Small MPU – Page 4062

  • News

    Ealing Studios names new head of development

    2004-10-22T00:00:00Z

    Ealing Studios has appointedSophie Meyer as head of development, head of studio Barnaby Thompson announcedtoday.Meyer will oversee thedevelopment slate for Ealing Studios and production company Fragile Films, andgenerate new material. Working with Thompson, she will push forward projectssuch as the studio's remake of StTrinians."I am delighted that Sophiehas joined the ...

  • News

    Festival of India to honour Amritraj

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    Indian born Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj, Chairman andCEO of Hyde Park Entertainment is to be honoured at the International FilmFestival of India being held in Goa (Nov 29 - Dec 9).The festival will screen five of his recent films in asection called Spotlight on Ashok Amritraj, an Indian Success Story ...

  • News

    Producers weigh up Belgium, China and S. Africa benefits

    2004-10-24T04:00:00Z

    The benefits of shooting inBelgium, South Africa and China were outlined to international producers at afilm financing conference hosted by Screen International in London last week.The main reason to co-produce with China, said Thomas Leongof International Pacific Artists, is access to Chinese investment.'Although China is a communist country, it iscurrently ...

  • News

    Bavaria wraps Surprise sales

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    Bavaria Film International (BFI) has concluded a number ofsales for the German 2004 blockbuster Dreamship Surprise - Period 1 after its market premiere at MIFED.While Pony Canyon secured all rights for Japan, Believen picked up the sci-fi spoof forRussia, Intwest for Ukraine, Discovery for ex-Yugoslvaia and Best Hollywood forHungary, ...

  • News

    Glickman wins over French film-makers

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    The 14th annual Rencontres Cinematographiques de Beaunewrapped up on Sunday (Oct 24) after three days of debates which welcomed scores of Frenchand American talent as well as new MPAA president Dan Glickman.The Rencontres is organisedby French writers, directors and producers' association ARP, and eachyear reunites industry and political heavyweights in ...

  • News

    Allen's Melinda to open Stockholm

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    Woody Allen's Melinda & Melinda has replaced Oliver Stone's Alexander as the opening film of the Stockholm InternationalFilm Festival on Nov 18.The move follows the decision to move the US opening of Alexander from the beginning of November to November 24.Stone will now arrive in Stockholm on November 25, where ...

  • News

    New bidder enters race for Swedish exhibitor

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    A new bidder, independentexhibitor Triangelfilm, has said it would like to buy the Sandrew Metronome'scinema chain to stop it being sold to rival SF Bio.Sweden's second biggest exhibitor Sandrew Metronomeannounced in August that it had sold its cinema chain to SF Bio. The deal meantthat SF Bio, owned by Swedish ...

  • News

    Minghella, Chadha sign for Script Factory's SCENE

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    Directors Anthony Minghella and Gurinder Chadha have bothsigned up for Script Factory's SCENE Festival.SCENE (November 27-30) is The Script Factory's annualmini-festival within TheTimes bfi London Film Festival and puts some of theworld's leading filmmakers on stage to talk about their work and theprocess of filmmaking.The Script Factory recently announced Gwyneth ...

  • News

    Universal's Bourne opens top in Germany

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    A number one $2.9m debut inGermany on 528 screens was the key driver as Universal's The BourneSupremacy raised its internationalrunning total through UIP to an estimated $85.5m.The German launch claimed21% market share as it eclipsed Shark Tale in its second weekend by 31%, opening 12% bigger than The BourneIdentity in ...

  • News

    US micro distribs snare Ratcatcher, Hit & Runway

    2000-04-12T01:42:00Z

    In a sign that US micro-distributors are starting to fill the acquisitions void left by the studio specialist divisions as they gravitate to more commercial higher-budgeted fare, two emergent releasing boutiques have separately added two long-overlooked festival favourites to their forthcoming slates.Marking its third acquisition over the past six weeks, ...

  • News

    The Forgotten opens top in Spain and Mexico for CTFDI

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    Revolution Studios' supernatural mystery The Forgotten launched well in its first marketsthrough Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI), opening topin both Spain and Mexico on $1.4m on 262 screens and $1m on 300 respectively.Smaller launches in Taiwan,where it ranked top on $320,000 on 19, and South Africa, where it opened ...

  • News

    Columbia bears Ghost House's The Grudge to a wide audience

    2004-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Ghost House Pictures' Japanese horror remake The Grudge, released in North America by ColumbiaPictures, scored the second biggest October debut of all time as it opened topon an estimated $40m, dethroning DreamWorks' animated hit Shark Tale in its fourth weekend.The Grudge drew mixed reviews but averaged an excellent $12,326 on ...

  • News

    Grudge gives Ghost House, Senator Int roaring start

    2004-10-25T00:00:00Z

    Ghost House Pictures' Japanese horror remake The Grudge, released in North America by ColumbiaPictures, scored the third biggest October debut of all time as it opened topon an estimated $40m, dethroning DreamWorks' animated hit Shark Tale (the second biggest Oct opening of all time) in its fourth weekend.Rated a teen-friendly ...

  • News

    Freestyle buys into Hamptons prize winner Riley

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    Susan Jackson, Mark Borde and Mike Doban's fledgling USdistributor Freestyle Releasing has acquired all North American rights fromVisualeyes Productions and Jellyworks to Eddie O'Flaherty's directorial debut FightingTommy Riley.CURB Entertainment will handle international sales on the title,which won the Kodak Award For Cinematography at the 12th annual at the HamptonsInternational Film ...

  • News

    Most High, Capricciosa are top winners at Hamptons

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    Reza Bagher's Swedish drama Capricciosa won the Golden Starfish Award for BestInternational Film at the 12th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival,while Marty Sader's drug drama Most High won Best Narrative and Leslie Sullivan's A Touch OfGreatness took the SpikeTV Best Documentary Award.The Golden Starfish Short Film Award went to Gary ...

  • News

    I, Robot takes Italy by storm with $2.8m opening

    2004-10-25T04:00:00Z

    I, Robotis fast approaching the $200m milestone for Fox International following astrong Italian debut that raised the international running total to $193m.The sci-fi thriller grossed an estimated $2.8m on 456 Italianscreens for an unconfirmed first place.After an excellent run in Japan that saw it stay top for fiveconsecutive weeks, I, ...

  • 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 ...