miete will have its world premiere as the opening film of the 36th International Hof Film Days today (Wednesday October 23).Ottiker's film and Hanno Hackfort's Junimond, which is also showing at the festival, are the first projects completed under the 'Radikal Digital' initiative ...

  • News

    Diesel fuels hot UK box office opening

    2002-10-22T00:00:00Z

    Latest action icon Vin Diesel enjoyed his biggest UK opening yet with Columbia TriStar's XXX at the weekend. The film, intended to be the first in a franchise for which part two is already scheduled for a 2004 release, took a mighty four-day opening gross (Oct 17-20) of $5.3m (£3.4m) ...

  • News

    MGM pleased with 'better than expected' third quarter results

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer(MGM) has posted 'better than expected' third quarter earnings,powered by revenues from its film and television library, increased televisionprogramming and the number one comedy, Barbershop.Revenuesfor the third quarter ending Sept 30, 2002 were $381.2m compared to $393.3mfrom the same period last year. The studio also reported net income of $11.7m,overturning ...

  • News

    Cohen's Manhattan picks up US rights to 12 Hours

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    Manhattan PicturesInternational has picked up US rights to Puerto Rican festival favourite 12Hours with an eye on an early March2003 release. Raul Marchand-Sanchez's 93-minute picture was showcased at theTribeca Film Festival and won the Audience Choice Award at the Chicago LatinoFilm Festival. A socially relevant drama, 12 Hours was produced ...

  • News

    Sobini joins Permut in long-gestating Julia Pastrana

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    MarkAmin's Sobini Films has teamed up with David Permit's PermutPresentations to co-produce Julia Pastrana, based on the real-life Victorian English romance between a deformedentertainer and the man who turned her into an international star. Although nodirector and cast have been attached, Meg Richman, who co-wrote and directedthe 1998 romantic drama ...

  • News

    Spencer Proffer moves to Mandalay Branded Entertainment

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    MandalayEntertainment Group offshoot Mandalay Branded Entertainment (MBE) has acquiredthe operations of Spencer Proffer's film, music and television outfit MorlingManor Music and Media, with Proffer coming on board as MBE executive vicepresident. Proffer, a former United Artists and CBS Records executive andlawyer, will oversee all music integration and implementation for MBE ...

  • News

    Coote says that Intertainer Asia is doing just fine

    2002-10-23T04:05:00Z

    Singapore-basedIntertainer Asia issued a statement yesterday saying that the imminent (Oct 23) suspension ofIntertainer Inc's video-on-demand service in the US will have "no impacton, or consequence to" its operations. Jonathan Taplin's Intertainer Incsaid last week that it was temporarily shutting down the service for its147,000 broadband subscribers to save costs ...

  • News

    Hyman leaves Miramax to head physical production at Focus

    2002-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Kevin Hyman has joined Universal Pictures' specialty films unit Focus Features as executive vice president of physical production. Hyman, who previously worked at Miramax Films, will be in charge of physical production and post-production on Focus' in-house productions and will oversee post-production on other Focus acquisitions. He will be based ...

  • News

    Hollywood Hong Kong scoops record number of Golden Horse nods

    2002-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Fruit Chan's Hollywood Hong Kong has scored a record number of nominations - 14 in all - for the 39th Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan's equivalent of the Oscars, including best picture, best director, best actor for Glen Chin and best actress for China's Zhou Xun.The film, which beat Crouching Tiger, ...

  • Reviews

    800 Bullets (800 Balas)

    2002-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Alex De La Iglesia. 124mins. Spain.A spoof on the classic western, 800 Bullets (800 Balas) is one of the funniest, most original and stylistically adventurous pictures to emerge from Spain in recent memory. Perhaps heir to that other local master of invention, Pedro Almodovar, director Alex De La Iglesia's ...

  • Reviews

    Abandon

    2002-10-23T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Stephen Gaghan. US. 2002. 99mins.The directorial debut of Oscar-winning Traffic screenwriter Stephen Gaghan, Abandon is not so much a teen thriller as a Bright Young Thing thriller - and like some of its Ivy League student characters it may be a bit too clever for its own good. US ...

  • News

    Spain selects three contenders for foreign-language Oscar submission

    2002-10-23T00:00:00Z

    The Spanish Cinema Academy's preliminary selection of three titles for the foreign-language Oscar submission includes Pedro Almodovar's Talk To Her, Jose Luis Garci's Story Of A Kiss and Fernando Leon's Mondays In The Sun.The pre-selection will be whittled down to one nominee, unveiled on November 11. The Academy introduced the ...