Small MPU – Page 1391

  • News

    Norway's distributors re-negotiate rental rates

    2001-11-29T23:15:00Z

    Norwegian film distributors are attempting to increase local rental rates for their future releases. The current level of film rental charges is regulated by a Film Rental Agreement between local distributors and exhibitors. The current agreement, however, expires on January 1, and is now undergoing active re-negotiation. Early talks ...

  • News

    Wait-and-see approach to video-on-demand

    2001-11-29T23:28:00Z

    The introduction of video-on-demand will not be an overnight revolution, but will take place gradually over the next five years. Globally, just 26 million households will be capable of accessing VoD services by 2005, with the vast majority - 83%, located in the USA. According to Screen Digest's Video On ...

  • News

    Loeb & Loeb lawyer Greg Schenz joins Intermedia

    2001-11-30T06:52:00Z

    Greg Schenz, formerly of LA entertainment law firm Loeb & Loeb LLP, has joined Intermedia's Los Angeles office as vice president, business/legal affairs. Schenz reports to vice chairman Jon Gumpert and focuses on film finance and talent transactions.As an associate at Loeb & Loeb, Schenz's practice focused on development, ...

  • Reviews

    The 51st State

    2001-11-30T14:55:00Z

    Dir: Ronny Yu. UK/Canada. 2001. 92minsA lurid, laddish, bad ass romp, 51st State is so primed and pumped up that It's almost laughable. A wild-eyed enthusiasm for the delights of bloodshed, body fluids and expletive-filled banter should hit the mark with a target audience of young males who like their ...

  • News

    Amelie walks off with European film academy crown

    2001-12-02T22:34:00Z

    As widely anticipated, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie was the big winner at the 14th European Film Awards in Berlin's new Tempodrom venue on Dec 1, taking home four separate prizes, comprising: best European film, best director, cinematographer as well as the people's choice award for best director.Indeed, it was very much ...

  • News

    Festival heads criticise industrialisation, press

    2001-12-02T22:37:00Z

    At an unprecedented meeting of selectors and officials in Berlin, top film festival directors from three continents bemoaned the industrialisation of festivals and the increasing difficulty of getting press coverage they feel their events deserve. Toronto's Piers Handling described how both Europe's major state-founded festivals and North America's private-backed events ...

  • News

    Italian film distributors unveil their 2002 slates

    2001-12-02T22:43:00Z

    Italian state distributor Istituto Luce, whose president Angelo Guglielmi recently stepped down, has unveiled its 2002 distribution slate which includes Wong Kar-Wai's widely anticipated new film 2046, Theo Angelopoulos's upcoming film about Greek exiles, The Weeping Field, and French actor-writer-director Michel Blanc's Embrassez Qui Vous Voulez. Other distributors who unveiled ...

  • News

    Controversy looms at Italy's state-backed orgs

    2001-12-02T22:49:00Z

    A high ranking member of Silvio Berlusconi's Italian government has openly criticized Cinecitta Holding's decision to appoint Antonio More managing director of state-run distributor Istituto Luce, after president Angelo Guglielmi stepped down last week. Leading Italian daily La Repubblica quoted Culture under-secretary Nicola Bono as saying: "The fairness which the ...

  • News

    EM.TV re-enters programme production

    2001-12-02T22:55:00Z

    Following its radical programme of restructuring under the new CEO Werner Klatten, EM.TV & Merchandising is now planning to re-enter the arena of production in the field children's and family programming.In future, the Munich-based company intends to be involved annually in up to six animated or live-action series geared to ...

  • News

    Bank files insolvency suit against Kinowelt

    2001-12-02T23:01:00Z

    The embattled German media group Kinowelt Medien reported that the restructuring measures aimed at streamlining operations had an "adverse effect" on its results for the first nine months of 2001.In an official communique, the company reported that the termination of the Warner Bros film package deal this week had ...

  • News

    Germany's Senator issues surprise profit warning

    2001-12-02T23:02:00Z

    German market analysts have been caught unawares by Senator Entertainment's profit warning for the financial year 2001 - reducing its targetted revenues from Euros 197.1m to Euros 125m-130m and its EBIT from Euros 40m to Euros 2m-5m.As Markus Wallner and Marc Roehder of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt observed, "the profit ...

  • News

    ABC acquires two Potters for reported $130m

    2001-12-02T23:04:00Z

    US TV network ABC has acquired the television rights to Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (Sorcerer's Stone in the US) and its sequel, Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets for a reported total of $130m, making it one of the most expensive such deals in TV history.The deal ...

  • News

    World mourns death of Beatle George Harrison

    2001-12-02T23:05:00Z

    Tributes from around the world have been pouring in for former Beatle and film producer, George Harrison who died, aged 58, following a long illness.Buckingham Palace issued a statement saying that the Queen was "very sad" to hear the news, while British Prime Minister Tony Blair said "I think people ...

  • News

    Harry flies past $200m, still at the top

    2001-12-02T23:28:00Z

    Despite a strong assault by 20th Century Fox of patriotic war actioner Behind Enemy Lines (pictured), Warner Bros held on to the top spot for the third consecutive weekend with its blockbuster Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone which took an estimated $24.1m over the three days.Harry Potter's 17-day total ...

  • News

    Benicio Del Toro to receive Sundance Indie tribute

    2001-12-03T03:47:00Z

    Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro will receive the Piper-Heidsieck Tribute to Independent Vision at next year's Sundance Film Festival. The tribute, which will be presented to Del Toro on Jan 13, 2002, during the festival, was created to honour a film artist "who has made a significant and unique ...

  • News

    ContentFilm buys Wendigo, Magnolia to release it

    2001-12-03T03:49:00Z

    ContentFilm, the New York independent recently formed by Edward R Pressman and John Schmidt, has acquired worldwide rights to Wendigo, a supernatural thriller starring Patricia Clarkson, and has enlisted Eamonn Bowles' brand new distribution outfit Magnolia Pictures to distribute it in the US.Written, directed and edited by Larry Fessenden, a ...

  • Reviews

    Mad Love (Juana La Loca)

    2001-12-03T16:09:00Z

    Dir: Vicente Aranda. Sp-It-Port. 117mins. A costume drama driven by lead Pilar Lopez de Ayala's impacting central performance, Mad Love (Juana La Loca) is Spain's official entry for the foreign language Oscar nominations, having beaten out sexier options such as Penelope Cruz film No News From God and Julio ...

  • News

    Overseas records fall as Harry conjures up $60.9m

    2001-12-03T22:32:00Z

    It was another magical weekend for Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone in the international market, as the Warner Bros film grossed $60.9m in 31 territories on 6,574 prints to bring its total take to $152.75m after just three weekends. Over the weekend, the film opened in 14 more countries ...

  • News

    Japan's Gaga posts $10.8m pre-tax profit

    2001-12-03T23:22:00Z

    Gaga Communications, one of Japan's leading distributors, has recorded a pre-tax operating profit of $10.8m (Y1.34 billion) in the fiscal year 2001, ended Sept 30, up by 209% from the previous year. Gaga attributed this increase largely to the success of The Mexican which grossed $21m (Y2.6 billion), and summer ...

  • News

    Local witch-doctor outperforms Potter's wizard

    2001-12-03T23:41:00Z

    Harry Potter has met his match in South Africa. A local film has achieved the seemingly impossible feat of displacing Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone from its pole position immediately upon release - as well as outperforming Potter's opening gross of one week earlier.Mr Bones, (pictured) produced by Videovision ...