All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 37
-
News
Disney signs raft of output deals
Declining advertising revenue and challenging times for pay-TV broadcasters have barely dented the sales prowess of Buena Vista International Television, the division responsible for selling feature films to TV and making and selling TV programming.The company used the MIPCOM programmes market in Cannes to unveil a raft of new output, ...
-
News
Jeunet to direct Very Long Engagement for Warner
Warner Bros is extending its commitment to producing films in France with the agreement to make Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's next picture, A Very Long Engagement.The French-language period picture is based on a best-selling novel by Sebastien Japrisot about a woman's search for the truth behind her fiancee's mysterious disappearance.The ...
-
News
Production starts on The Sons Of Buena Vista
Production started today (Mon, 7 Oct) on The Sons Of Buena Vista, a sequel to Wim Wenders'Cuban musical extravaganza Buena Vista Social Club, which was one of the most successful documentary features of all time.The new film is directed by Karl German, Wenders' regular assistant director and co-executive ...
-
News
Meheut appointment signals Canal Plus floatation
Canal Plus Group, the Vivendi Universal off-shoot spanning its French television interests and StudioCanal, moved a step closer towards a separate stockmarket flotation with the appointment of Bertrand Meheut.Meheut, a former chemical industry colleague of Vivendi Universal chief Jean-Rene Fourtou, was appointed president and chief operating officer of Canal Plus ...
-
News
Vivendi sale of Italian pay-TV network in jeopardy
The shares of Vivendi Universal dipped 10% today after new bumps emerged in the road towards sale of its troubled Italian pay-TV operation Telepiu. At 1230GMT the shares traded at Euros11.64 compared with Friday's Euros12.20 close.Over the weekend, the EU's competition commissioner Mario Monti said that he would expect ...
-
News
Dutch cable giant files for bankruptcy protection
United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC), the Dutch cable giant, today (Mon, Sept 30) filed for bankruptcy protection allowing it to push through a Euros2bn recapitalisation programme.Under a revised version of a recapitalisation plan originally put together in July, parent company UnitedGlobalCom will take a 65.5% stake in the new company ...
-
News
Creative Financing For European Films
Lobby group, the European Film Companies Alliance (EFCA) this week published Creative Financing For European Films, a booklet containing papers and conclusions from its high-level conference on European cinema funding which took place in Cannes this year. The conference was partially-funded by the European Commission. Screen International ...
-
News
Germany's Neuer Markt to close
Once home to a dozen upstart media companies which brazenly thought they could challenge the might of Hollywood, Germany's Neuer Markt is to close next year. The closure decision is part of a wider re-organisation of Germany's stockmarkets and comes too late to make much difference to anyone. The stockmarket ...
-
News
Vivendi's Telepiu sale delayed again
Vivendi Universal was forced into retreat again today when chairman and chief executive Jean-Rene Fourtou had to admit that the sale of Italian pay-TV operation Telepiu to News Corp had been delayed.Only yesterday, as part of a major strategy announcement, Fourtou had proclaimed the sale for Euros1bn, a price already ...
-
News
European media shares take a heavy pounding
Even before a shot has been fired in what looks increasingly like Gulf War II, European media stocks have been taking a shelling. In the US, Disney, AOL Time Warner and the cable companies Adelphia and Charter have been featured in bleak headlines, but their shares have dipped only modestly. ...
-
News
Vivendi Universal sells Canal+ Technologies to Thomson Multimedia
Vivendi Universal today (Wednesday, Sept 25) sold Canal Plus Group's 89% stake in set-top decoders company Canal Plus Technologies to French group Thomson Multimedia for Eu190m.The cash deal is part of Vivendi Universal's Eu10bn assets disposal programme and may not be the only one announced today. It is widely expected ...
-
News
Disney, Modern Times launch channel
The Nordic region is to get its own version of the Disney Channel, following an agreement between Walt Disney Television International (WDTV-I) and Swedish giant Modern Times Group ( MTG).The channel - the 21st of its kind worldwide - will launch in early 2003 on MTG's Viasat satellite platform. WDTV-I ...
-
News
Russian leading man, crew members feared dead
Sergei Bodrov Jr is missing, feared killed, after being caught in an avalanche in Southern Russia on Saturday.The 30 year-old star, who was most recently seen in his father Sergei Bodrov's Venice competition film The Bear's Kiss, was filming near the village of Karmadon, North Ossetia, on Friday when a ...
-
News
London Screenings 'confident' buyers will come
Far from being dead, London's pre-Mifed film market is attracting increased interest from buyers. That is the verdict of londonscreenings.com, a buyers' rep acting for the London Screenings (the market organised by Fusion Events), the Raindance independent film festival and the Kodak Vision Screenings. "We remain convinced the market will ...
-
News
Hometown films fall under London festival spotlight
Two British films will book-end the forthcoming edition of the Regus London Film Festival (RLFF) (Nov 6-21). Stephen Frears' provocative Dirty Pretty Things, which appeared in competition at Venice, is set as the festival's opening night film, while Thaddeus O'Sullivan's Helena Bonham-Carter starring The Heart Of Me will get its ...
-
News
Vivendi Universal buys time with loan lifeline
Financial pressure on Vivendi Universal, the group that controls Universal Pictures, Canal Plus and StudioCanal, is set to ease following a new agreement with banks and progress on asset sales.The group has brokered a new Euros3bn medium term credit line from a consortium including ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, CDC Ixis, ...
-
Reviews
Springtime In A Small Town (Xiao Cheng Zhi Chun)
Dir: Tian Zhuangzhuang. China-Hong Kong. 2002. 116minsSpringtime In A Small Town is a glossy period piece, which coolly depicts the pressure-cooker atmosphere created in a small family following the arrival of an unexpected house guest. Director Tian Zhuangzhuang, who has not made a feature since his celebrated The Blue Kite ...
-
News
India's Madhu takes international rights on Mr And Mrs Iyer
Mumbai-based sales company Madhu Entertainment & Media, which is fast becoming a regular at film markets, has picked up international rights to Mr And Mrs Iyer (aka Love In The Time Of Violence), an English-language film by Aparna Sen.The film had its premiere in Locarno, where it won the NETPAC ...
-
News
Warner Bros. to supply films to CinemaNow internet service
Warner Bros. has signed up to supply films to internet movie service CinemaNow. This is CinemaNow's first deal with a major studio and Warner's entry into web-based video-on-demand (VoD). Warner Bros. says that it will provide some new hits such as Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone and older, library ...