Small MPU – Page 440

  • News

    UK opening helps redeem King Arthur

    2004-08-03T00:00:00Z

    King Arthur raised its international running total by $11.3m to $31.9mthrough Buena Vista International (BVI) at the weekend, powered by a strongnumber one opening in the UK.Boasting three British leads in Clive Owen, KeiraKnightley and Ioan Gruffudd, the Arthurian legend grossed $3.5m from 400screens in the UK.It recorded several other ...

  • News

    GERMANY 3 August

    2004-08-03T00:00:00Z

    Although its takings slipped by 45% the scifi spoof (T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1 heldonto the top spot with over 1.1m admissions to reach a total gross of $31.9m(Euros 26.5m).After (T)Raumschiff'srecord-breaking opening, another record was broken this week, but this timewith the entry of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit9/11 at the No. ...

  • News

    FINLAND 3 August

    2004-08-03T00:00:00Z

    Addingone print in its second week, the new hit from producer Markus Selin anddirector Aleksi Makela, private eye thriller Vares, actually grossed 35%more this weekend taking Euros 204,298 compared to last week's Euros 151,496,and improved its screen average from Euros 3,787 to Euros 4,983.In itsopening week last week is muscled ...

  • News

    'Bully' tactics prevent film piracy

    2004-08-04T04:00:00Z

    Constantin Film andHerbX, distributor andproducer of Michael"Bully" Herbig's currentbox-office hit (T)Raumschiff Surprise- Periode 1,have struck ablow against filmpiracy.Constantin hasreported that a special anti-piracystrategy - developed with HerbX - hasso far prevented any piratedcopies of (T)Raumschiff beingproduced from originalsource material. "Thisshows that throughthe massive reductionand checking ofcontacts in thearea of productionand ...

  • News

    GREECE Production Listings - August 3 2004

    2004-08-03T00:00:00Z

    GREECE - August 4PRE-PRODUCTIONHERO IN ROME (ENAS IROASSTIN ROMI)(Greek Film Centre, Sound and Image Ltd) Co-prod: Bepe Toscies Film Production(Italy). Budget: Euros 850,000. Backer: ET1 Greek public TV. Int'l sales: theGreek Film Centre. Social comedy. A mid-aged Greek man, who has never traveledbefore and speaks no foreign language, wins a ...

  • News

    New Greek talent focuses on international market

    2004-08-04T04:00:00Z

    Veteran Greekdirector Theo Angelopoulos is probablythe only name internationallyrecognisable among his local peers. If the Greekfilm industry has any hope of making an impact in the internationalmarket this lies with a handful of new directors who have the means and thetalent required.Womanwriter/director Olga Malea is probably the most prominent among ...

  • News

    Marcos documentary a hit in the Philippines

    2004-08-04T04:00:00Z

    The controversialdocumentary film on former First Lady Imelda Marcos is doing good business inthe Philippines, raking in US$300,000 at the local box office after just twoweeks. The figure was very respectable for a documentary according toPhilippine distributor Unitel Productions.The 103-minute film, simplycalled Imelda, traces her rise from abeauty queen to ...

  • News

    French-German co-productions receive funding

    2004-08-04T04:00:00Z

    New features by Cedric Kahn, Bourlem Guerdjou, Pan Nalin andEmmanuelle Bercot have been awarded over Euros 1m by the Franco-German FundingCommittee as part of the "mini-treaty" co-production fund.The largest amount - Euros 300,000 - was granted by the GermanFederal Film Board (FFA) to Nalin's ValleyOf Flowers which is a German ...

  • News

    Paton named deputy chairman at DDA

    2004-08-04T04:00:00Z

    Well-known film publicist, Chris Paton has joined DennisDavidson Associates (DDA) as its deputy chairman.Paton left Premiere PR, where he was co-managing director,after Cannes this year. He joined Premiere three years ago when Corbett &Keene and the UK arm of Falco Ink, where he was co-managing director, wereacquired by David Willing's ...

  • News

    Momentum announces acquisitions, sales appointments

    2004-08-04T04:00:00Z

    UK distributor MomentumPictures has appointed Lara Thompson as head of acquisitions and Andy Leyshonas head of sales.Thompson has been with thecompany for four years, joining as PA to the MD and moving into acquisitionsunder Sally Caplan until her earlier departure this year."She has strongrelationships within the industry as well as ...

