All articles by Staff reporters – Page 11

  • News

    Bid by Goal! producer for Liverpool FC is 'no stunt'

    2004-09-26T00:00:00Z

    Reports that film producer Mike Jefferies is bidding to takecontrol of Liverpool Football Club for £100m ($100m) are serious and nota stunt to promote his football trilogy Goal!, say sources close to Jefferies.Jefferies, chairman of Milkshake Films, has teamed up withformer Miramax executive Stuart Ford and has reportedly already held ...

  • News

    British Film Institute unveils new executive team

    2004-09-22T00:00:00Z

    The British Film Institute (bfi) has unveiled its newExecutive Team under director Amanda Nevill.The team comprise figures from the world of film as well asprivate sector executives with managerial and commercial experience.The executive teamcomprises:Eddie Berg, founder and ChiefExecutive of FACT, theFoundation for Art and Creative Technology, in Liverpool, who has ...

  • News

    Lelouch offers free showings of latest film

    2004-09-20T04:00:00Z

    French director Claude Lelouch showed his new film LesParisiens for free across France on Fridayto try to prove wrong the critics who have panned it.Lelouch said he would bear the costs of the showings atabout 400 cinemas across France, according to Reuters."I've taken this decision following an unprecedentedmedia lynching," he ...

  • News

    Spain unveils Oscar contenders

    2004-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Alejandro Amenabar's TheSea Inside (Mar Adentro), Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education (La Mala Educacion) and multiple Oscar nominee JoseLuis Garci's Tiovivo De Madrid C. 1950have made Spain's short-list for the nomination to the foreign-language Oscar.The final nominee will be announced October 1.Almodovar scored his best ever opening in Spain with BadEducation ...

  • News

    Palm seizes To's Breaking News for US

    2004-09-16T00:00:00Z

    Renewing its relationship with Hong Kong director Johnnie To, PalmPictures has acquired North American and Caribbean rights to To's BreakingNews.Palm plans a theatrical release sometime in 2005 followed by a DVDrelease on the Palm Pictures label later in the year.Produced by Milkyway Image (HK) Ltd. and sold by Media Asia, ...

  • News

    INTERNATIONAL 16 September

    2004-09-16T00:00:00Z

    Day-and-date launches in Japan and Denmark saw action-horrorsequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse thehighest new entry on the international chart this week at sixth. The 2002original outperformed its domestic gross internationally with 61% ($62m) of its$102m worldwide total coming from international territories.It was not enough, however, to dethrone BVI's The Village from ...

  • News

    Sony ready to roar with MGM buyout

    2004-09-13T00:00:00Z

    87-year-old Kirk Kerkorianis poised to sell Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for the third time in his see-sawinghistory as a studio proprietor after agreeing "in principle" to a $4.84bntakeover bid from a consortium led by Sony. The MGM board will meet to sanctionthe deal tomorrow (Tuesday).By raising its bid overthe weekend to $12 per ...

  • News

    Resident Evil sequel roars to the top of the box office

    2004-09-13T00:00:00Z

    The shock of a new seasonfound two premiering thrillers scaring up business with Resident Evil:Apocalypse leading the way forScreen Gems with an estimated $24.2 million and New Line's Cellular trailing with about $10.5 million.However, overall businesswas soft and the weekend tally is unlikely to generate more than $78 million inticket ...

  • News

    Turkey, UAE 'fastest growing' Middle East markets

    2004-09-07T04:00:00Z

    Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are the fastest growingcinema markets in the Middle East region, according to a new report by DodonaResearch.Expansion in screen numbers in Turkey (by 179% to 945) andthe UAE (almost fourfold to 142) over the 1995 to 2003 period was the catalystfor rapid growth in ...

  • News

    Palm Springs ShortFest announces winners

    2004-09-07T00:00:00Z

    The 2004 PalmSprings International Festival of Short Films & Short Film Market, thelargest short film festival and market in North America, ended on Monday,September 6, 2004. More than 2,600 industry representatives, filmmakers andmedia from around the world participated in this year's Festival, including arecord-setting 2,000 film submissions and attendance by ...

