Small MPU – Page 1234
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News
Fantastic fiction emerges from Puchon
Puchon is a city that lives in a cloud of fantasy. A town situated uneasily between the metropolis of 10 million souls that is Seoul and the thrusting seaport of Incheon which boasts Asia's newest international airport, new town Puchon fears being overshadowed. Culture is the tool it has chosen ...
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Michael Donaldson elected president of IDA
Michael C Donaldson has been elected president of the International Documentary Association (IDA). Donaldson, a founding partner of entertainment and copyright law firm Donaldson & Hart, has been IDA general counsel for 12 years and a member of its board of directors since 1998. He is the first president who ...
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James Birch promoted to senior vp at WBIT
James Birch has been promoted to the position of senior vice president, business affairs & general counsel, for Warner Bros International Theatres (WBIT). Based in Warner's London office, he will report to Millard Ochs, president of WBIT.Birch will continue to be responsible for all legal and development issues affecting the ...
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MGM confirms: UA will move to New York under Ray
Bingham Ray and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) have dotted the i's and crossed the t's on the contract which sees Ray named president of MGM's speciality film unit United Artists (UA). He will begin his job on Sept 1, 2001.As per Ray's location, UA's main offices will relocate to New York where ...
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WIDE ANGLE: Are critics still critical'
Abstracted from the weekly edition of Screen International Everyone's a critic these days - including Harvey Weinstein. The Miramax co-chairman felt the urge recently to write into the Los Angeles Times in praise of Steven Spielberg's A.I. a film he feels fully deserves all the plaudits thrown its way by ...
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Reviews
Original Sin
Dir: Michael Cristofer. US. 2001. 116 mins. Angelina Jolie's second big release of the summer is a very different kettle of pescado from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Written and directed by Michael Cristofer, who previously steered Jolie's breakthrough performance in Gia, Original Sin wraps a plot from the world of ...
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Another mega-opening at US box office: Rush Hour 2
With a whopping estimated $66.8m three-day opening New Line Cinema's Rush Hour 2 leapt into the record books over the weekend, becoming the biggest comedy opening of all time, the biggest New Line opening of all time, the biggest August opening ever and the third best non-holiday opening on record. ...
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Reviews
The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion
Dir: Woody Allen. US. 2001. 103 min.Far superior to hisprevious comic crime capers (Manhattan Murder Mystery and last year's Small Time Crooks), Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is an entertaining period piece, poking fun at the hypnosis craze that mesmerized people of the Jazz Era and continues ...
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Oz tax confusion hurts location shooting prospects
Australia's Government has been publicly lambasted for prolonging confusion about whether tax laws actually allow Australian investors to get relief when they support offshore productions such as Moulin Rouge that shoot in the country.The outburst, by New South Wales Treasurer Michael Egan, coincided with the revelation that the Australian ...
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German exhibition partners sever relationship
German exhibition companies Cinemaxx and Ufa are to sever their co-operative partnership after little more than a year. The break-up of what would have become Germany's largest cinema chain follows the posting of CinemaxX's 2001 half-year losses of $22.5m (DM52.3m).Last May CinemaxX founder Hans-Joachim Flebbe bought 10% of Ufa including ...
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Regent partners up for new German film fund
US producer Regent Entertainment (Gods And Monsters) and German production outfit A.C.H. GmbH Production have been lined up as two of the co-production partners for the new Munich-based "blind pool" film fund: Christopher Filmcapital. Structured as five separate tranches, raising up to Euros 30m each, Christopher Filmcapital has been launched ...
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Becker Entertainment tempted by Bennett's thriller
Becker Entertainment has acquired Australasian rights to local writer/director Bill Bennett's US film Tempted from TF1 and will release it early next year. The sexual thriller about betrayal, passion and deceit was shot entirely on location in the stately homes and surrounding swamps of New Orleans. Peter Facinelli plays a ...
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News
New UK film studio in development
The UK's The Full Picture Company has announced plans for a £66m film studio in the southwest of England, although the venture is yet to secure planning approval or reveal any backers.The company, chaired by Academy Award-winning Bond and Titanic production designer Peter Lamont, proposes a range of ambitious facilites ...
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Cinegroupe launches live action division
Montreal-based animation producer and distributor CineGroupe has given a name and a face to its new live-action arm, first announced in January (Screendaily Jan. 29). The new unit, CineGroupe Images, will be headed by Robin Spry, former president and CEO of Telescene Film Group, the Montreal production company which foundered ...
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News
Swiss distributors, Columbus and Vega, join forces
Swiss distributors Columbus Film and Vega Distribution are to co-operate for joint booking and billing of their releases. Columbus and Vega will retain their independence and continue to handle their own marketing and PR campaigns separately. Among the first releases are the Locarno competition film Happiness Is A Warm Gun ...
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Scarfies producer Lisa Chatfield joins NZFC board
Wellington-based producer Lisa Chatfield is one of three new members appointed to the board of the New Zealand Film Commission. Chatfield produced the 1997 film Scarfies, the fourth biggest local hit in the last decade. Arts patron, former exhibitor and producer of the 1993 film Desperate Remedies, James Wallace, and ...
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Fallen Australian media baron Skase dies in exile
Christopher Skase, thebuccaneering Australian businessman who briefly acquired the MGM/UA studiobefore running into bankruptcy and becoming an international fugitive, died onSunday on the Spanish island of Majorca. He was 52."I can confirm he hasdied, it was a mixture of everything, emphysema, cancer, the works,"Majorca Daily Bulletin editor and family friend ...
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$30bn EchoStar bid for DirecTV challenges Murdoch
US satellite TV operatorDirecTV may end up costing far more than Rupert Murdoch had bargained for nowthat rival EchoStar Communications has weighed in with a surprise $30.4bncompeting bid.The news immediately tookits toll on shares of Murdoch's News Corp which fell by more than 3% inearly trading on the Australian stock ...
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Canal Plus, UPC merge Polish pay-TV platforms
Vivendi Universal and Dutch cable operator UPC are this week expected to merge their pay-TV platforms in Poland.The long-anticipated move will give the country a single pay-operator and potentially allow the unified platform a chance to achieve profitability faster than if the two were in direct competition.A spokesman at Canal ...
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Branson's Virgin Cinemas set to expand in Japan
Virgin Cinemas is to launch two new multiplexes in Japan as part of an aggressive expansion plan for the territory that will see Richard Branson's exhibition interests reach 18 sites by 2004.The first site, a nine-screen cinema in suburban Tokyo is set for a December launch, while a 10-screener at ...