Small MPU – Page 1413

  • News

    Das Werk picks up $17m worth of work

    2002-01-28T19:05:00Z

    The international postproduction group Das Werk has won contracts worth $17.2m (Euros 20m) which will keep its feature film facilities working to capacity throughout 2002.LA-based subsidiary CFX has been awarded a $10m contract to handle the effects on an unnamed Warner Bros./Village Roadshow project as well as $3m worth of ...

  • News

    Oz FFC denies outgoing CEO was 'pushed'

    2002-01-28T21:03:00Z

    The Australian Film Finance Corporation (FFC) has been forced into releasing a statement confirming that it is Catriona Hughes' own decision to leave her job when her second contract as chief executive expires this year. The move was prompted by the publication of several articles implying she is being forced ...

  • News

    Alan Finney awarded Order of Australia medal

    2002-01-28T21:06:00Z

    Alan Finney, vice president and managing director of Buena Vista International (Australia and New Zealand), was among the Australians honoured as part of the weekend's Australia Day celebrations. His Order of Australia Medal (OAM) is a signal of his status as the most experienced distributor in the country and one ...

  • News

    Pippi Longstocking creator dies, aged 94

    2002-01-28T21:15:00Z

    Astrid Lindgren the godmother of Swedish children's literature and creator of world-famous characters like Pippi Longstocking, Emil From Lonneberga, Ronja Robber's Daughter and The Brothers Lionhearth has died after suffering from a serious virus infection for a month. The beloved and respected author was born in 1907 in Vimmerby in ...

  • News

    Court supports Telenor in Canal Plus case

    2002-01-28T21:21:00Z

    Norwegian legal authorities have ruled that telecommunications giant Telenor is not obliged to complete its takeover of Nordic pay-TV operator Canal Digital from Canal Plus before a distribution agreement is cleared by the EU Commission. However, Canal Plus has announced that will now take the dispute to arbitrators. Following ...

  • News

    Oslo Cinemas reverse film rental decision

    2002-01-28T21:28:00Z

    Norway's largest cinema operator has been forced into a U-turn over its refusal to accept recently-implemented national film rental rates.In an unprecedented move, Oslo Cinemas opted out of a new film rental agreement (Screendaily Jan 9), choosing instead to negotiate terms on a film-by-film basis with each distributor. Norway's ...

  • News

    China's Yon Fan honoured at Mardi Gras fest

    2002-01-28T21:31:00Z

    Chinese director Yon Fan will be the guest of the 2002 Australian Mardi Gras Film Festival, (Sydney, Feb 13-24) as part of a special focus on contemporary gay Asian cinema that will see the screening of features from South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. Fan's trilogy Bugis Street (1994), ...

  • News

    Film Critics of Australia announce nominations

    2002-01-28T21:33:00Z

    Lantana, Moulin Rouge, Mullet and The Bank have a chance of being crowned best film in the 2002 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards with the trophy going to one of the producers, namely Jan Chapman, Baz Luhrmann (and others), Vincent Sheehan or John Maynard respectively.But the directors of each ...

  • News

    MDP Worldwide acquires Stephen Gaghan script Havoc

    2002-01-29T00:10:00Z

    Mark Damon's MDPWorldwide has acquired the screenplay Havoc by Stephen Gaghan, theOscar-winning writer of Trafficand director of the forthcoming Abandon for Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment.Havoc is a multi-layered drama in the vein of Traffic about a gang of wealthy teens from the upscale LosAngeles neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades who ...

  • News

    Uncut Monster's Ball to screen at Berlin

    2002-01-29T00:11:00Z

    The official unrateddirector's cut of Marc Forster's Monster's Ball will screen in competition at the Berlin FilmFestival on Feb 8, not the version which was passed by the MPAA for its USrelease. The version to be seen at the festival was rated NC-17 for itssexually explicit content and was subsequently ...

