All Asia articles – Page 495

  • News

    Forbidden Kingdom kicks into top international spot on Screen's chart

    2008-04-30T16:53:00Z

    Martial arts adventure The Forbidden Kingdom came up trumps this weekend with a $16.8m take from 10 territories, making it this weekend's number one international film. The top 40 international films generated $104.2m across 36,933 screens from the period of April 25-27.For the full chart, compiled by Len Klady, click ...

  • News

    Fox picks up Australian rights for Children Of Huang Shi

    2008-04-30T15:43:00Z

    Australia producer Jonathan Shteinman has extricated The Children Of Huang Shi from Icon's take-over of Dendy Films and done a deal that will see 20th Century Fox Film Distributors release the film in Australia.The film premiered in China in early April and Fox will release the film in Australia in ...

  • News

    Beijing government establishes copyright trade centre

    2008-04-30T09:33:00Z

    Beijing's municipal government has established a unit called the Beijing International Copyright Trade Centre, which is China's first cross governmental unit focusing on copyright trade and protection services. Established as Beijing's first ever one-stop shop for full copyright-related services, the centre will provide copyright registration, legal services on intellectual property ...

  • News

    Lightning picks up Aussie horror Gates Of Hell

    2008-04-30T09:22:00Z

    US sales agent Lightning Entertainment has picked up world rights to horror film The Gates Of Hell just in time for Cannes. Australian writer/director Kelly Dolen met all but one of the private investors that put up the $1.1m (A$1.2m) to make the film while installing theatre systems in their ...

  • News

    Chinese video site Tudou receives $57m in financing

    2008-04-30T04:52:00Z

    Chinese video-sharing web-site Tudou.com has secured $57m in its fourth round of financing from investors including previous backers IDG, Granite Global Ventures and General Catalyst. The company also has financing from two new investors from the US and Singapore, according to Tudou press representative Lily Gong in a statement.Tudou previously ...

  • News

    Warner Bros boards Indian title Saas Bahu Aur Sensex

    2008-04-28T16:44:00Z

    Warner Bros India has announced its second local Indian film production, Shona Urvashi's sophomore effort Saas Bahu Aur Sensex (SBS).Principal photography on the film, produced by PLA Entertainment and Warner Bros, has been completed and post work has begun. The film is slated for release on September 12.Saas Bahu Aur ...

  • News

    SPTI signs day-and-date VoD deal with KT Corp

    2008-04-28T15:42:00Z

    Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has signed a day-and-date video-on-demand (VoD) licensing deal with South Korea's KT Corporation (KT). Films covered by the deal willbe shownon KT's internet protocol TV (IPTV) service MegaTV on the same day as local home video/DVD release. Titles include Vantage Point, The Water Horse, Across ...

  • News

    Shochiku to launch video-on-demand service

    2008-04-28T14:49:00Z

    Japanese major studio Shochiku has announced the launch of a video-on-demand (VoD) service which will stream movies from its library of over 2,000 titles. Dubbed 'Shochiku Online', the service will launch on May 21. Approximately 200 titles are scheduled to become available in the first year, with 10 to 20 ...

  • News

    Fortissimo picks up Mendoza's Cannes-bound Serbis

    2008-04-28T08:37:00Z

    Fortissimo Films has acquired worldwide rights outside of France and the Philippines to Brillante Mendoza's Serbis, the first Filipino film to screen in competition at Cannes in 24 years. The last Filipino film to screen in Cannes competition was the late director Lino Brocka's Bayan Ko: My Own Country. The ...

  • News

    Chak De India, Om Shanti Om lead IIFA technical awards

    2008-04-28T08:22:00Z

    Yash Raj Films' Chak De India and Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om are the big winners at this year's International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards in the technical categories. Both films star Shah Rukh Khan. Chak De India bagged five awards including best cinematography (Sudeep Chatterjee), best editing (Amitabh Shukla), ...

  • News

    Forbidden Kingdom sets opening day record in China

    2008-04-28T08:11:00Z

    Echoing its strong first weekend gross in the US, The Forbidden Kingdom achieved a record-breaking opening-day gross in mainland China. The film raked in $2.29m (RMB16m) on Thursday, April 24, surpassing the $2.14m (RMB15m) record set by The Warlords last December, as well as that of Curse Of The Golden ...

  • News

    Fuji TV's Shaolin Girl sells throughout Asia

    2008-04-28T07:53:00Z

    Katsuyuki Motohiro's martial arts action comedy Shaolin Girl has sold to eight Asian territories, co-producer Fuji TV announced today. Gaga Communications, which is handling international sales on the film, has closed deals with Bill Kong's Edko Films for Hong Kong and Macau, San-Byte Hong Kong Co for Taiwan, Sahamongkol Film ...

  • News

    Om Puri appointed chairman of India's NFDC

    2008-04-25T15:07:00Z

    Veteran actor Om Puri has been appointed chairman of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) by the Indian government. The term of the appointment is three years. In his new role Puri will look out for new talent in filmmaking, examine scripts and consider production and co-production opportunities for the ...

  • News

    Kadokawa acquires Chen Kaige's Mei Lanfang

    2008-04-25T09:18:00Z

    China Film Group Corporation has announced that it has sold all Japanese rights to Chen Kaige's biopic Mei Lanfang to Kadokawa Pictures. Although the amount of the deal was not disclosed, CFGC chairman Han Sanping said it is the highest price in recent years for a Chinese film sold to ...

  • News

    Del Toro to direct Hobbit double bill

    2008-04-25T05:49:00Z

    Guillermo Del Toro has landed his 'dream' job as the confirmed director of TheHobbit for New Line and MGM, the studios and executive producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh announced on Thursday.The move was widely expected after it emerged four months ago that Jackson would serve as executive producer on ...

  • News

    Sarah Marshall hopes 8 territories won't forget this weekend

    2008-04-25T05:36:00Z

    The start of the blockbuster season is almost upon us and with one week to go before Paramount Pictures International (PPI) unleashes Marvel's Iron Man around the globe, the release schedule is predictably subdued.Universal's comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall gets a push this weekend with eight launches through UPI including Russia ...

  • News

    Wild Bunch picks up world rights to Khoo's My Magic

    2008-04-25T04:49:00Z

    France's Wild Bunch has acquired worldwide sales rights, excluding France and Singapore, to Eric Khoo's Cannes competition-bound My Magic. Khoo's Singapore-based production outfit Zhao Wei Films has separately sold the film to ARP for France. The new picture represents the first from Singapore to play in competition at Cannes. Khoo's ...

  • News

    Australia - Hopscotch jumps to next level

    2008-04-25T00:00:00Z

    Independent Australian distributor Hopscotch is reinventing itself. The company's ambitious managing director Troy Lum wants to transform Hopscotch from a theatrically-focused distributor to a vertically integrated, content-driven entity.'When the digital era really hits, producers will reap the rewards,' says Lum. 'Distribution is changing because people consume content in different ways ...

  • News

    Queensland signs MoU with Korea's Gyeonggi province

    2008-04-24T03:34:00Z

    A 10-year-old sister state relationship between the Australian state of Queensland and the Gyeonggi Province of South Korea has been extended into the film arena with this week's signing of a memorandum of understanding. The agreement is between the Gyeonggi Film Commission, the Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency, and the Pacific ...

  • News

    Mason, Collee partner with Hopscotch in production venture

    2008-04-24T03:20:00Z

    Australian distributor Hopscotch has enticed two of Sydney's most successful international filmmakers, producer Andrew Mason (the Matrix trilogy) and screenwriter John Collee (Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World) to help attract investment and talent to pump into its new production division. The pair will work closely with ...