All articles by Sandy George – Page 46
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News
NEW ZEALAND 28 June
UIP's Mean Girlsclaimed third place in the chart this week with a gross of NZ$207,859 from 44screens for its opening weekend. But neither it nor second placed Harry Potter, came close to the mostpopular film of the four days, UIP's Shrek2, which was also a very long way ahead in ...
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NEW ZEALAND 21 June
UIP's Shrek 2 didconsiderably better in its opening weekend then Roadshow's Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban did during the weekendearlier. There was a difference of only three screens between them. Shrek 2 sold NZ$2,202,050 worth oftickets to 85 screens for a screen average of NZ$25,906 while Harry Potter ...
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AUSTRALIA 21 June
The first outing in cinemas by UIP's Shrek 2 got an amazing response from Australian families on itsfour-day opening weekend, taking A$13,156,604 from 437 screens. By way ofcomparison, Roadshow's Harry Potter Andthe Prisoner of Azkaban took A$14,799,003 a week earlier, but it was on 16more screens and had one more ...
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Somersault to open Melbourne festival
Executive director James Hewison announced that newAustralian film Somersault will open the 53rd Melbourne InternationalFilm Festival (MIFF) on July 21 and Thai film Ong Bak from director PrachyaPinkaew will close it 18 days later.Other Thai directors will also have their recent workshowcased in a country spotlight. Australia's longest-running film festivalalso ...
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Distributor welcomes McDonald's attack
McDonald's Australia has launched a two-week cinema andtelevision campaign labelling Super SizeMe filmmaker Morgan Spurlock as 'irresponsible' but which will, accordingto the film's distributor, merely boost the film's takings."This is publicity we could never have dreamed ofgetting without them," said Dendy Films general manager Andrew Mackie."What makes it so effective ...
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Oz arts minister slow clapped off stage at Sydney fest
Australia's Federal Minister for the Arts and Sport Rod Kempwas slow clapped off the stage prior to this week's Sydney Film Festival worldpremiere screening of the reconstructed version of the 1919 romantic comedy TheSentimental Bloke.Theoutbreak of bad manners appeared to be either cineastes annoyed at thespeeches, invited VIPs and delayed ...
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News
AUSTRALIA 16 June
Harry Potter And ThePrison Of Azkaban grossed nearly A$14.8m from 452 screens on the weekendfor Roadshow. Even taking into account that it was a holiday weekend, afive-day period instead of the usual four, it was an extraordinary result forthe third film of the trilogy. Nothing else came close.There were three ...
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NEW ZEALAND 15 June
Harry Potter And ThePrison Of Azkaban's NZ$1.79m gross for its opening weekend is nearly doublethe combined result of the rest of the films in the top 20 chart, and about 75%up on the result for The Day AfterTomorrow two weeks earlier. Roadshow released Harry Potter on a whopping (for New ...
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AusFilm names new Los Angeles-based commissioner
Marketeer Tracey Montgomeryhas been named as the new AusFILMcommissioner based in LA - the executive charged with leadingAustralia's efforts to attract international production to its shores.Mongomery, who is currently executive manager of locations andinternational production for the Pacific Film and Television Commission, basedin Queensland, is replacing David Pratt, who finishes ...
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Oz production awaits fresh cash injection
Mark Eder mortgaged his house in order to direct his debutfeature Twists Of Fate, which he alsoco-wrote and is now editing, after being unable to secure any other sort offinancing or to find distributors that would take him or his film seriously.Eder lives in regional Australia and works the early ...
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Global anti-piracy trailer debuts in Australia
An anti-piracy trailer that likens illegally downloadingmovies from the Internet with othercrimes such as stealing cars and television sets and snatching handbags, waslaunched today in Australia by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.The content and style seemed to meet the approval ofdelegates at the 8th annual conference of the Cinema Owners Association ofAustralia ...
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AUSTRALIA 7 June
There are four newfilms in the top ten but Fox's The DayAfter Tomorrow, in its second week on release, and Roadshow's Troy, in its fourth week, have held onto the two top spots.The best of theopeners, BVI's Raising Helen, took$1,353,609 from 199 screens to claim the third spot and Columbia ...
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Yari takes on sales for big budget Oz feature
Bob Yari Productions is tohandle international sales on an ambitious $US 26.7m (A$32m) Australian film, ClancyOf The Overflow, a story about a quintessential bush hero to be directed bySimon Wincer.The producers are Yari, afinancier and partner in the Stratus Film Company, Wincer and Mark Pennell.Patrick Edgeworth has written the script ...
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News
AUSTRALIA 1 June
For the third time in four weeks the record for the highestopening weekend for a film released in 2004 has been broken, this time thanksto 20th Century Fox's The Day AfterTomorrow. The film took a massive A$6,664,837 from 402 screens and showed ascreen average of A$16,579.But there was only about ...
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News
NEW ZEALAND 1 June
The Day After Tomorrowdid huge business in New Zealand on the weekend. The 20th Century Fox eventfilm grossed NZ$1,040,090 from 68 screens to record a screen average ofNZ$15,295.Roadshow's Troygrossed NZ$446,928 from 73 screens in its third weekend on release to takesecond place and it was followed by Columbia TriStar's You ...
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Rialto announces five Cannes pick-ups
Cannes Grand Jury winner OldBoy, the thriller by director Park Chan-Wook, is one of five films pickedup for distribution in Australian and New Zealand by Rialto Entertainment.The distributor is likely to release Old Boy this year but hold the controversial The Woodsman, the debut feature by director Nicole Kassell starringKevin ...
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Distributors leap for Somersault
Sales agent Fortissimo Films has signed off withdistributors from a range of territories on Cannes Un Certain Regard title Somersault,including Metrodome for the UK, Prokino for Germany and Austria, and Vision forFrance.Somersault was the only Australian film inofficial selection at Cannes. It is the debut feature for both writer/directorCate Shortland, ...
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Oz exhibition player mulls German cinemas stake
Australia's Amalgamated Holdings Limited (AHL), owner of Kieft& Kieft, has signalled that it is reviewing the 50% holding that the Germanexhibitor has in joint venture company Neue Filmpalast GmbH & Co KG.The joint venture operates the Ufa circuit consisting of 187screens at 31 sites across Germany. AHL has said that ...
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Dendy takes three for Australia
Dendy chiefs Andrew Mackie and Richard Payten areparticularly pleased that Mike Leigh's VeraDrake is among the three films they have just picked up for Australia andNew Zealand.This is because it will be the fourth film they have handledfor the UK writer/director under various distribution guises. They fought offvigorous competition for ...
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AUSTRALIA 24 May
Local comedy Thunderstruckwas the fourth most popular film at cinemas on the weekend, taking A$358,890from 162 screens for Icon. While this was well behind the big Hollywoodblockbusters Troy and Van Helsing, it measured up reasonablywell against third placed Twisted,the new release from UIP, which took A$477,471 from 138 screens.Troy and ...