  • News

    Working Title snaps up prize winning Population

    2004-08-27T04:00:00Z

    Working Title has acquired Nick Ostler and MarkHuckerby's draft sci-fi script Population, one of the winners of the UKFilm Council's 25 Words Or Less development competition.The $30m-plus conspiracy thriller titled Populationenvisages, according to Ostler, "a Britain where the problem of over populationhasn't been solved. It's quite dark."The pair's pitch for ...

  • News

    Final bids tabled for Odeon cinema chain

    2004-08-27T04:00:00Z

    The three final bidders for Odeon couldlearn as early as today who has succeeded in buying the UK cinema chain formore than £380m ($683m), according to wire and newspaper reports.U.S. buyout giant Blackstone, Britishfinancier Guy Hand's Terra Firma Capital Partners and Iranian property investorRobert Tchenguiz were all set to submit ...

  • News

    Apollo plans luxury 'club class' cinemas in UK

    2004-08-26T04:00:00Z

    UK independent exhibitor Apollo Cinemas has unveiled a £50mthree-year development programme to bring luxury cinemas to UK town centres.At a time when the major cinema players are undergoingconsolidation, the move underscores the long-term confidence in the market -and especially for premium rate 'event destinations'.This week the company launched its new ...

  • News

    Resfest readies global film tour

    2004-08-26T00:00:00Z

    Resfest, the global touring festival dedicated to profilinginnovative film, music, art, design and technology launches in New York on Sept9, before travelling to over 30 cities worldwide.Now in its 8th year, the Resfest Digital Film Festival was establishedto provide a forum to showcase the changing language and style of storytellingin ...

  • News

    Slovenia has new box office champion

    2004-08-23T04:00:00Z

    Slovenian comedy CheeseAnd Jam has become the most successful local film of all time in theterritory.The film was directed by Branko Djuric, star of the AcademyAward winning No Man's Land.Cheese And Jam wasreleased on 13 November 2003 and as of 4 August 2004 it has been seen by 153,163 viewers. ...

  • News

    UK film magazine moves into TV documentaries

    2004-08-23T00:00:00Z

    EMPIRE - the UK's biggest film magazine - and independentproduction company Monkey have been commissioned by Five to co-produce adocumentary on Steven Spielberg, to coincide with the 3rd September release of The Terminal.The hour-long programme features a rare, in-depth interviewwith Spielberg at his Amblin studio, highlighted with clips from his ...

  • News

    Buena Vista UK promotes marketing, publicity staff

    2004-08-18T00:00:00Z

    Buena Vista International (BVI) has announced the promotionof Lee Jury to Marketing Director for BVI UK.In addition Phil Cairns has been promoted from SeniorPublicist to Publicity Manager and Amanda Telfer promoted from Publicist toPublicist and Awards Co-ordinator.

  • News

    Dinard unveils initial line-up of UK films

    2004-08-16T00:00:00Z

    The fifteenth edition of the DinardBritish Film Festival will see the founding president, Thierry de la Fourniere,hand over to the mayor of Dinard, Marius Mallet.For fifteen years the town of Dinardhas celebrated its own "Entente Cordiale" between the French and British filmindustries and this tradition will be continued between October ...

  • News

    First Sweet HD film festival to open in Edinburgh

    2004-08-13T00:00:00Z

    The UK Sweet HighDefinition Festival opens its first edition in Edinburgh on August 25. Thefestival, which will screen 23 films in competition, including shorts, featuresand documentaries, runs August 26-30 at two venues: the Radisson hotel and theRoyal Museums of Scotland.The event, founded topromote and demystify the new technology of high ...

  • News

    Lindon takes on The Moustache

    2004-08-09T00:00:00Z

    French actorVincent Lindon (Chaos, My Little Business)will begin shooting in Paris on August 23 for The Moustache, the first feature-length fiction film by the authorEmmanuel Carrere.Lindon will staralongside Emmanuelle Devos (Read My Lips,Petites Coupures), who will play his wife. The actress worked previouslywith Carrère during the shooting of the film ...