All articles by Sandy George – Page 41
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News
NEW ZEALAND 24 January
Alexander lead the box office on the weekend taking NZ$279,198from 46 screens in its opening weekend. Only Finding Neverland, whichtook NZ$187,540 from 34 screens in its second weekend for BVI, had a screenaverage that was anything like as high as Alexander's NZ$6,070. FindingNeverland, which is in fourth position, had a ...
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Adelaide festival sets Watt's Ways as opener
The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) is to open with the worldpremiere of new Australian film Look Both Ways by director Sarah Watt.Festival director Katrina Sedgwick had previously scheduledthe film for the middle Saturday night of the two-week event starting onFebruary 18. But after seeing a final cut of the film, ...
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AUSTRALIA 17 January
Elektra secured third place for the four-day weekend toJanuary 16 after 20th Century Fox premiered it on 226 screens around thecountry. The A$1,711,680 gross gave it a screen average of A$7,574, second onlyto UIP's Meet The Fockers, which has lead the chart for four consecutiveweekends. Third on the measure ofscreen ...
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NEW ZEALAND 17 January
The two openers in the topfive on the weekend were BVI's Finding Neverland, which grossedNZ$200,127 from 34 screens to grab third place and 20th Century Fox release FlightOf The Phoenix, which was snapping at its heels with NZ$190,986 from 40screens. These two films also secured the biggest screen averages in ...
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Australia celebrates record BO revenues
AustraliaHs annual boxoffice gross looks certain to exceed A$900 million in 2004 for the first timeever although the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA)has not released the final figure, nor admission numbers, and may not until laterthis month. Making significantcontributions to the 2004 tally were Shrek 2 (A$50.26m) and ...
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Fiennes to star in Coetzee adaptation Disgrace
Australian productioncompany Wild Strawberries has secured Ralph Fiennes to play the lead in itsfeature adaptation of 1999 Booker Prize winning novel Disgrace, writtenby J M Coetzee. The politically chargedstory will be filmed in South Africa, where it is set. Fiennes will play atwice-divorced academic in Cape Town who retreats to ...
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AUSTRALIA 11 January
For the third consecutiveweekend of Australia's busy summer holiday season Meet The Fockers and TheIncredibles were first and second at the box office. The UIP comedy sequelgrossed A$3,843,658 from 324 screens over the four days and has already sold A$21.6million worth of tickets in 15 days. The BVI animation took ...
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2004: New Zealand on a roll
The country is on a roll. Producers are financing localfilms at unprecedented budget levels, footloose productions are arriving fromHollywood with great frequency and audiences are swarming into cinemas to watchthe pick of the local crop.Moreover, film-maker Peter Jackson is pumping money intoinfrastructure and skills development that can be accessed by ...
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2004: Oz despairs as production levels plummet
Despair and hope characterised 2004. Local production levelsfell, only a few films found audiences, and everyone had a moan about the rest.But hopes are high that the relatively new and still freshFilm Finance Corporation Australia chief executive Brian Rosen - helpedby his new sidekicks - really will prove to be ...
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Australia's Becker acquires Moonlight Projects
The Becker Group, which owns Australia's Dendy brand, hasacquired the Moonlight Projects outdoor cinema and cinema advertising group.The cashand share deal is worth $6.3m (A$8.3m). Moonlight is best known for its summerscreenings of contemporary and classic films in parklands located close to thecentre of Australia's capital cities.Thebusiness will continue to ...
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Rothkrans to step down as AusFilm chief
Trisha Rothkrans has today announced her intention to stepdown as chief executive of AusFILM, the organisation that promotesAustralia's locations and its film-making skills and facilities abroad.Rothkrans has been in the job since 1999 and is intending topursue new interests once her contract expires in June next year. The positionwill be ...
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Packer sells - and jointly buys - Hoyts
Australian media mogul Kerry Packer's private company Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH) is selling Hoyts, but the Australian and New Zealand cinema chain is staying in the family.Two publicly-listed companies, West Australian Newspapers Holdings and Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL) - nearly 40% of which is owned by CPH - ...
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Australia's FFC bankrolls Elephant, Power
Elephant Tales, a French/Australian co-productionwritten and directed by Mario Andreacchio, and the psychological thriller PowerSurge, the first feature from high-profile commercials director DavidDenneen, will go into production after receiving backing from Australia's Film Finance Corporation (FFC).The FFC has also announced it is willing to invest in fourother features providing certain ...
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News
AUSTRALIA 13 December
Ocean's Twelve was the most popular film at the box office on theweekend, grossing A$4,580,657 from 378 screens for Roadshow, which equated to avery strong screen average of A$12,118. By way of comparison, only four filmshave exceeded this result in the last six months - Spider-Man 2 (A$7.13m), Bridget Jones: ...
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NEW ZEALAND 13 December
Bridget Jones -- The EdgeOf Reason continues to show greatresilience in New Zealand. For the fourth consecutive weekend it has lead thechart, helped by being on more screens then any other film. It grossedNZ$270,540 from 65 screens for UIP.Using the measure of screenaverage, however, it was beaten by both the ...
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Australian distributors go Christmas shopping
Australian independentdistributors, including Hopscotch, sister companies Dendy and Becker, and MagnaPacific, have been acquiring ever more product lately for their own territoryand New Zealand.DVD distributor MagnaPacific has broken free of the Becker Entertainment Group and is ramping up itstheatrical activities through the all-rights acquisition of up to 12 genrepictures per ...
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Top Dutch production outfit launches Oz joint venture
Leading Dutch film company IdtV Film (Twin Sisters)and co-owner Anton Smit are moving into English language film-making via ajoint venture with Australian TV producers Mark and Cathy Overett.Called New Holland Pictures, the Queensland-based jointventure is readying an Australian remake of a Dutch film called Afghan Bride(working title). The project is ...
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AUSTRALIA 6 December
Team America: WorldPolice, in its first weekend incinemas, tried hard to dislodge National Treasure from the top of thechart but fell just short and had to be satisfied with second place.National Treasure took A$1,241,160 from 276 screens for BVI in whatwas its second weekend on release, compared to Team America'sA$1,229,097 ...
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NEW ZEALAND 6 December
Bridget Jones - The EdgeOf Reason, handled by UIP, has beenthe most popular film at the box office for three consecutive weekends. In itssecond outing in cinemas its four-day gross dropped 26.2% and this weekend theNZ$416,587 gross from 65 screens represented a drop of 33.8%.A very different film, TheGrudge, was ...
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AUSTRALIA 29 November
The BVI opener NationalTreasure knocked Bridget Jones - TheEdge Of Reason off the top spot on the weekend box office chart. National Treasure grossed A$1,897,455from 277 screens compared to A$1,716,197 from 351 screens for Bridget Jones, but the UIP film has nowbeen in cinemas for over two weeks.Two other openers ...