  • News

    Hoyts' Johnson named ShoWest int'l exhib of year

    2002-01-29T00:12:00Z

    Paul Johnson, the CEO ofAustralia's Hoyts Cinemas Ltd, has been named international exhibitor ofthe year at worldwide exhibition convention ShoWest which is being held March4-7 in Las Vegas.Johnson, who will receivehis award at the international day luncheon on March 4, joined Hoyts in 1982 asa financial accountant and in 1984 ...

  • News

    Wild Bunch is crazy for Marceau's Love

    2002-01-29T00:27:00Z

    In a crowd-pleasing move made on the eve of the Rotterdam and Berlin festivals, French sales agent Wild Bunch has picked up Sophie Marceau's directorial debut Parlez-Moi D'Amour. The film stars Judith Godreche (who starred in Marceau's 1995 short L'Aube A L'Envers), Niels Arestrup, Anne Le Ny, Laurence Fevrier, Jean-Marie ...

  • News

    Veland, Playford-Denman reunite to expand BV Int

    2002-01-29T00:32:00Z

    In reunion worthy of the movies, sales agents Bjorg Veland and Heather Playford-Denman are to start working together again after a three year separation. The move appears to signal an expansion of the Oslo-based BV International sales and finance operation run by Veland."We are keen to develop a label and ...

  • Reviews

    The Count Of Monte Cristo

    2002-01-29T17:28:00Z

    Dir: Kevin Reynolds. US. 2002. 131mins. Hollywood's latest take on the ever-popular yarns of Alexandre Dumas is a straightforward but handsomely staged and consistently entertaining version of the author's classic tale of betrayal and revenge in post-Napoleonic France. Rather than attempting to jazz up the material for younger moviegoers (as ...

  • Reviews

    The Mothman Prophesies

    2002-01-29T17:29:00Z

    Dir: Mark Pellington. US 2001. 119mins.In promoting its cliche-ridden sci-fi-horror-supernatural The Mothman Prophecies, Sony is using the tag line "based on true events", as if the "factuality" of the source material was a badge of honour and necessary condition for taking more seriously a decidedly schlocky and dismissable feature. ...

  • News

    Vanilla Sky dethrones The Lord Of The Rings

    2002-01-29T17:39:00Z

    Vanilla Sky, the first re-teaming of director Cameron Crowe and actor Tom Cruise since Jerry Maguire - which grossed $13.3m (£9.4m) at the UK box office in 1997, has stormed into the top chart position in the UK displacing The Lord Of The Rings in the process.The UIP-distributed thriller grossed ...

  • News

    Harmony Gold buys int'l rights on comedy Dirt

    2002-01-29T19:42:00Z

    Harmony Gold has securedinternational rights to the action comedy Dirt, which world premiered last year at the Los AngelesFilm Festival in April.The film stars MichaelCovert and Trace Fraim as two brothers, who, search the West Texas desert dregsfor a replacement for their dead mother and kidnap a woman (Tara Chocol) ...

  • News

    Jim Ramo named CEO at studios' VOD co Movielink

    2002-01-29T19:44:00Z

    Jim Ramo, an industryveteran with many years spent at DIRECTV and Hughes Communications amongothers, has won the CEO job at Movielink, the video-on-demand distributionservice which is a joint venture between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, ParamountPictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Ramo reports to a boardcomprised of representatives from each ...

  • News

    Watts named female star of tomorrow by ShoWest

    2002-01-29T22:19:00Z

    Naomi Watts, the star of MulhollandDrive and of the upcoming remake ofJapanese smash Ring, has beennamed female star of tomorrow at this year's exhibitor convention ShoWestbeing held in Las Vegas in March.The Australian Watts willaccept her award at the annual awards banquet on March 7.Watts, who is considered anOscar contender ...

  • News

    Disney snags remake rights to Spanish hit Intacto

    2002-01-30T01:25:00Z

    Buena Vista Motion PicturesGroup (BVMPG) has bought the remake rights to Spanish thriller Intacto following its successful screening at the SundanceFilm Festival where Lions Gate Films bought worldwide distribution rights. The film, which marks thefeature directorial debut of Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, follows a series of characterswho test their luck in ...