All articles by Mike Goodridge – Page 54
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News
UK's Brass Hat seals new $200m equity mega-fund
UK production and financing group Brass Hat Films is positioning itselfas a major European player, after securing a $200m equity fund from ahigh-net-worth individual in the middle east in addition to its existingin-house equity funds which are now entering their fifth cycle.London-based Brass Hat, which is run by Nick Hamson, ...
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News
Bauer Martinez takes new tactic with The Break-Up Guy
Bauer Martinez Studios isretooling its business plan to focus on self-generated material and plans tokick off this October with production of original comedy The Break-Up Guy scripted by David Drew Gallagher.Gallagher previously wrote BauerMartinez's upcoming Van Wilder 2: The Rise Of Taj.The romantic comedy scriptdeveloped from a pitch is the ...
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News
Swank to star in PS, I Love You
Double Oscar winner Hilary Swank has signed to star inPS, I Love You, the forthcoming film ofCecelia Ahern's bestseller which is being produced by Alcon Entertainment,released domestically by Warner Bros and sold here by SummitEntertainment.Another Oscar winner Richard LaGravanese, who isdirector of one of the segments in Un Certain Regard ...
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News
Swank to star in PS, I Love You
Double Oscar winner Hilary Swank has signed to star inPS, I Love You, the forthcoming film ofCecelia Ahern's bestseller which is being produced by Alcon Entertainment,released domestically by Warner Bros and sold here by SummitEntertainment.Another Oscar winner Richard LaGravanese, who isdirector of one of the segments in Un Certain Regard ...
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News
Summit embarks on pan-Latin distribution
Summit Entertainment has set up its own Latin Americandistribution operation in alliance with LA-based Pedro Rodriguez who formerlyran the Latin distribution consortium Nu Vision Network.The outfit, International Distribution Company (IDC), hasset up a fixed structure of distribution partners in each Latin territory whichwill handle 5 or 6 Summit titles a ...
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News
Summit sets up Latin American distribution operation
Leading LA production,financing and sales house Summit Entertainment has set up its own LatinAmerican distribution operation in alliance with LA-based Pedro Rodriguez whoformerly ran the Latin distribution consortium Nu Vision Network.The outfit, calledInternational Distribution Company (IDC), has set up a fixed structure ofdistribution partners in each Latin territory which will ...
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News
Swank takes lead in Alcon production
Double Oscar winner Hilary Swank has signed to star inPS, I Love You, the forthcoming film ofCecelia Ahern's bestseller which is being produced by Alcon Entertainment,released domestically by Warner Bros and sold here by SummitEntertainment.Another Oscar winner Richard LaGravanese, who isdirector of one of the segments in Un Certain Regard ...
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News
Weisbein's Green Room sells Damned for Fried, Keston
Pierre Weisbein'sGreen Room Pictures has struck a deal with producers Rob Fried and Dan Kestonof Fried Films/The Pantry to handle international sales on Damned.The film is ahorror title written by Jim Agnew and Sean Keller, who sold the spec script toFried Films/The Pantry. The story revolves around an all-American family ...
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News
Toronto Film Festival creates new pass structure for delegates
The Toronto International Film Festival has instituteda new pass structure for its 2006 event for industry delegates offering moreoptions to choose a pass to meet their specific professional needs.Features of the new passes include access to publicscreenings, access to special sales premiere screenings, upgrades to includeindustry initatives programming and optional ...
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Reviews
The Da Vinci Code
Dir: Ron Howard. US.2006. 152 mins.If Dan Brown's soaraway bestseller The Da Vinci Code wasclumsily written but a page-turning guilty pleasure, Ron Howard's film versionis well-made but chronically devoid of the guilty pleasures it needs to make itsucceed as first-rate popcorn entertainment. Howard and screenwriter AkivaGoldsman have remained rigidly faithful ...
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News
Sola/Atrix pick up international rights to Friel-starrer Bathory
German sales company SolaMedia/Atrix Films has picked up international rights to Juraj Jakabisko's Bathory, which stars Anna Friel as the murderous Countess ofTransylvania alongside Hans Matheson, Karel Roden and Vincent Regan. Friel takes over from FamkeJanssen who was previously attached to the role co-produced by Jakubisko FilmSlovakia, Film & Music ...
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News
Starz signs multi-year sponsorship deal with Hollywood Film Festival
Premium US cable movie service Starz EntertainmentGroup (SEG) has signed a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Carlos deAbreu's Hollywood Film Festival (HFF) kicking off with this year's event Oct 17to 23.SEG will also host the closing night party of thefestival after the Hollywood Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel inBeverly ...
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News
Kino picks up North American rights to Old Joy
Boutique US distributor Kino International has pickedup North American rights to Kelly Reichardt's critically acclaimed Old Joy whichwas a hit at this year's Sundance, Rotterdam and New Directors/New Filmsfestivals.The film stars Will Oldham and Daniel London as twoold friends in their mid-30s whose long relationship has reached a crossroadsdue to ...
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News
van der Werff promoted to executive vp at SPRI
Longtime Sony Picturespublicity strategist Susan van der Werff has been promoted to executive vicepresident of international publicity for Sony Pictures Releasing International.The promotion, announced byPaul Smith, president of worldwide theatrical operations for the studio, comeson the eve of SPRI's launch of The Da Vinci Code as the opening night of ...
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Reviews
Fifty Pills
Dir: Theo Avgerinos. US, 2006.90mins.Fifty Pills is a low-budgetindependent cousin of broad college comedies from the studio world like Road Trip or Van Wilder. Instead of a lush California campus, the indie version has grimy street-bound New York. Instead ofcheating in exams or losing one's virginity, the challenge is to ...
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Reviews
Boy Culture
Dir: Q Allan Brocka. US. 2006. 88mins.A slick slice of gay American life which begins incynical posturing and ends in sweet romance, Boy Culture is already one of the gay festival season's talkingpoints. Filled with the hot guys and wise-ass dialogue that are customary intoday's knowing same-sex celluloid, it has ...
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News
Focus unveils powerhouse Cannes lineup
Focus Features Internationalhas laid out its most ambitious sales slate to date for Cannes including aTouchstone Pictures production called Dan In The Real Life which Buena Vista will distribute domestically andkey territories on Sean Penn's Into the Wild which Paramount's specialty arm will distributedomestically."We really are trying to getthe message ...
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Reviews
Walker Payne
Dir: Matt Williams. US. 2006. 113mins.Like a lovingly-crafted curio from another era, Walker Payne is a leisurely-paced perioddrama which defies current storytelling trends to remain resolutely classicalin style and form. Coming off like a cross between Hallmark Hall Of Fame and Amores Perros, if that can be imagined, it faces ...
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Reviews
The Night Of The White Pants
Dir: Amy Talkington. US. 2006. 90mins.Dallas native Amy Talkingtonmakes a largely entertaining feature debut with The Night Of The White Pants, a frenetic dysfunctionalfamily comedy whose best shot at attracting commercial attention is through itslikeable cast.Set during one night inDallas, it does not cohere as tightly as this brand of ...
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Reviews
The TV Set
Dir: Jake Kasdan. US. 2006. 87mins.One of the early highlights of the Tribeca Film Festival, Jake Kasdan'sThe TV Set is a short, sharpinsider's view of US network television. Boasting a fine cast led by David Duchovny and Sigourney Weaver, the latter giving a tastyturn as the atrociously manipulative network president, ...