Small MPU – Page 283
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News
Belgium prepares new film tax shelter legislation
Belgium's proposed tax-shelter legislation is to be readied for parliamentary debate at a meeting between finance minister Didier Reynders and film producers this week (Oct 3).The current proposal, drawn up by Senator Philippe Monfils, is aimed at encouraging domestic and foreign investors to set up limited partnerships for specific productions. ...
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Ritchie's Love, Sex, Drugs And Money starts shoot
Swept Away, UK director Guy Ritchie's follow-up to Snatch which starts a six-week shoot on location in Malta and Sardinia today (Oct 1), has changed its title to the snappier Love, Sex, Drugs And Money.The film unites Ritchie with his wife Madonna, who takes the main role of Amber - ...
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Matsushita launches digital film business
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will launch its first digital film production company, Progressive Pictures Co., on October 1. Company president Hidenori Ishii is a former vice president of Japan Victor Entertainment US, with extensive experience in the film industry. Capitalised at $1.68m (Y200m), the Tokyo-based company will produce films with ...
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Pathe, Lions Gate board John Cusack-starrer Max
Pathe Pictures and Lions Gate Films have boarded Menno Meyjes' directorial debut Max, formerly known as Hoffman, which will start principal photography in Hungary on Nov 5 with a cast headed by John Cusack, Noah Taylor, Leelee Sobieski and Molly Parker.Pathe International will handle international sales and Lions Gate domestic ...
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Artisan valued at $160m after Landscape merger
After many months of pursuing strategic alliances, acquisitions and mergers, Artisan Entertainment has closed a deal, merging with Landscape Entertainment, the production company founded by former DreamWorks executive Bob Cooper and backed by Canadian conglomerate Bell Globemedia.The deal, closed last Wednesday, sees Canadian broadcaster CTV, a division of Bell Globemedia, ...
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Universal/UIP cook up $8m German opening for Pie 2
Universal Pictures and its international distribution operation UIP have scored the biggest opening of the year in Germany with American Pie 2. The comedy sequel took an estimated $8m in its first three days this weekend on 900 screens.The movie opened 4% ahead of Pearl Harbor, 17% ahead of Hannibal, ...
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News
MGM moves Windtalkers from Nov to summer 2002
Just weeks before its scheduled release, MGM Distribution Company has moved its epic war movie Windtalkers from Nov 9 to June 14, 2002, to avoid any uncertainties that might affect the box office in the wake of the Sept 11 tragedy.Windtalkers is one of the biggest films to emerge from ...
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Word, Zoolander, Hearts revitalise US box office
Americans went back to the movies over the weekend as three new films opened well and box office was up 52% on last weekend and 26% up on the same weekend last year.20th Century Fox's psychological thriller Don't Say A Word, produced by New Regency Productions, was the box office ...
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Madstone taps veteran to spearhead exhibition push
Madstone Theaters, the US exhibition upstart that plans to create a new generation of art-house multiplexes equipped with digital projectors, has hired veteran film executiveJim Sheehan (pictured left) as its president.Previously president and chief operating officer of the Mann Theaters circuit and, most recently, MGM's vice president of sales administration,Sheehan ...
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Reviews
Dog Days (Hundstage)
Dir Ulrich Seidl. Austria 2001. 120 min. Dog Days, Austrian director Ulrich Seidl's astonishing feature directorial debut, is a dark, probing, truly disturbing exploration of angst, anomie, and alienation, as they manifest themselves in Vienna's upscale suburbs. Easily the most provocative movie in this year's Venice ...
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Reviews
Taxi Para Tres (A Cab For Three)
Dir: Orlando Lubbert. Chile. 2001. 90 mins. The unexpected winner of the Golden Shell for best film in San Sebastian, A Cab For Three (Taxi Para Tres), a black comedy about a taxi driver drawn into a life of crime, continues the festival's current preference for South and Central American ...
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San Sebastian's hope: next year's 50th anniversary
This year's San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 20-29) may well be remembered more for the promise of next year's high-profile anniversary event, as well as the unfortunate global circumstances which affected the 49th edition, than for the festival's own merits. Coming in the wake of the September 11 terrorist ...
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News
Mike Bassett: England Manager scores at home
Mike Bassett: England Manager, the first film to emerge from UK support body The Film Council's Premiere Fund, took a strong $1,226,745 (£830,000) from 263 screens in the UK this weekend.The football mockumentary with local TV comedy star Ricky Tomlinson narrowly beat another UK title, Enigma. The code-cracking adaptation with ...
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News
Dutch fest fetes low budget and tax scheme titles
The 21st edition of the Dutch Film Festival has ended with awards both for high profile tax scheme funded titles, and low-budget debuts. Holland's private investors can congratulate themselves on increasing budgets - and quality - for titles like the Frisian biopic Nynke, already a box office hit, and the ...
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News
France's Expand reports first half losses
French television production powerhouse Expand, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal, has announced a Euros 4.5m loss for the first half of 2001, compared to a Euros 1.8m net profit in the same period last year.Expand -- in which Vivendi Universal (through StudioCanal) upped its participation to a controlling 52.1% stake ...
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Figgis' Battle to premiere at London festival
Already in the London Film Festival programme with Hotel, the follow-up to his acclaimed digital picture Timecode, experimental UK film-maker Mike Figgis will also premiere his digital documentary The Battle Of Orgreave at the event, which runs Nov 7-22.The Battle Of Orgreave portrays a June 2001 re-enactment of the ...
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News
India announces anti-piracy measures
Indian Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sushma Swaraj has announced the formation of a six-member committee to regulate the showing of films on cable networks. She also committed to preventing the screening of pirated versions of films on Indian cable TV networks. The new committee comprises Indian filmmakers: Yash Chopra, ...
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Reviews
Mike Bassett: England Manager
Dir: Steve Barron. UK. 2001. 89 mins The British passion for football has never quite translated into an appetite for football films. When Saturday Comes (1995) failed to make much of an impression and A Shot At Glory (2000) is only just limping into a limited release two years after ...
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News
Nadia Bronson hires Castaneda, O'Dell, Alves
Nadia Bronson, the former international marketing and distribution chief at Universal Pictures, has named three key staff hires at her new company - Nadia Bronson Associates, a one-stop consultancy for international distribution, marketing, promotions and creative services. All three had worked with Bronson at Universal. They are: - Thomas ...
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News
Menemsha gets international rights to L.I.E.
Neil Friedman's Menemsha Entertainment has acquired rights outside North America to Michael Cuesta's L.I.E. which is currently on release in the US through Lot 47 Films. The film world premiered in competition at this year's Sundance Film Festival and was one of the most critically acclaimed titles at the festival. ...