All articles by Robert Mitchell – Page 6
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Oscar nominees benefit from pre-awards hype
With a week to go before theOscar winners dominate the charts, the films nominated for best picture wereenjoying their status at the international box office.Leading the pack TheAviator, now on $76.6m internationally, added seven Asian and smaller Europeanterritories including South Korea, Hong Kong and Poland. Handled by KoreaPictures in South ...
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UK/IRELAND 22 February
With the top four titles unchanged, the half-term effect continued inthe UK at the weekend.The second weekend of the holiday saw Pathe's The Magic Roundaboutimprove 13% week-on-week (excluding previews) while new family release AreWe There Yet' did solid business in sixth place for Sony.Momentum Pictures' Racing Stripes, which opened a ...
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Prospects looking up for Downfall
UK bookmakers may beoffering odds of 12-1 on Germanforeign-language Oscar contender: Downfall (Der Untergang), but the film, about the final days ofHitler's regime is already a winner at the international box office.Successful runs in a handfulof European territories have seen the two and a half hour drama pass the $50mmark ...
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Constantine converts Asian cinema-goers
A weekahead of its domestic launch, Keanu Reeves title Constantine opened invarious Asian territories including Hong Kong and South Korea for the Lunar NewYear holiday. The highest new entry on the international chart, theaction fantasy film, based on the comic-book Hellblazer, claimed fourthplace and $6.7m over the weekend for Warner ...
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Roundabout wins UK animation chart battle
The UK saw two animations - Pathe's The MagicRoundabout and UIP's TheSpongeBob SquarePants Movie - go headto head over the crucial first half-term weekend.On the official UK chart, The Magic Roundabout was the winner with the film coming in third overall with $2.9m (£1.57m) from425 sites. However, this figure includes ...
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UK set for Roundabout vs Spongebob battle
It will be Europe versus USin the children's market at the UK box office this weekend as French-UKco-production The Magic Roundabout takes on The SpongeBob SquarePantsMovie for the first weekend of the school half-term holiday.Both titles are based on hittelevision shows adored by legions of pre-teens and stoner students and ...
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INTERNATIONAL 11 February
MeetThe Fockers easily retained the international box officelead at the weekend, thanks to strong holdovers including the UK and six newterritory launches led by Spain's $4.7m (Euro 3.6m).Otherlaunches came in Sweden, Denmark and Taiwan (all $0.4m), Israel ($0.3m) andCroatia ($43,000). The UK has given the film a phenomenal $29.2m (£15.5m) ...
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Fockers maintains international box office lead
MeetThe Fockers easily retained the international box officelead at the weekend, thanks to strong holdovers including the UK and six newterritory launches led by Spain's $4.7m (Euro 3.6m).Otherlaunches came in Sweden, Denmark and Taiwan (all $0.4m), Israel ($0.3m) andCroatia ($43,000). The UK has given the film a phenomenal $29.2m (£15.5m) ...
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Momentum celebrates biggest UK opening
Jumping the gun on theupcoming schools half-term holiday, UK independent distributor MomentumPictures has bred a champion with family pick-up Racing Stripes.The film gave Momentum itsall-time biggest opening with $2.16m (£1.145m) from 394 sites, beating March2002 Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads which took $2.12m (£1.126m) from373 sites.Racing Stripes is the official film ...
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UK/IRELAND 18 January
It proved a close runchallenge at the top of the UK chart this week as two openers fought for thelead. Sony Pictures Releasing International's Closer just pipped UIP's TeamAmerica: World Police thanks to its Thursday previews.With previews of $239,961 (£128,432)from 242 sites factored in Closer's weekend finished on $2.9m (£1.57m)ahead ...
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Int'l Box Office: Alexander conquers Europe
Oliver Stone needn't haveworried about the US critical reaction to Alexander having an adverseeffect on European box office. Opening in key European territories includingSpain, France and the UK this week Alexander flew in the face ofcritical reaction to lead the international table with a powerful $18.7mweekend.The film has already morethan ...
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Polish cinema admissions soar by 40%
Poland has recorded aphenomenal box office increase of 43% during 2004 - from $103.4m (Zlotys324.3m) in 2003 to $148m (Zlotys 464.2m) last year.Admissions saw a similarleap, from 20033s 23.8 million admissions to 33.3 million in 2004, a 40% hike.With a total population of 38.6 million people there is still a ...
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UK/IRELAND 11 January
Mirroringits strong openings in Canada and the US, Entertainment Film Distributorslaunched supernatural thriller White Noise into the lead at the UK boxoffice.Grossingan excellent $3.3m (£1.8m) from 314 sites the Canadian-British co-productioneasily beat the wide release of Martin Scorsese's The Aviator and fellowopener Alexander. One factor in White Noise's favour was ...
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Leigh's Vera Drake scores for Momentum in UK
Vera Drake has given MikeLeigh his biggest UK opening to date through distributor Momentum Pictures.Thecritically-lauded drama, which is favourite to win the best actress BAFTA nextmonth for Imelda Staunton, opened on $496,850 (£266,010) from 65 screens for astrong $7,645 location average.Other key openersover the weekend included Alexander which took £1.2m ...
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UK box office hits record high in 2004
The UK box office in 2004 was the highest on record,according to final figures compiled by Nielsen EDI.2004 finished 3.5% up with £838.7m compared to2003's £810.04m. This is ahead of 2002's previous recordgross of £812.2m Admissions totals for December have yet to be fullycalculated, though latest Carlton Screen Advertising (CSA) ...
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Twenty one films cross $100m mark at international box office
Twentyone films crossed the $100m mark at the international box office in 2004,according to Screen International research.TwoWarner Bros titles, Ocean's Twelve and The Polar Express passedthe $100m mark in international markets over the New Year's weekend.Thefigures show that the international market is becoming an increasinglyimportant source of revenue for US ...
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Spotless Mind shines in BAFTA shortlist
Fifteenfilms have been selected to go through to BAFTA's second round of voting forthe best film category - including four British pictures and threeforeign-language titles.It takes three rounds of voting for BAFTA members tomake their final choice of winning films. The first round, which closed onTuesday night (Jan 4), has ...
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Incredibles regains international chart lead
A dearth of wideinternational launches meant that holdovers were left to do battle over the NewYear weekend. BVI's TheIncredibles regained the chart lead over the final weekend of the 2004 boxoffice year (Dec 31-Jan 2) and is fast approaching the $300m mark.It was a goodweekend for BVI, which saw a ...
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Turkey in good spirits heading into Christmas
Agreat year for local product in Turkey in 2004 was capped by comedy smash G.O.R.A.which now ranks as the highest grossing film of the last 20 years in theterritory having grossed $17.4m (TKL 24.5bn).Fiveof the year's top six releases were local productions with only Troy, inthird place, preventing a clean ...
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Oceans Twelve marches to top of int'l chart
Ocean'sTwelve opened inanother 22 territories in its second week on international release, helping itsteal pole position from The Incredibles.StevenSoderbergh's film is now playing in 27 territories and claimed number ones inmost new territories for a $28.9m weekend. The original film grossed $267.3mfrom international markets, 59% of the worldwide total.Anexception to ...