Small MPU – Page 1179

  • News

    US distributors facing print and advertising cost rises in Argentina

    2003-04-16T04:05:00Z

    The US majors in Argentina are facing an escalation of print production costs that is forcing them to dramatically reduce their local print runs.There is even talk of some form of strike by US majors in Argentina, where they are obliged to process their prints in a local laboratory, Cinecolor ...

  • News

    French admissions in March show weakness

    2003-04-16T04:05:00Z

    French cinemaadmissions in March hit 15.47 million, a gain of 3.4% compared with the samemonth last year. However according to data from the Centre National dela Cinematographie (CNC) the total for a rolling 12month period was down by 3.2% at 178.8 million, compared with 184.8 million. The CNC data also ...

  • News

    Swedish Komedy to be remade by Columbia

    2003-04-16T04:05:00Z

    Swedish comedy Kopps is to beremade by Primal Pictures and Adam Sandler's companyHappy Madison for Columbia Pictures, under a deal signed this week. The film, originally directed byJosef Fares, is a tale about policemen who go on the rampage in a small town inorder to boost crime figures and keep ...

  • News

    Ohtake named director of ops at DTS Japan

    2003-04-16T04:00:00Z

    Consumer electronics veteranNao Ohtake has been named director of operations of DTS Japan, the Japanese armof digital entertainment technology provider Digital Theatre Systems (DTS).Ohtake will be based inTokyo, where he will be responsible for overseeing and managing all DTSactivities in Japan. He will report to Jon Kirchner, president and chiefexecutive ...

  • News

    Manhattan takes North America to Off The Map

    2003-04-16T04:00:00Z

    ManhattanPictures International has acquired all North American rights to CampbellScott's drama Off The Map, which received its world premiere at Sundance and only days agowon the top prize at Taos Talking Picture Film Festival. A theatrical releaseis planned later this year.Negotiations between Manhattan's Paul Cohen and George VanBuskirk, president of ...

  • News

    Miramax celebrates its biggest hit ever

    2003-04-16T04:00:00Z

    Chicago, the winner of six Academy Awardsincluding one for best picture, became the highest grossing film in MiramaxFilms' 24-year history last night (Apr 14) after it passed $157.1m at thedomestic box office.Themusical's record running total overtook Miramax's previous best of$157m set in 2000 by Scary Movie, which came out under ...

  • News

    Chartier quits Vortex to head up Arclight US office

    2003-04-16T04:00:00Z

    Nicolas Chartier- the co-founder of Vortex Pictures and former sales and acquisitionsexecutive at Myriad Pictures - has left Vortex to head up the US officefor Arclight Films.Chartier, whoseappointment became effective yesterday (Apr 15), will oversee all sales andacquisitions activities and will serve as the point person between Arclight,partner Spice Factory ...

  • News

    Hi-Def crime mockumentary plans Berlin heist

    2000-02-08T02:19:00Z

    Robbers, one of the first feature films to be shot completely on high-definition video, will be unveiled at Berlin this week by its producers Dan Lupovitz, Timm Oberwelland and Leon Melas.A mock documentary about a film crew following a gang of robbers at work and play, Robbers is the first ...

  • News

    Cannes main jury line-up announced

    2003-04-16T00:00:00Z

    The Cannes Film Festival has announced the make-up of the main jury for this year's edition. As reported by Screendaily last week, Indian actress Aishwarya Rai has been confirmed along with American actress Meg Ryan, French actress Karin Viard and French actor and elder-statesman Jean Rochefort. Also on the panel ...

  • Reviews

    Bulletproof Monk

    2003-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Paul Hunter. US. 2003. 104mins. Hollywood's latest attempt to infuse a familiar genre with added youth appeal casts Hong Kong legend Chow Yun-Fat in a slight but pleasantly breezy East-meets-West martial arts adventure leavened with odd couple comedy. To hardcore Chow fans - who have been waiting more than ...

  • Reviews

    What A Girl Wants

    2003-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Dennie Gordon. US. 2003. 95mins. Although the trailers made it look like another trashy teen flick, What A Girl Wants surprisingly possesses a degree of class. The fairy-tale story of a Brooklyn teenager who runs away to England to discover her aristocratic dad recalls Disney smash The Princess Diaries ...

  • Reviews

    Fear And Trembling (Stupeur Et Tremblements)

    2003-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Alain Corneau. France. 2003. 107mins.An unusual French take on life in the Japanese workplace, Stupeur Et Tremblements (literally Fear And Trembling) is a tightly-executed social drama with a vein of absurdist humour discretely buried beneath the surface. The film, which by some accounts only just missed out on a ...

  • News

    Underwater facility set to launch in Sydney

    2003-04-17T04:00:00Z

    A major underwater filming facility is to be built in Sydney, which is being billed as one of the biggest and best in the world by the company behind the project. Industry veterans Greg Timms and Simon Kerslake are working at "breakneck speed" in order to accommodate several projects already ...

  • News

    Top directors benefit from Swedish funding

    2003-04-17T04:00:00Z

    The Swedish Film Institute (SFI) has greenlit four new feature films, most of them from established, successful directors.The major recipient of funding was Swedish production and distribution company Sonet Film, which has already started shooting its first English-language feature film, The Third Wave (Den Tredje Vagen). The film is being ...

  • News

    Mushroom options NZ gang tale Stonedogs

    2003-04-17T04:00:00Z

    Sydney-based Mushroom Pictures has announced that it has optioned Craig Marriner's debut novel Stonedogs, which deals with gang and drug culture in a city resembling the author's home town of Rotorua in New Zealand.The novel was the controversial winner of the Deutz Medal for Fiction at NZ's 2002 Montana Book ...

  • News

    New theatrical distributor launches in Brazil

    2003-04-17T04:05:00Z

    Brazilian home video distributor Imagem Filmes is venturing into the local theatrical distribution arena. The Sao Paolo-based company will continue to distribute home video product for Lumiere EBA, which has an output deal with Miramax. In recent years, Imagem has been acquiring all rights to a slew of high ...

  • News

    Rod Stoneman to step down as CEO of the Irish Film Board

    2003-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Rod Stoneman, CEO of the Irish Film Board, is stepping down to take up the position of director at the newly-established Huston School of Film and Digital Media at the National University of Ireland Galway.The Huston School has been established by NUIG in tribute to John Huston and with the ...

  • News

    Cannes Directors' Fortnight names first titles

    2003-04-17T04:00:00Z

    Under the management of Francois Da Silva, the new Cannes Director's Fortnight is beginning to take shape as an enlarged and experimental section with an emphasis on diversity.The first four films to be announced range from a Yakuza genre film, to an intense drama by a normally mainstream director and ...

  • News

    Apollo Media lines up Beresford, Cookson projects

    2000-02-08T11:48:00Z

    German film fund Apollo Media, launched last November (Screen International, Nov 19, 1999), has unveiled its debut slate which includes new projects from Bruce Beresford, Stephen Cookson, Christine Lahti and Tomy Wigand. An April start is being slated for Bruce Beresford's long-gestating project, the $12m melodrama Alma - Bride Of ...

  • News

    New distributor, Bright Angel to shine over Benelux

    2003-04-17T04:05:00Z

    New Beneluxdistributor Bright Angel Distribution will launch from the end of this month.The company, which aims to handleall rights for eight-to-ten art-house films per year, is the creation of Chris Oosterom, currently programmer and head of acquisitions forFilmmuseum, and Patrizia Raeli, departing head of acquisitions at the UK's Metro Tartan. ...