All Finance articles – Page 208

  • News

    India's UTV to float film production arm on London AIM

    2007-04-11T22:11:00Z

    Indian media conglomerate UTV Software Communications is to transfer all its worldwide film production activities into one of its overseas subsidiaries, which will move to be listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.The move is a clear signal of the interest of the group in ...

  • News

    TWC, Lionsgate team on domestic for The Forbidden Kingdom

    2007-04-11T07:38:00Z

    Principal photography is set to begin on May 2 in China on the action epic The Forbidden Kingdom featuring the first ever pairing of Jackie Chan and Jet Li.Lionsgate will co-release with The Weinstein Company (TWC) in the US in summer 2008 and Lionsgate UK will release in the UK. ...

  • News

    Tyldum replaces Hennie as director of Fallen Angels

    2007-04-11T04:00:00Z

    Norwegian director Morten Tyldum will replace Aksel Hennie as director of Fallen Angels, the second theatrical production for SF Norge's $12.9m (Euros 9.8m) Varg Veum detective series, Norway 's largest film project to date. Tyldum's 2003 feature debut, Buddy, won the Amanda - the national film prize - for best ...

  • News

    Media Asia set to go private with eSun takeover

    2007-04-10T14:54:00Z

    Media Asia, the Singapore-listed Hong Kong producer of Infernal Affairs, is set to go private through a buyout led by Hong Kong-listed media conglomerate eSun Holdings. eSun, which already owns 37.33% of the company, is offering to acquire all outstanding shares to make Media Asia its wholly owned subsidiary. The ...

  • News

    Yu establishes Ming Yue Tang to develop Chinese co-productions

    2007-04-10T14:43:00Z

    Hong Kong-based production house October Films has established a Beijing-based company, Ming Yue Tang Film and TV Cultural Ltd, to develop Chinese-language co-productions between China, Hong Kong and Korea. Daniel Yu, former COO of Andy Lau's Focus Films, will be in charge of developing the company's first four projects. Yu ...

  • News

    Lena Headey and Lily Cole join cast of St Trinian's

    2007-04-10T13:40:00Z

    Ealing Studios has added to the cast of St Trinian's, the contemporary update of the popular 1950s film franchise about a girl's school. Joining the cast are Lena Headey, Lily Cole, Toby Jones, Celia Imrie, Anna Chancellor, and Gemma Arterton. Playing some of the modern-day students are rising talents Talulah ...

  • News

    Israel venture capital fund JVP launches Animation Lab

    2007-04-10T00:14:00Z

    Israel-based international venture capital fund Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) has launched Jerusalem and Los Angeles-based Animation Lab.Commercials producer Ayelet Weinerman will serve as president for Animation Lab, Israel's first fully equipped feature animation studio, and has spent the past year scouting creative and managerial talent.Weinerman, who served as executive producer ...

  • News

    MGM pacts with Salma Hayek on Latin film co Ventanazul

    2007-04-10T00:08:00Z

    MGM and business associates Salma Hayek and Jose Tamez have set up Ventanazul to develop, produce and acquire Latin-themed filmed entertainment featuring Latin and non-Latin film-makers and stars. Hayek will serve as president and chief executive officer and Tamez as president of production in the equal partnership with MGM.The company ...

  • News

    Telefilm Canada invests in 14 feature projects

    2007-04-06T00:20:00Z

    Telefilm Canada has announced investments in 14 English-language features including new feature documentaries from Deepa Mehta and Kevin McMahon.Mehta is co-directing Forgotten Women with brother Dilip Mehta, a renowned photographer, on this expose of the destitution, exploitation, and virtual slavery of millions of Hindu widows living in India today. David ...

  • News

    Pinewood: studio tour

    2007-04-06T00:00:00Z

    No-one knows what caused the fire that burned down the famous 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios in July 2006, but its rapid rebuilding symbolises the upturn in fortunes at Pinewood Shepperton.The $15.7m (£8m) new stage was finished in March. Now, even before an official launch, the 007 stage is back ...

