All Asia articles – Page 534
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Harry Potter weaves a magical international opening for Warner Bros
Warner Bros weaved a magical opening for Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix at the weekend as the fifth episode in the fantasy saga conjured up an estimated $190.3m from 44 territories.Approximately 31m people overseas turned out to see the film, which amassed $330m around the world in ...
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Transformers has record-breaking opening in China
Transformers has set a new opening day record for an imported film in China, taking in $2.95m (RMB22.4m) on July 11. Previously, the record was set by Spiderman 3 which took $2.34m on its opening day. Beijing 's multiplexes were packed from early morning on Wednesday for the 12am premiere ...
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Eros International acquires 51% of Ayngaran
Eros International has made a foray into Tamil films, the second largest segment in India, by acquiring a 51% interest in Ayngaran International, a dominant force in the Tamil content and distribution industry.Eros announced today it will initially provide $33m in funding to take over and grow Ayngaran's existing business, ...
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TWC homes in on Chan's Invisible Target
The Weinstein Company (TWC) has picked up all rights for North America, Australia and South Africa to Benny Chan's upcoming action drama Invisible Target from Hong Kong 's Universe Films Distribution. The $8m martial arts actioner is set to open in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia on July 19. ...
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Salon Films' Charles Wang dies aged 74
Charles Wang, managing director of Hong Kong-based production services group Salon Films, died from cancer last week (July 6) in a New York City hospital at the age of 74. One of Asia 's leading suppliers of production logistics and equipment, Salon Films was founded in 1958 when Wang's father ...
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Warner Bros International TV promotes Robertson in Asia Pacific
Greg Robertson has been promoted to senior vice president and managingdirector of Asia Pacific at Warner Bros International TelevisionDistribution (WBITD).The 21-year company veteran will supervise all WBITD's programmelicensing operations in more than 24 territories in the region,including Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, thePhilippines, and Singapore.Based in Sydney, he reports ...
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India's Vagabond secures release in Pakistan
Hindi-language romantic thriller The Vagabond (Awarapan) opened in Pakistan last weekend (July 6) on 15 prints, marking the first time an Indian film has been released in the territory at the same time as its global roll-out. Indian films were banned in Pakistan in 1965, although pirated versions are widely ...
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Japan's BS-i, Tsutaya form joint production label
Japanese digital satellite channel BS-i, owned by broadcaster TBS, and Tsutaya video chain parent company Culture Convenience Club (CCC) have jointly formed a label to produce feature films based on TV programmes. Dubbed Cinema Drive, the label will initially produce one to two features per year, with a stated goal ...
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Melbourne festival unveils participants for financing forum
John Maynard (Romulus , My Father), Liz Watts (Little Fish) and Bridget Ikin (Look Both Ways) are among the 41 Australian producers pitching feature film projects at the Melbourne International Film Festival's (MIFF) inaugural film financing forum. The new sidebar, called '37 South: Bridging the Gap', has attracted about a ...
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Korean cable company takes control of MK Pictures
South Korean producer-investor-distributor MK Pictures has sold a controlling stake to regional cabler Kangwon Networks. In deals totalling $16.3m, major stockholder Lee Eun sold his 11.76% stake, while his wife and partner Shim Jae-myung sold her 6.54%, both to Kangwon head Kim Young-kyun. Another founder of the company, filmmaker Kang ...
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Tokyo multiplex to screen hit TV show Winter Sonata
A special version of Korean hit television drama Winter Sonata will be screened at Toho's flagship Roppongi Hills cinema in Tokyo. All 20 episodes of the series will be shown on Tuesday mornings from July 10 to September 11, featuring extra footage only shown once previously on NHK's BS satellite ...
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Witi Ihimaera to work on Matriarch adaptation with Binger Lab
The Netherlands-based Binger Filmlab will welcome Maori novelist Witi Ihimaera as a writer in residence for six months, and Ihimaera will also follow Binger's Script Development Programme. The author, who previously wrote The Whale Rider, will be working on the screen adaptation of his 1986 novel The Matriarch, about the ...
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FIAPF defends film festival accreditation system
International producers' association FIAPF has issued a statement in response to criticisms of its film festival accreditation system that were made in a public forum at the recent Shanghai International Film Festival. During a summit of film festival chiefs, Sundance director Geoffrey Gilmore accused FIAPF of perpetuating mediocrity with its ...
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Tsai Ming-liang takes top prize at Taipei Film Festival
The Taipei Film Festival has awarded its $30,000 grand prize to Tsai Ming-liang's I Don't Want To Sleep Alone. Tsai, a regular competitor at the Taipei Film Festival, had withdrawn the film from last year's Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards. 31 recent Taiwan films competed for the grand prize ...
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Spider-Man 3 drives Sony to cross overseas $1bn in record time
The apocalyptic robots of Transformers just about did enough to keep Bruce Willis at bay as Paramount/DreamWorks' Transformers ruled the overseas market at the weekend. The action epic grossed an estimated $43.6m from 3,503 venues in 29 territories following last weekend's robust take-off and now stands at $93.6m. ...
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Venice to close with Alexi Tan's debut Blood Brothers
Blood Brothers, the first feature by director Alexi Tan which is produced by John Woo and Terence Chang, will close the Venice Film Festival's 64th edition, out of competition, the Biennale said today. Fortissimo is handling international sales on the project, and already sold a number of territories during the ...
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Korean films lose market share in first half of 2007
Leading South Korean exhibitor CJ CGV has released statistics for the first half of the year, which place the market share of local films at 47.3%, the lowest since 2001 and down from 59.5% for the same period last year. Local film market share in Seoul - traditionally lower than ...
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Transformers expands to 18 new territories; set to cross $100m
Paramount/PPI's Transformers has already amassed $53.5m since opening last weekend and stands a good chance of crossing $100m over the next several days in international markets. The effects-heavy tale of warring robots touches down in 18 new territories this weekend including Russia, Spain and Sweden on July 4. PPI stablemate ...
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Remakes: Thai take two
Remake rights for Thai genre movies are increasingly in demand from film-makers in Asia and the US. Silvia Wong reports. Initial Entertainment Group's take on Danny and Oxide Pang's 1999 action thriller Bangkok Dangerous stars Nicolas Cage and is directed by the Pang brothers themselves.It is the first high-budget English-language ...
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Thailand: projects in the pipeline
Thai productions coming to the screen soon, compiled by Silvia Wong. Click on link to be taken to related websiteFirst Flight (completed)Dir: Thanit JitnukulSet during the First World War, a young Thai peasant aspires to become a pilot in the country's first flying division.Contact: Golden Network, (852) 2751 1886www.goldnetasia.comMuay Thai ...