  • News

    Hou Hsiao-hsien named Asian Filmmaker of the Year

    2004-08-04T04:00:00Z

    The PusanInternational Film Festival (PIFF) has announced that Taiwanese filmmaker HouHsiao-hsien (City Of Sadness, MillenniumMambo) will be presented with its Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award.This is the secondtime that the festival has bestowed this honour, following the inaugural awardgiven to Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf last year. It recognises a ...

  • News

    Italy's Metacinema acquires three new titles

    2004-08-04T04:00:00Z

    Metacinema, Giovanni Tamberi's Italian production,distribution and communications outfit has picked up Italian rights to threenew films, including Venice Critics Week opener, P.S. I Love You.P.S. I Love You,which marks Dylan Kidd's follow-up to his award-winning debut Rodger Dodger, is a romantic comedyabout a 38-year-old New York woman who believes her ...

  • News

    UK/IRELAND 3 August

    2004-08-03T00:00:00Z

    Local legend KingArthur was crowned UK box office champion over the weekend.A largely British cast, led by Clive Owen and KeiraKnightley, star in Antoine Fuqua's drama which dethroned Spider-Man 2. The film grossed $3.5m (£1.9m) including previews,which accounted for $603,466 (£331,864) of the gross.Marketing featured Knightley most prominently given herrising-star ...

  • News

    Deschanel named HFF's cinematographer of the year

    2004-08-03T00:00:00Z

    Caleb Deschanel, the director of photography behind Mel Gibson'sbox office smash The Passion Of The Christ, will receive the Hollywood Cinematographer of the YearAward at the upcoming Hollywood Film Festival (Oct 12-18).Deschanel earned back-to-back Academy Award nominations in1984 and 1985 for The Right Stuff and TheNatural, and received further nominationsfor ...

  • News

    Turtle Crossing takes out Redford's Spin

    2004-08-04T00:00:00Z

    Spin,the prize-winning dramatic debut by Robert Redford's son James Redford, willembark on a limited domestic release beginning in Salt Lake City and Tucson onOct 15.The picture will be distributed through Mark Borde's SantaMonica-based Innovation Film Group, the theatrical releasing partner of SusanJackson's producers representative Turtles Crossing.The picture will receive its ...

  • News

    Toronto revamps Canadian presence

    2004-08-04T00:00:00Z

    Don McKellar's second feature Childstar will make its world premiere at the TorontoInternational Film Festival as the event announced its local programming andunveiled its inaugural Canadian competition line-up, Canada First!Also making their world premiere are Bruce McDonald's TheLove Crimes Of Gillian Guess, JerryCiccoritti's Blood, ElidaSchogt's Zero The Inside Story,Andre Forcier's ...

  • News

    Santa story gets bi-sexual twist

    2004-08-04T00:00:00Z

    Paul Colichman's pioneering gay and lesbian cable network here! TVhas begun production in Vancouver on separate gay and straight-themed versionsof the same Christmas family story.Too Cool For Christmas stars George Hamilton as a local Santa who teaches afashion-conscious teenager about the merits of spending the holidays with hertwo fathers, rather ...

  • News

    Pia to float to fund digital expansion

    2000-04-03T14:53:00Z

    Pia, a privately owned company that operates Japan's largest ticket agency, is planning an IPO by summer 2001 to finance development of a next-generation ticketing service that will relay customer orders via a digital network.Pia, which also publishes Japan's most widely-read weekly entertainment magazine and sponsors its largest and most ...

  • News

    ITALY 4 August

    2004-08-04T00:00:00Z

    On a devastatingly bad weekend at the Italian box office,Cinetel, which monitors around 80% of Italian screens, reported that earningsslumped a huge 48% compared to the previous week.There were no changes in the positions of the first ninefilms at the box office, and earnings for the top movies were meagre: ...

  • News

    Lucasfilm sets up Singapore animation studio

    2004-08-04T00:00:00Z

    Making its first foray intoAsia, US entertainment company Lucasfilm has set up Lucasfilm AnimationSingapore for the production of digital animated content including films.Through the Singapore outfitGeorge Lucas aims to combine Asian cinema with animation. 'We can create a newstyle of animation that will blend East and West and offer something ...