All articles by Sandy George – Page 43
-
News
Becker takes on Love Reigns sales
Becker Films International is to handle worldwide sales on WhereLove Reigns, which is being set up as an official tri-partite productionbetween the UK, Canada and South Africa and has Martin Scorsese on board asexecutive producer.Thefilm is based on the true story of the torrid love affair in the early 1900sbetween ...
-
News
New Zealand lobbies for second film sound stage
New Zealand film agency Film Auckland is bidding forUS$1.8m (NZ$1.7m) from the New Zealand Government to help construct a secondpurpose-built film sound stage in the country.New Zealand's only other purpose-built film stage is downsouth in Wellington and is now being used for Peter Jackson's King Kong.It was built earlier this ...
-
News
Australia, New Zealand generate star power
Films of all shapesand sizes are now underway in New Zealand and, after a considerable productiondrought, in Australia - and both countries are awash with internationallyrenowned acting talent.In Australia, HeathLedger and Geoffrey Rush are to star in Candy,and Cate Blanchett is the focus of LittleFish, which also stars Sam Neill ...
-
News
Hopkins in the saddle for World's Fastest Indian
Anthony Hopkins plays a motorcycling legend in TheWorld's Fastest Indian, whichwriter/director Roger Donaldson has been shooting for three weeks on the Utahsalt flats and moves shortly to New Zealand for a further 11 weeks.The New Zealand Film Commission and New Zealand FilmProduction Fund are the financing partners on what is ...
-
News
AUSTRALIA 18 October
It is highly unusual to see the first three spots in the top20 chart occupied by openers but that is exactly what happened on the four-dayweekend to October 17. And there were no other new faces in the chart.Leading the charge was the Collateral, starring Australia's one-time adopted son Tom ...
-
News
AUSTRALIA 12 October
In its third weekend on release Shark Tale was top ofthe pops at the box office with a gross of A$1,707,044 from 289 screens forUIP. Despite having spent only 18 days in cinemas, its total gross of nearlyA$12m is second only to that of TheBourne Supremacy's A$15m, which has taken ...
-
News
NEW ZEALAND 12 October
The homegrown In MyFather's Den can hold its head high as a result of its first weekend incinemas, which comes after considerable festival exposure this year bothlocally and abroad. It grossed NZ$184,793 from 20 screens for Hoyts to claimthird place.It was one of two openers in the top three but ...
-
News
Lack of leading lady puts Eucalyptus, Crowe on hold
The producers behind Jocelyn Moorhouse's Eucalyptus, which was to have gone into production this year,are gearing down because they have not been able to find an Australian leadinglady to star alongside Russell Crowe and Geoffrey Rush.They say Crowe and Fox Searchlight, which is fully financingthe film, remain very supportive of ...
-
News
Watson, Hurt attracted by The Proposition
Emily Watson, John Hurt, Ray Winstone, David Wenham andDanny Huston star in the big-budget UK/Australian co-production TheProposition, which goes into production inthe tiny outback town of Winton on Monday (October 11) amid temperatures likelyto be well over 30 degrees Celsius.The film reunites director John Hillcoat and music legendand scriptwriter Nick ...
-
News
Hopscotch leaps on four hot titles
Australian distributor Hopscotch has acquired 3-Iron, which won the FIPRESCI award andthe best director award for Kim Ki-duk at the Venice Film Festival, as well as Downfall, Mysterious Skin and Bombon.Argentinian film Bombon,by director Carlos Sorin (Minimal Stories)is also a FIPRESCI winner, at San Sebastian.Downfall, byOliver Hirschbiegel (Das Experiment),is Germany's ...
-
News
Somersault smashes AFI nominations record
Somersault hassmashed the record for the number of nominations received in the AFI(Australian Film Institute) Awards, winning the thumbs up 15 times across all13 categories for which it qualified.These include best film for producer Anthony Anderson, bestdirector and best original screenplay for Cate Shortland, best actor for AbbieCornish and Sam ...
-
News
China, Australia head for co-production treaty
It is highly likely a co-production treaty will be signedbetween Australia and China following an eight-day visit by a Chinesedelegation that ended on Saturday (Sept 25)"There is a great enthusiasm on their part and anintention to conclude an agreement, and the same goes for us," said KimDalton, chief executive of ...
-
News
Village Roadshow admits to Catwoman loss
The lacklustre performance of Catwoman at the worldwide box office has hit its co-producerVillage Roadshow (VRL) hard.In an extraordinary statement released on Friday, theAustralian company said that the release of films in the next 12 months inwhich it is a production partner will be insufficient to cover the lossesincurred by ...
-
News
Dendy's Sarfaty new head of indie cinema group
The organisation that helped make Australia's majordistributors more accountable for how they deal with small exhibitors has a newpresident and a new name.Mark Sarfaty, head of the arthouse chain Dendy Cinemas, sayshe wants to use his new role as president to further strengthen the voluntarycode of conduct so that it ...
-
News
Dendy's Sarfaty new head of indie cinema group
The organisation that helped make Australia's majordistributors more accountable for how they deal with small exhibitors has a newpresident and a new name.Mark Sarfaty, head of the arthouse chain Dendy Cinemas, sayshe wants to use his new role as president to further strengthen the voluntarycode of conduct so that it ...
-
News
AUSTRALIA 28 September
A Shark Tale wasthe most popular film at the box office on the weekend taking A$2,541,304 forUIP from a substantial 310 screens. Audiences in Australia -- and New Zealand-are the first to see the animated DreamWorks title and it was helped along byschool holidays starting the day after its Thursday ...
-
News
NEW ZEALAND 28 September
There were two opening films in the top three on theweekend. A Shark Tale took NZ$587,383from 52 screens to claim the top spot on behalf of UIP and A Cinderella Story grossed NZ$184,805 from 35 screens for Roadshowto grab third place honours.The third film that opened over the weekend and ...
-
News
Crooner Connick Jr takes lead in Oz Boomerang
US crooner Harry Connick Jr has signed to play a disgracedcorporate cowboy who pays a street kid to help him commit suicide in BoomerangDeal, to be directed by Phillip Marzella from his own script.It will be Australian director Marzella's follow-up to Low-FatElephants, which he wrote, directed and produced in 2000 ...
-
News
AUSTRALIA 20 September
At no time this year until now has there been eight openersin the top 20 list or five in the top 10. The Olympics can take some of thecredit for that, and it turned out to be a wise decision by distributors givenhow well the Australian team did.The only Australian ...
-
News
Cameras to roll again on River Queen
Director Vincent Ward's River Queen is going backinto production in New Zealand after a two-month hiatus.Cameras roll again from October 4 and continue for eightweeks according to Silverscreen Films, which is producing alongside The FilmConsortium.Filmingwas delayed in late July due to the illness of lead actress Samantha Morton.She was hospitalised ...