All articles by Ralf Ludemann
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Major upheaval ahead for UK cinema advertising sector
A dramatic shift of power inthe UK cinema advertising market is on the horizon.UK cinema chain UGC's screenadvertising contract, currently held by Pearl and Dean, is to pass to CarltonScreen Advertising (CSA) in early 2006, according to a spokesperson at CSA. Themove follows the acquisition of UGC by Cineworld, which ...
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Fockers storms international chart
Propelled by a $14.9mopening weekend in the UK, Meet The Fockers easily topped theinternational box office, grossing $18.8m from 20 territories and scoring anexcellent screen average of $10,937.But the real star performerswere two South Korean releases: Another Public Enemy and Running Boy.Selling more than half amillion tickets over the weekend, ...
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DVD retailers benefit from UK tax loophole
A tax exemption used byTesco, Amazon and others to avoid charging VAT on DVDs will this week facecriticism from MPs. According to the UK's SundayTelegraph, the retailers have set up operations in Jersey, in the ChannelIslands, where under a 20-year-old law, they can sell goods to consumers on theBritish mainland ...
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Ray tunes into eight territories
Having spent two weeksracking up healthy numbers in Germany - its only international outing so far -multiple Oscar nominee Rayexpanded into seven further territories.Openings in the UK, Italyand Australia helped Ray to enterthe chart in 17th place with a $2.2m weekend - and thanks toits German reception where it dropped ...
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Piracy growth eats into European theatrical admissions
While many Europeanterritories have reported a growth in cinema admissions during 2004, the sizeof the increase appears closely linked to the growth of film piracy in therespective countries.In the UK, for example,admissions climbed 6% during the year while admissions in France grew at afaster rate of 12%.However, figures show thatthe ...
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UK indie exhibitor wins first Europa Cinemas award
UK independent exhibitioncompany City Screen and its directors Tony Jones and Lyn Goleby have beenhonoured with the first ever 'Entrepreneur of the Year' award by EuropaCinemas.The award celebrates theirachievements in developing a platform for European film in the UK and waspresented to Jones at a ceremony in Paris by Claude ...
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Ian Riches named CEO of UK independent exhibitor
Exhibition industry veteranIan Riches has joined the UK's Curzon (Loughborough) leisure group as chiefexecutive officer.Riches' appointment heraldsthe start of a major expansion push for the independent cinema chain. Having been acquired as a single site business byKC Suri, a property entrepreneur, in 2001 it now Presentlycomprisingcomprises of six locations around ...
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Blackstone acquires UGC exhibition circuit
US buyout firm theBlackstone Group has acquired the UGC UK and Ireland cinema circuit.The deal is understood tohave been completed on December 1, with a reported price tag of around £200m. UGC is the third largest operator of cinemas in the UK, with 408 screens in 42 cinemas.Lawrence H. Guffey, ...
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Rotterdam revamps festival programme sections
The International Film Festival Rotterdam is to introducethree new programme sections to replace the Main Programme Features and HubertBals Fund Harvest sections during its upcoming 34th edition (Jan 26 - Feb 6,2005).'Cinema of the Future: Sturm und Drang' groups films bypromising talents and offers an overview of recent developments withinindependent ...
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UGC denies international circuit sale
UGC has officiallydenied a report in The Times newspaper that its entire European circuitis up for sale with a price tag of £400m ($715.8m).According to TheTimes, US buyout firm the Blackstone Group, as well as VUE Entertainment,the group formed last year by the merger of Warner Village and SBCInternational, will ...
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Evil enters international chart
Day-and-datelaunches in Japan and Denmark saw action-horror sequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse the highest new entry on theinternational chart this week at sixth.The 2002 originaloutperformed its domestic gross internationally with 61% ($62m) of its $102mworldwide total coming from international territories.Its weekend grossof $4.7m was not enough, however, to dethrone BVI's The ...
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POLAND 8 September
Pedro Almodovar took on Hollywood blockbusters and triumphedthis weekend in Poland.The Spanish director's latest film, Bad Education (La Mala Educacion), released through Gutek Film inthe territory against UIP's The BourneSupremacy and Warner Bros' Catwoman.Bad Education finished in top position with over 37,000 admissions and a$3,900 screen average taken from its ...
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Village cheer for Buena Vista
Over a weekend whenonly one film, The Village, couldmanage to gross over $10m at the international box office, it was still alandmark period for Buena Vista International.BVI achieved $1bnin international ticket sales for the 10th year in a row. It also saw King Arthur cross the $100m mark, while The ...
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INTERNATIONAL 2 September
Over a weekend when only one film, The Village, could manage to gross over $10m at the internationalbox office, it was still a landmark period for Buena Vista International.In the week when itwas announced that BVI had achieved $1bn in international ticket sales for the10th year in a row, it ...
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Terra Firma acquires 35% of UK cinema market
The UK cinema sector witnessed its biggest shake-up for over a decade on Friday when private equity firm Terra Firma acquired both the Odeon and UCI circuits in one fell swoop.The resulting estate, valued at approximately £580m and which is estimated to represent 35% of the UK's box office revenues, ...
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Film piracy business set to increase
Screen International's DVD: The Home Cinema Summit last week revealed the growing threat of piracy to the film industry's bottom line.According to Thomas Dillon, the Motion Picture Association's (MPA) legal counsel for anti-piracy, Europe, Middle East & Africa, seizures of pirate DVDs rose from 7.5m in 2002 to 16.5m in ...
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Football fever fails to ruin Harry's game
Harry Potter AndThe Prisoner Of Azkabancontinued its unstoppable domination of the international box office, adding afurther 2,070 screens in 16 more territories to gross $66.4m in 40 countriesover the weekend - a slight 24% drop on its opening take.The performance,given the competing appeal of the fine weather across Europe and ...
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Korean melodrama puts wind up Potter
A South Koreanmelodrama is giving Harry Potter a run for its money. For while The Prisoner Of Azkaban was theundisputed champion at the international box office over the weekend, taking$87m-plus, new release Windstruck achieved a better screen average of$11,190 against Potter's $11,060.Directedby Kwak Jae-yong and starring Jun Ji-hyun and Jang ...
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Sony unveils 4k digital cinema projection system
Sony Electronics last week unveiled a new digital cinemaprojection system - offering four times the resolution of the current projectordeveloped by market leader Texas Instruments.The move by Sony comes at a time when the industry isincreasingly embracing the need for new technology, both in a bid to counterrampant piracy and ...
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Tchenguiz offers $644m for UK's Odeon cinemas
Robert Tchenguiz has offered $644m (£350m) to buy the Odeoncinemas in a move to prevent the company being auctioned, according to the UK'sSunday Times.The deal has the support of German bank WestLB, whichcontrols 43% Odeon and whose stake was set to be auctioned, according to theSunday Times.Tchenguiz, who already owns ...