All articles by Agnes Poirier – Page 8
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News
US DVD sales continue to break all records
The fourth quarter of 2001 is fast proving to be a key turning point in the fortunes of DVD, with sales records smashed week in, week out. When Shrek was released in the US on DVD it sold 2.5 million copies in three days. With a retail value of more ...
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Iran, Spain and Mexico name their Oscar candidates
Majid Majidi's Baran has been selected by Iran as its official candidate for the Academy Award for best foreign-language category. Vicente Aranda's historical drama Madness Of Love (Juana La Loca) is Spain's official nomination, while Mexico has chosen last spring's winner of five Ariel awards: Perfume De Violetas by Marisa ...
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Monsters, Inc. stays on top
Monsters, Inc., the Walt Disney/Pixar animation, continued athwart the North American box office, with audiences lifting it past the $100m mark after nine days on release, a record cash-dash for an animated film. After two weekends, its estimated take stands at $122m. Perhaps its haste is quickened by the sound ...
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National Amusements to open first Imax cinema
US exhibitor National Amusements is opening its first-ever Imax cinema in the New Year. According to National Amusements president Shari Redstone, the cinema will be launched with the premiere of Walt Disney's Beauty And The Beast on Jan. 1, 2002. The new facility will be located at the circuit's 17-screen ...
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Emmys pick Judy Davis over Emma Thompson
The 53rd Annual Prime Time Emmy awards, twice-cancelled in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, finally went ahead Nov. 4. There were no great surprises in terms of network television series ' NBC's White House fiction The West Wing won its second consecutive award for best drama series ...
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Monsters, Inc. swallows $63.5m
Michael Eisner will be sighing with relief. The Walt Disney/Pixar animation, Monsters, Inc., scored a $63.5m opening weekend bonanza. Based on estimates, the film set a Disney record and, more important symbolically, reclaims from DreamWorks the record for a three-day opening by an animated film. DreamWorks' animated film Shrek opened ...
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Kandahar opens to full houses in Canada
Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Kandahar did sell-out business on its first theatrical engagement in North America. The Afghanistan-set film opened October 26 - October 28 in Toronto and Montreal through distributor Seville Pictures. Box office was $34,831 (C$54,986) from just two screens for a stunning screen average of $17,415. Seville ...
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Canadian actors' strike averted
Canada's film and TV performers have reached a tentative agreement with producers that will boost actors' earnings 6% over two years. The increase is the same as that negotiated by SAG earlier this year.The 18,000-member Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) renewed its Independent Production Agreement with ...
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Murdoch abandons Hughes bid
News Corp. has abandoned its bid for Hughes Electronics and its DirecTV satellite television service after company parent General Motors failed to choose a buyer. Speculation that GM's board of directors would select between News Corp. and rival bidder EchoStar Communications came to naught over the weekend. The board made ...
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Microsoft bets on Intertainer for broadband VOD
Microsoft will be making a significant push into the online entertainment market by offering VOD broadband service Intertainer through its widely available internet portal when it is revamped next week under the name of MSN 7. Intertainer's VOD service will made be available in the top 35 broadband markets in ...
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Proliferating producer credits weave tangled web
Abstracted from the weekly edition of Screen InternationalEverything about the summer hit Pearl Harbor was big: the scale of the production, the array of special effects, the breadth of the marketing and the cast of thousands who got a producing credit on the film. Pearl Harbor's credit roll includes six ...
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Canada's tax change closes expensive loophole
Toronto and London-based Grosvenor Park and Vancouver-based Sentinel Hill Alliance Atlantis Equicap Limited Partnership (SHAAELP), in which Alliance Atlantis Corp. holds a 30% stake, are two of the Canadian-based companies expected to be hardest hit by the Canadian government's closure in Jan 2002, of a loophole in its tax law ...
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BCE, Cogeco acquire Quebec TV network
Canadian telecommunications and media conglomerate BCE has teamed with Cogeco, the nation's fourth-largest cable company, to purchase majority control of Quebec-based television network TQS. The US$47m deal was part of the regulatory divestiture by publishing and media giant Quebecor in the wake of its US$3.4bn takeover of Groupe Videotron last ...
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Canada's Remstar signs Prophecy output deal
Montreal-based Remstar Distribution and Prophecy Entertainment have signed an output deal that gives Remstar a first-look option at the next four projects in development at the Vancouver-based production and sales house. The deal follows Remstar's acquisition of two Prophecy titles, Ripper: Letter From Hell and The Barber for distribution in ...
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Toronto festival to carry on
Contrary to previous reports, the Toronto International Film Festival will stay the course, proceeding with the films, press conferences and Rogers Industry Centre events as scheduled for Wednesday 12 Sept. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US on Tuesday morning, the Festival cancelled screenings and events ...
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Podeswa to direct Fugitive for Lantos
Canadian producers are back in the saddle, putting forward a raft of new projects as the chill placed on feature production by the threat of a SAG strike passes. The possibility of a strike by US actors boosted production in Canada in the first half of the year but dampened ...
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Toronto delivers best of the fests
Last year's 25th anniversary smash was such a success, it is hard to imagine how Toronto would keep up the intensity for so under-whelming a figure as 26. And yet far from an anti-climax, Toronto 2001 already has a buzz about it; albeit not one that will necessarily ...
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Majidi's Baran takes Montreal Grand Prix
Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi's Baran shared the top prize at the 2001 Montreal World Film Festival, his third Grand Prix of the Americas in as many appearances in competition at Montreal. Majidi previously won in 1999 for The Colour Of Paradise and in 1997 for The Children Of Heaven. The ...
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Distribution revs Alliance Atlantis revenues
Alliance Atlantis Communications announced a record 91% increase in first quarter revenue at its Motion Picture Group. The big numbers -- $45.6m compared to $23.9m in the first quarter 2000 -- were driven by strong performances at the box office and in home video. In a statement, company CEO Michael ...
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American Pie 2 makes it three in a row
North American youths continued to gobble American Pie 2, keeping the gross-out comedy at the top spot for its third weekend and easily vaulting it over the $100m mark. Its take of $12.9m gives it an estimated 17-day gross of $109.6m. The other sequel of the moment, Rush Hour 2, ...