Small MPU – Page 1565

  • News

    Madagascar 2 continues to lead international with $32.2m weekend

    2009-01-05T00:37:00Z

    DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa entered 2009 as the top international release and held on to the crown over the weekend courtesy of an estimated $32.2m haul through PPI that raised the tally to $340m.Active in 6,771 sites in 60 territories, the animated sequel has now overtaken the $338m ...

  • News

    Waltz With Bashir, Happy-Go-Lucky win with National Society

    2009-01-05T00:46:00Z

    Waltz With Bashir was named best picture of the year by the National Society of Film Critics with 26 votes, ahead of Happy-Go-Lucky and Wall-E tied in second place with 20 votes apiece.Sean Penn ran away with the best actor prize for Milk on 87 votes, followed by Mickey Rourke ...

  • News

    Marley & Me soars past $100m after second weekend on release

    2009-01-05T00:50:00Z

    With no major new releases in play the top seven titles stayed put as Fox's comedy Marley & Me started the year as top dog and tore past $100m in its second weekend. Overall box office gained 7.4% on the same weekend last year as the top 12 releases grossed ...

  • News

    Relativity Media completes acquisition of Rogue from Universal

    2009-01-05T00:55:00Z

    Relativity Media has completed its purchase of Rogue Pictures from Universal Pictures, Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh announced on Sunday [January 4].Relativity acquired Rogue's entire library, more than 30 projects in development and ownership of Rogue's producing deals, which encompasses relationships with Wes Craven and Intrepid.The first picture set for release ...

  • News

    Kawase, Taiwan's Wei among HAF line-up of 27 projects

    2009-01-05T07:48:00Z

    Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase and Wei Te-sheng, director of Taiwanese blockbuster Cape No. 7, are among the filmmakers who have had projects selected for the seventh edition of the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). Kawase, who was awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2007 for Mourning Forest, ...

  • News

    SCREEN REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2008

    2009-01-05T08:31:00Z

    In the first of a three-part review of the year. Screen looks at some of the key issues for the international film industry in 2008. Click to see full story.CRUNCH TIME: harsh economic conditions push online distribution and D-cinema to centre stage, says Michael GubbinsREALITY BITES:A bleak year for the ...

  • News

    China's box office up by 27% to $617m in 2008

    2009-01-05T10:45:00Z

    China's overall box office reached $617.13m (RMB4.22bn) in 2008, a 26.7% increase on the previous year, according to figures from the Film Bureau under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT). The figures mark the sixth year in a row that box office has grown at a rate ...

  • News

    Toho, Kadokawa join forces on digital delivery

    2009-01-05T10:53:00Z

    Japan's Toho and Kadokawa Holdings will partner with telecommunications giant NTT to implement digital distribution of feature films to their cinemas beginning this spring. Toho will upgrade 31 of its sites with servers and digital projectors while Kadokawa Cineplex will upgrade all 14 of its sites. After installations are complete, ...

  • Reviews

    As God Commands (Come Dio Commanda)

    2009-01-05T12:57:00Z

    Dir: Gabriele Salvatores. Italy. 2008. 103mins.

  • Reviews

    Wasting Away

    2009-01-05T13:13:00Z

    Dir: Matthew Kohnen. US. 2008. 96mins.

  • Reviews

    Platform

    2000-11-16T17:39:00Z

    Dir: Jia Zhang-ke. Hong Kong-Japan-France. 2000. 192mins.Prod co: Hu Tong Communications (HK). Int'l sales: Flach Pyramide International, tel: (33) 1 42 96 02 20. Prods: Li Kit-ming, Shozo Ichiyama. Scr: Jia Zhang-ke. DoP: Yu Lik-wai. Ed: Kong jing-lei. Prod des: Qui Sheng. Music: Joshihiro Hanno. Main cast: Wang Hong-wei, Zhao ...

  • News

    UK Blu-ray sales reach record levels

    2009-01-05T21:17:00Z

    The home entertainment market, including Blu-ray, remains healthy despite difficult trading conditions across the retail sector according to figures released by the British Video Association.The figures show that 1.5 million Blu-ray discs were sold in December alone, up almost 400% against the same period in 2007. In total 3.7 million ...

  • News

    Departures finds US home with Regent Releasing

    2009-01-05T19:03:00Z

    Regent Releasing has picked up Yojiro Takita's Japanese foreign language Oscar submission Departures for North American distribution.Regent's West Coast general manager and executive vice president distribution and acquisitions Mark Reinhart negotiated the deal with Satoko Ishida of Shochiku. The company plans a limited release this summer.Departures earned 13 Japanese Academy ...

  • News

    Carl Clifton takes up key roles at The Works

    2009-01-06T06:32:00Z

    Former HandMade COO and head of sales Carl Clifton has started work in his new role as executive director of UK-based international film company The Works Media Group. He is also managing director of the company's sales agency, The Works International, whose current slate includes James Marsh's Man On Wire ...

  • News

    Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Dark Knight among PGA nominees

    2009-01-05T21:44:00Z

    The Curious Case Of Benjamin, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire will contest the Producers Guild Of America's The Darryl F Zanuck Producer Of The Year Award.Man On Wire, Standard Operating Procedure and Trouble The Water are the documentary nominees while Bolt, Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E will ...

  • News

    Herwitz takes on world sales to Sundance competition entry Adam

    2009-01-05T21:48:00Z

    The Film Sales Company president Andrew Herwitz has signed on to represent worldwide rights toMax Mayer’s Sundance dramatic competition entry Adam.

  • News

    Visit Films takes worldwide rights to The Missing Person

    2009-01-06T03:04:00Z

    Ryan Kampe and Sylvain Tron's Visit Films has boarded worldwide rights to Noah Buschel's The Missing Person, set to premiere at Sundance and receive its market premiere in Berlin.Michael Shannon, red hot following his stand-out turn in Revolutionary Road, stars alongside Amy Ryan, and Tony Award winner Frank Wood as ...

  • News

    Hong Kong box office up by 8% despite downturn

    2009-01-06T06:10:00Z

    Hong Kong's box office grew by around 8% to $140.26m (HK$1.09bn) in 2008 according to figures from local film industry body, the Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA). The growth compares to anuptick of 11.5% in 2007 after several years of flat revenues in Hong Kong. MPIA chief executive Brian Chung ...

  • News

    US domestic box office revenues static but admissions down for 2008

    2009-01-07T06:35:00Z

    Domestic box office picked up just enough steam in the latter half of December to finish the calendar year with a tally of $9.68bn - just $2m up on 2007. *To see top grossing films, click here The more worrying news is that admissions continued to decline with early ...

  • News

    Hong Kong's Celestial strikes pay-TV deal with Viasat

    2009-01-06T08:44:00Z

    Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures has sealed an exclusive pay-TV deal with Viasat to broadcast Shaw Brothers movies in 15 territories across Russia, the CIS and the Baltic states. Classic titles such as Come Drink With Me, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and Blood Brothers will be available on Viasat's TV1000 ...