  • News

    European film financing: a private phenomenon

    2007-04-06T00:00:00Z

    A $500m deal between Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Bob and Harvey Weinstein raise $490m in equity through Goldman Sachs. A $500m deal between Virtual Studios and Warner Bros. A $600m equity deal between Relativity Media and Sony and Universal. The figures from the equity funding boom among Hollywood studios ...

  • News

    Script advice available to UKFCunsuccessful applicants

    2007-04-05T16:56:00Z

    Applicants to the UK Film Council's Development Fund will now be able to get free feedback on unaccepted scripts thanks to a deal with The Script Connection. Consultants Lisa Neeley and Richard Tindall of The Script Connection and their team will offer independent assessments of the scripts not taken on ...

  • News

    Industry has mixed reactions to HanWay-Celluloid merger

    2007-04-04T16:20:00Z

    The announcement yesterday of the merger between HanWay Films and Celluloid Dreams to create a new combined company, dreamachine, has provoked a mixed response from the European film industry. Some have welcomed the consolidation of the two companies. For example, Tartan Films founder Hamish McAlpine applauded the move. 'Hanway and ...

  • News

    Ben Whishaw set to join Campion's Keats story Bright Star

    2007-04-04T14:56:00Z

    UK actor Ben Whishaw is in final negotiations to star in Bright Star as 19th-century poet John Keats. Jane Campion will write and direct the period romance about the relationship between Keats and Fanny Brawne, who will be played by Abbie Cornish. The project is set to start shooting for ...

  • News

    Lakeshore sets cast for horror movie Pathology

    2007-04-04T01:14:00Z

    Lakeshore Entertainment has announced casting on the upcoming horror film Pathology, which will star Milo Ventimiglia, Lauren Lee Smith, Alyssa Milano, and Johnny Whitworth.Filming is set to begin in April on the story of medical students who devise a sinister game to see who among them can commit the perfect ...

  • News

    Gruffudd joins voice cast of animated Agent Crush

    2007-04-04T00:16:00Z

    Ioan Gruffudd has joined the voice cast of Agent Crush, a $20m animated adventure from LA-based Fantastic Films International and UK-based Crush Productions.Gruffudd, who won acclaim for portraying the abolitionist William Wilberforce in Amazing Grace and reprises his role as Reed Richards this summer in Fantastic Four: Rise Of The ...

  • News

    HanWay and Celluloid Dreams merge to create dreamachine

    2007-04-03T15:05:00Z

    In a move that will shake up the international sales world, Jeremy Thomas' UK-based HanWay Films and Hengameh Panahi's Paris-based Celluloid Dreams are planning to merge. The new sales, production and financing venture, dreamachine, will be based in London, Paris and Toronto. Financial terms have yet to be disclosed, but ...

  • News

    Marchal starts shooting thriller MR 73 for Gaumont and LGM

    2007-04-03T11:51:00Z

    French director Olivier Marchal has begun shooting thriller MR 73 in Marseilles with Daniel Auteuil and Olivia Bonamy in the lead roles. Principal photography began in mid-February on the film, about the complex relationship between a loner cop and the young woman he protects when her parents' murderer is released ...

  • News

    Pinewood launches website for rebuilt 007 Stage

    2007-04-02T15:57:00Z

    The Pinewood Studios Group has launched an official website for the rebuilt 007 Stage, located at www.007stage.com. Europe 's largest sound stage has been rebuilt and reopened following the July 2006 fire that made the stage unusable. Currently, the internal area of 59,000-square-feet makes it the biggest stage in Europe. ...

  • News

    Aardman signs exclusive three-year, first-look deal with Sony Pictures

    2007-04-02T13:37:00Z

    UK-based Aardman Features will enter a three-year, exclusive first-look deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) for all of Aardman's features in development. Aardman, known for Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run and Flushed Away, ended its increasingly tense partnership with DreamWorks in late January 2007. The new pact was struck with ...