All articles by Sandy George – Page 50
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News
NEW ZEALAND
UIP's Love Actually lived up to the promise shown in the previous weekend's previews and easily secured the top spot with a gross of NZ$415,176 from 51 screens. Despite the screen count being second only to The Matrix Revolutions in number, the film's screen average of NZ$8,141 was miles ahead ...
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AUSTRALIA
Columbia TriStar's S.W.A.T has topped the Australian chart on its opening weekend with a A$2,741,337 gross from 246 screens. It managed to more than double the ticket sales of UIP's School Of Rock, and pushed the comedy down into second position for what was its second weekend on release. Putting ...
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News
Jackson feted as Return Of The King premieres in NZ
Peter Jackson was asked whether he would consider running for Prime Minister of New Zealand during a press conference yesterday, just hours before the world premiere of The Return Of The King in his hometown of Wellington. For the record, he said he was "very happy" with his current job.The ...
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Mushroom, Rialto tie up production joint venture
Australian production outfit Mushroom Pictures (Chopper, Gettin' Square) and Auckland based distributor Rialto Entertainment have formed a joint venture to produce thrillers and contemporary horror movies along the lines of 28 Days Later.The aim for the initial 18-month period of the deal is to develop, finance, produce and distribute a ...
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Busy new year ahead for Oz production
For full current production listings click hereThere are just four films in production in Australia for the next three months, The Human Touch, some of which has already been shot in France, The Oyster Farmer, Ten Canoes and the Kennedy Miller animation Happy Feet. There may be an unknown ...
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Australia's FFC unveils studio model financing plan
Australian funding body the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) is to adopt a studio model when funding local films as part of a radical overhaul of its investment procedures.Chief executive Brian Rosen said that the FFC will choose films to fund and will then work alongside filmmakers to secure marketplace interest. ...
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Australian Film Commission slams AFMA
The Australian Film Commission has slammed the American Film Marketing Association (AFMA) for its lack of support in the free trade agreement currently being negotiated with the U.S."If they actually represented the interests of independent producers around the world as they claim, they would be supporting Australian producers, not the ...
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News
NEW ZEALAND
Roadshow's The Matrix Revolutions comfortably beat the competition to retain the top spot in its third weekend on release, showing more resilience than in some other markets. UIP's Love Actually put in a strong performance to secure second place, despite only being on previews. It grossed NZ$212,718 from 45 screens ...
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News
Japanese Story sweeps AFI awards
Japanese Story walked away with practically all the honours at the 45th AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards tonight (Nov 21), including best film. It is the third major Australian prize for Japanese Story in less than a month: on Nov 12 it won at the IF Awards and on Oct ...
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News
Oz producer of the year unveils The Wish
Steve Luby and Mark Ruse of Melbourne's Ruby Entertainment and UK producer Deb Balderstone from Haystack have started casting and financing the romantic comedy The Wish.News of the project came as the Screen Producers Association of Australia, at their annual conference, today declared Luby, along with Mick Molloy, as independent ...
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News
April strikes major Oz film financing deal
Sydney outfit April Films has struck an deal with investment bank Babcock & Brown to finance around two films a year for the next five to seven years. The films are likely to be in the US$5.7m-21.4m (A$8m-30m) budget range. The deal is highly significant for the cash strapped Australian ...
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Oz financing forum aims to usher in a new era
An Australian Film Financing Forum is to be held in Sydney on November 27. The forum is designed to arm potential film financiers with the knowledge they need to make more informed decisions - and to hook them up with key film industry players. Actor, producer and forum patron Bryan ...
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News
NEW ZEALAND
It is unusual to see as many as three openers among the top five films but that was the case on the weekend. The Matrix Revolutions was convincingly ahead of everything, grossing NZ$553,478 despite the 56% drop on the previous week. BVI's Seabiscuit, with NZ$109,682 from 52 screens, and 20th ...
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News
Oz production levels fall dramatically
Kim Dalton, chief executive of the Australian Film Commission (AFC), has expressed 'great concern' at new figures released today that indicate a dramatic fall in Australian production levels.The total number of features of all types made in the 12 months to June 30 fell to 26 from 39 in the ...
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News
AUSTRALIA
Three films that could not be more different from each other, Roadshow's star performer The Matrix Revolutions on 453 screens, Columbia TriStar's In The Cut on 56 screens, and Hopscotch's Spellbound on just 13 screens, were the stand-outs in terms of their screen average on the weekend. Each notched up ...
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News
Whale Rider dominates NZ nominations
There are no prizes for guessing which film has dominated the nominations in this year's New Zealand Film Awards. Whale Rider, which has grossed NZ$6.4m in New Zealand and NZ$60m around the world, is a finalist in 14 of the 15 categories. But the same two films sit alongside Whale ...
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Japanese Story sweeps Australia's IF Awards
Australia's key IF Awards announced last night (November 12) were like a re-run of the Film Critics Circle Awards of two weeks earlier with Gettin' Square earning David Wenham best actor and Japanese Story winning best film for Sue Maslin, best director for Sue Brooks, best actress for Toni Collette ...
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News
Hating Alison Ashley rises again
Scriptwriter Christine Madafferi's adaptation of Robin Klein's coming-of-age book Hating Alison Ashley is back on track, albeit with a new director, following yesterday's decision by Film Finance Corporation Australia to again back the project. Hating Alison Ashley was approved in May with LA-based expatriate Rod Hardy in the director's chair ...
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Osborne prepares Magic Fingers in NZ
Producer Barrie M Osborne, who relocated from the US to New Zealand to work with director Peter Jackson on The Lord Of The Rings, is set to continue his relationship with the country - and to keep putting myth and fantasy up on the big screen. He is now in ...
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News
NEW ZEALAND
The Matrix Revolutions blitzed the opposition in New Zealand as it did around the world, grossing a highly impressive NZ$1,266,716 from 77 screens for a screen average of NZ$16,451. Such was its power that it also pulled The Matrix Reloaded back into the chart in thirteenth spot, despite being on ...