All articles by Mike Goodridge – Page 74
-
News
Crossroads acquires Acts Of Charity script for Winter to direct
New York-based commercials,music video and movie producer Crossroads Films has optioned rights to thescreenplay Acts Of Charity by UKscreenwriter Chips Hardy and Alex Winter, the London-based film-maker who isalso attached to direct the film.Alan Rickman is attached toplay the role of British ex-pat journalist in the film which follows the ...
-
News
Paramount steps in for DreamWorks on Ask The Dust
ParamountPictures is stepping in to replace DreamWorks as the domestic distributor onRobert Towne's Ask The Dust which is being financed with German media fund VIP andLondon's Capitol Films. Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek are scheduled to star.Paramount is infinal negotiations to board the film which is being produced by Tom ...
-
News
Media 8 boards Wayne Kramer's Running Scared
Media 8Entertainment, the sales and co-financing outfit behind Oscar-winner Monster, has agreed to co-finance, along with VIP Medienfonds, RunningScared, the new filmfrom The Coolerdirector Wayne Kramer.Paul Walker isin final negotiations to head the cast of the $12m film which is a PulpFiction-style ensemblecrime movie following an assortment of characters trying ...
-
News
CTFDI rake in $5.5m from Gothika including top slot in Netherlands
The thriller Gothika added $5.5m from 1,700 screens in 30 markets through ColumbiaTriStar Film Distributors International (CTFDI) at the weekend to raise itsinternational running total to $44.5m.Highlights were a marginal 3% drop in its second weekend inGermany, where the picture added $1.7m for $3.9m and ranked third behindopeners Brother Bearand ...
-
Reviews
Taking Lives
Dir: DJ Caruso. US. 2004. 103 mins.Serial killer thrillers don't come slicker than this good-looking Montreal-set production from Mark Canton and Warner Bros. Boasting a stellar cast led by the larger-than-life Angelina Jolie, Taking Lives is an enjoyable studio outing in the vein of Copycat or The Bone Collector but, ...
-
Reviews
The Ladykillers
Dir: Joel & Ethan Coen. US. 2004. 104 mins.After the Coen Brothers' unmemorable Intolerable Cruelty last year, The Ladykillers represents another awkward fusion of their distinctive style and studio-originated material. More suited to their sensibilities than the fizzy screwball high-jinks the brothers attempted to whip up in Cruelty, The Ladykillers ...
-
News
Screeners war is over: MPAA will let individual distributors decide
It'sopen season for awards screener tapes in 2004. It emerged late last week thatthe MPAA has decided to leave screener policy up to individual distributorsfrom now on and will not enforce its members to limit mailouts of tapes orDVDs.Thenew policy was made known to Screendaily.com in a letter MPAA president ...
-
News
Coens back in Cannes competition with The Ladykillers
Joel & Ethan Coen's latest black comedy The Ladykillers is heading to the Cannes Film Festivalin May, with a May 18 slot reserved for the film in main competition.Although the selection is not absolutely finalised, the Coens andthe film's star Tom Hanks were freely talking about the Cannes trip in ...
-
News
Art Port, Summit strike first deal on Down In The Valley
Art Port Inc. has acquired Japanese distribution rights toDown In The Valley, the dark thrillerstarring Edward Norton and Evan Rachel Wood, from Summit Entertainment. Thedeal, concluded at AFM, marks the first deal between the two companies.The deal was closed between Art Port president & CEOJunichi Matsushita and Summit president and ...
-
News
Ben Ammar's Quinta takes French rights to The Passion...
Quinta Communications, theParis-based holding company of international investor Tarak Ben Ammar, hasrevealed itself as the company which has bought rights in French-speakingterritories to Mel Gibson's blockbusting The Passion Of The Christ.Quinta plans to release thefilm before Easter, in early April, although details of how it will handle thefilm are not ...
-
Reviews
Touch Of Pink
Dir: Ian Iqbal Rashid. UK-Canada. 2004. 91mins.The latest entry in the canon of colourful Indian-diaspora comedies after Bend It Like Beckham, The Guru and Bollywood/Hollywood, Touch Of Pink is a notable directorial debut from UK TV writer and poet Ian Iqbal Rashid. Oozing charm and a genuine joie de vivre ...
-
News
Hanway enters Land Of Plenty
Hanway Films has picked uprights outside North America and the UK to Wim Wenders' Land Of Plenty, the low-budget film he made for digital filmmakingcollective InDigEnt.The movie, which is currently inpost-production, stars Michelle Williams (Dawson's Creek, The StationAgent) and John Diehl. The story, which takes placein post-9/11 America, tells the ...
-
News
Top international buyers hold Grudge
Senator International has soldout Ghost House Pictures' The Grudge,a remake of the hit Japanese horror thriller Ju-On, in all major territories following deals with UIPfor the UK, Constantin for Germany, Metropolitan for France and VillageRoadshow for Australia.The project began shooting inTokyo in January and is being directed by Takashi Shimizu, ...
-
News
Tartan, Arclight full of Grace with Killer
Tartan Films and ArclightFilms have teamed up with New York-based Killer Films to co-produce andco-finance the $12m Savage Grace,the first film from director Tom Kalin since his 1992 indie classic Swoon, which will star Julianne Moore.The film is currently inpre-production, and is scheduled to start shooting in July in the ...
-
News
DEJ acquires domestic rights to Employee Of The Month
DEJ Prods, the acquisitionand distribution arm of Blockbuster Entertainment, has bought domestic rightsto Employee Of The Month, Bull's Eye Entertainment's heist comedy starring MattDillon, Christina Applegate and Steve Zahn.Directed by Mitch Rouse andproduced by Cathy Schulman, Bob Yari and Tom Nunan of Bull's Eye, the filmworld premiered at this year's ...
-
News
King of the world: 11 out of 11 Oscar sweep for Rings
In an extraordinary cleansweep, New Line Cinema's The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King won 11 Academy Awards last night out of its 11nominations - matching the all-time record set by Ben-Hur in 1959 and Titanic in 1997.The film, which ironicallyis the second highest grossing film in ...
-
News
Lost In Translation in healthy Spirits
FocusFeatures' Lost In Translation emerged as the key winner at the IFP Independent Spirit Awardson Saturday, winning awards for best feature, best director, best male lead forBill Murray and best original screenplay.A jubilant SofiaCoppola accepted three of those awards.Oscar favouriteCharlize Theron took home the female lead prize for Monster and ...
-
News
AFM: Pickering spearheads EBG sales
Veteran sales agentPamela Pickering has joined Entertainment Business Group (EBG) as managingdirector, international sales.EBG, based inCamarillo, north of Los Angeles, has recently set about making large-scale $20mto $80m studio-released movies in alliance with Story Island Entertainment andCanyonlight Entertainment.Pickering, who mostrecently was president of international sales and distribution for InitialEntertainment Group ...
-
News
New Line makes Mexican pact with brand new distributor
New Line International hasallied with Districine in Mexico for the distribution of all New Line's filmsin Mexico. New Line's films were previously handled by sister company WarnerBros Pictures International in all Latin America, but the studio is currentlyreassessing its distribution plans in the subcontinent.Districine is a newlyfounded company run by ...
-
News
Bay's Platinum Dunes signs international agreement with Focus
Platinum Dunes, MichaelBay's production outfit designed to make modestly budgeted films fromfirst-time directors, has signed an exclusive sales arrangement with FocusFeatures. Focus had previously handled Platinum Dunes' debut project TheTexas Chainsaw Massacre, whichgrossed more than $100m worldwide.The new deal will encompassall upcoming Platinum Dunes projects for which Focus will sell ...