Small MPU – Page 1223

  • News

    Ladies Day: Lara & Bridget rule UK

    2001-07-09T23:36:00Z

    Who says there are no good roles for women' Films with female leads dominated the box office in the UK at the weekend. Computer-game icon Lara Croft demonstrated her pulling power taking $5.4m (£3.8m) in her first big screen venture: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Played by Hollywood hot-property Angelina Jolie, ...

  • News

    Joerg Agin retires from Kodak after 34 years

    2001-07-10T00:35:00Z

    Joerg D Agin will retire as senior vice president of Kodak and president of the company's entertainment imaging division on Sept 1. He will be replaced by Eric G Rodli, who will be promoted from his current position as chief operating officer and vice president of entertainment imaging.Agin joined Kodak ...

  • News

    Slamdance Film Festival to launch in Germany

    2001-07-10T00:38:00Z

    Slamdance Entertainment, a joint venture between the Slamdance Film Festival and Marco Weber's production company Atlantic Streamline, is to launch a Slamdance Film Festival event in Cologne, Germany, on Aug 18.Taking place in association with music convention Popkomm, the new event is aimed to create and develop a European counterpart ...

  • News

    Miramax buys int'l territories on Apocalypse Redux

    2001-07-10T00:41:00Z

    Miramax Films has acquired rights in the UK, Latin America and Italy to Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now Redux, the 197-minute director's reworking of the 1979 classic. Miramax had already acquired North American theatrical rights to the film which opens at showcase screens in New York City and Los Angeles ...

  • News

    Food Of Love fills out cast

    2001-07-10T16:12:00Z

    UK actors Kevin Bishop, Juliet Stevenson, Paul Rhys and Allan Corduner have signed on to star in Spanish director Ventura Pons' English-language debut, Food Of Love, for start-up company 42nd Street Productions. Other actors had been attached initially, but finally it will be Bishop (Treasure Island) who takes the lead ...

  • News

    Almodovar's Tarantula may weave in Cruz, Banderas

    2001-07-10T19:22:00Z

    Pedro and Agustin Almodovar's El Deseo production company has optioned film rights to French novel Tarantula, marking it as a potential next project for the director and igniting local speculation that this may well be the project that will re-unite Almodovar with Spanish acting superstars Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz.The ...

  • News

    Denmark media giant Egmont names surprise chief

    2001-07-10T19:26:00Z

    Nordic media major Egmont has appointed Steffen Kragh (pictured) from within its own ranks to take over from president and CEO Jan O. Froshaug who quit earlier this year after 14 years in the position.The 37 year-old Kragh has an eight-year track record with the company, working primarily on its ...

  • News

    German media funds set to raise $4.3bn this year

    2001-07-10T19:31:00Z

    German media funds, which have raised a total of $4.3bn in the last five years, could achieve a similar volume for the year 2001 alone according to analysts, with some 20 such schemes already underway and more appearing every week.Tax analysts are predicting a surge in German media fund investment ...

  • News

    Chinese facility animates Singapore stock exchange

    2001-07-10T19:35:00Z

    Chinese company Colorland Animation has raised $1.4m from a share listing on the Singapore stock exchange. The company, which is based in Shenzhen and has production facilities in Hong Kong and Singapore, has focused on sub-contracted 2D and 3D production for European, US and Australian animation companies. Clients include Germany's ...

  • News

    Venice dedicates tributes to Munk and Debord

    2001-07-10T19:40:00Z

    The Venice International Film Festival (August 29th - September 8th) has announced that it will dedicate a retrospective to the late Polish film director Andrzej Munk and to the little known cinema oeuvre of French critic Guy Debord.The festival's tribute to Andrzej Munk, who first gained international recognition at Venice ...

  • News

    Russia blocks foreign ownership of state TV

    2001-07-10T19:43:00Z

    The lower house of the Russian Parliament has passed a bill preventing foreigners from owning a controlling interest in its national television service.The State Duma approved the bill by a 343-37 vote. To become law it requires further approval by the upper house, the Federation Council as well as President ...

  • News

    Toho announces production of Seoul

    2001-07-10T19:45:00Z

    Toho has announced the production of Seoul, a Japan-Korea co-production with all-Korean locations and a budget of one billion yen ($8.1 million) -- nearly double the budgets of the Korean mega-hits Shiri and JSA. The film, which starts production on July 20, stars Japanese TV heartthrob Tomoya Nagase and Korean ...

  • News

    Seven Network partners with magazine group

    2001-07-10T19:48:00Z

    Australia's Seven Network has announced it is to spend $33m (A$65m) to take a 50% interest in PMP Limited's many magazine businesses, which include the titles New Idea, TV Week, That's Life and Home Beautiful. The deal also includes the magazine distribution company Gordon and Gotch and an option for ...

  • News

    Shooting Gallery parent under siege

    2001-07-10T19:50:00Z

    Following the closure of it New York production and distribution house The Shooting Gallery, parent company itemus is now facing several law suitsOn July 2, several former Shooting Gallery executives filed suit in New York against both parent and subsidiary alleging a string of financial irregularities including fraud and misuse ...

  • News

    Eurimages supports 14 European co-productions

    2001-07-10T20:21:00Z

    At its 73rd meeting, the Council of Europe Eurimages Fund Board of Management agreed to support 14 feature films for a total amount of Euros 4,665,000.The feature films are :Scheme 1 - Assistance awarded mainly on the basis of the project'scirculation potentialAfrodita, el sabor del amor - Fernando Pino ...

  • Reviews

    Final Fantasy

    2001-07-10T20:33:00Z

    Dir: Hironobu Sakaguchi. US. 2001. 105 mins.If Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within were a live action film, it would probably suffer the same box office fate as Soldier, Event Horizon, Supernova, Alien: Resurrection, Escape From LA and other gloomy futuristic sci-fi epics of late. It even bears striking tonal similarities ...

  • News

    Edinburgh announces 2001 festival line-up

    2001-07-10T23:17:00Z

    The 55thEdinburgh International Film Festival, the last under the tenure of departingfestival director Lizzie Francke, will once again have a strong British showingwith world premieres for Udayan Prasad's Gabriel And Me written by Billy Elliot's Lee Hall, as well as for Film Four's TheWarrior and twodigitally-shot BBC features directed by ...

  • News

    Telenor buys Canal Plus nordic pay-TV interests

    2001-07-11T12:36:00Z

    Norwegian telecommunications giant Telenor has taken outright control of loss-making Nordic pay-TV operator Canal Digital.It did so by buying out the 50 % stake in the joint venture held by Vivendi Universal's TV and film division Canal Plus. It is paying Euros 300m, of which Euros63m is deferred.The two companies, ...

  • News

    Christoph Ott to release VCL's Scorpion in Germany

    2001-07-11T15:38:00Z

    Ahead of VCL Film + Medien's shareholders meeting on July 11 in Munich, Screendaily has learnt that the German media concern will have the local theatrical release of its films handled by the new distribution company being launched by former Senator Entertainment executive Christoph Ott.VCL's Manfred Wenzel confirmed to Screendaily ...

  • News

    Highlight Communications seeks Neuer Markt exit

    2001-07-11T16:54:00Z

    Swiss media concern Highlight Communications is considering withdrawing from the Neuer Markt following measures by the German Stock Exchange (Deutsche Boerse) to tighten up procedures and flush out so-called "pennystocks", i.e. shares trading under Euro 1.According to a survey by Financial Times Deutschland (FTD), seven companies, including Highlight - whose ...