Small MPU – Page 452
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News
Lord Of The Rings parody starts Swiss shoot
Shooting has begun this week in Switzerland on The Ring Thing, a Swiss parody of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, which will bereleased theatrically at Christmas in Switzerland by the local outpost of BuenaVista International (BVI).Speaking exclusively to Screendaily.com,Kristian Widmer of Condor Communications, which is producing the film with ...
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Japanese horror hit to get sequel
Kadokawa Pictures has announced the production of One Missed Call 2, a sequel to theTakashi Miike horror hit that grossed $13.6m in Japan earlier this year and hassince been screened in nearly 30 countries around the world.The new film, however, will have a new director, TV veteranRenpei Tsukamoto, and a ...
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UK Film Council celebrates p&a fund success
The UK Film Council isclaiming a success for the first year and a half of its p&a fund forspecialised films, unveiling figures showing that titles backed by the £1m fundhave grossed £15m at the box-office.The fund, which underwroterelease costs on such films as WhaleRider, Goodbye Lenin! and The StationAgent, has ...
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Freeman to be honoured in PGA's 3rd Celebration of Diversity
MorganFreeman will be among recipients of honorary awards at the Producers Guild ofAmerica's (PGA) third Annual Celebration of Diversity in Los Angeles onOct 7.Freeman'sexecutive producing credits include Along Came A Spider, Levity, and the in-production drama Colours Straight Up.Previoushonorees include Salma Hayek, John Singleton, Phil Roman, Ang Lee, DannyGlover, and ...
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NETHERLANDS: News In Brief
Endemol takes stake in Italy's PalomarEndemol Entertainment, soon to be acquired by Spanish multimedia giant Telefonica, is taking a controlling 51% stake in Italian film and TV producer Palomar. Endemol, which produces successful format Big Brother, already owns Italian sitcom producer Aran and has subsidiaries and joint ventures in 14 ...
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McDonald's adds heat to Super Size Me in UK
Super Size Me directorMorgan Spurlock says a series of national newspaper adverts taken out in the UK by fast food chain McDonald's in response to his filmare both "fantastic" and "laughable"McDonald's has taken out full pageads in The Times, The Guardian, TheIndependent, The Scotsman and TheHerald. The ads, said one ...
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Politics takes centre stage at Edinburgh
Politics - and specifically theimpact of September 11 - has emerged as one of the strong themes among theBritish films showing at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival (August 18-29).Kenny Glenaan's well received Yasmin, which tracks how the attack onthe World Trade Centre alters the world of a non-devout Muslim ...
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Bourne Supremacy holds well in UK, raises total to $11.2m
Universal'sthriller sequel The Bourne Supremacy added an estimated $5.2m on 698screens in five territories through UIP at the weekend for a $13.6minternational running total.The result was fuelled by a strong second weekend hold in the UK, where thepicture added $2.8m on 414 and dropped 35% for $11.2m. It remained secondbehind ...
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Exorcist rides horror train to the top
Warner Bros' ill-fatedhorror prequel Exorcist: The Beginning opened top at the weekend on anestimated $18.2m, exceeding expectations at the studio, which was so afraid ofa critical mauling it refused to schedule previews.The picture, whose chequeredproduction history entailed a re-shoot and three directors, stars StellanSkarsgard as a young Father Lankester Merrin ...
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Exorcist turns heads with so-so $18.2m debut
Warner Bros' ill-fatedhorror prequel Exorcist: The Beginning opened top at the weekend on anestimated $18.2m, exceeding expectations at the studio, which was so afraid ofa critical mauling it refused to schedule previews.The picture, whose chequeredproduction history entailed a re-shoot and three directors, stars StellanSkarsgard as a young Father Lankester Merrin ...
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New York Film Festival reveals line-up
Lodge Kerrigan's psychological drama Keane, about aschizophrenic father searching for his kidnapped girl, Zhang Yimou's epic HouseOf The Flying Daggers and David Gordon Green's thriller Undertow areamong the line-up at the 42nd New York Film Festival, which runsfrom Oct 1-17.As previously announced (Screendaily, Jul 16), Agnes Jaoui'srelationship drama Look At ...
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ROMANIA 23 August
Two new releases hit the Romanian cinemas last weekend bothperforming strongly despite summer sunshine and the Olympic games.Starsky And Hutchdebuted at the top of the pack with just over 4,500 admissions on six screens.But the real audience favourite was RaisingHelen with a screen average of over 1,000 admissions.
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AUSTRALIA 23 August
Besides Hellboyand The Ladykillers, three otheropeners registered in the chart. Roadshow's BeforeSunset (11th ) grossed A$166,871 from 24 screens, and Rialto's Coffee & Cigarettes (16th) grossedA$88,634 from just 11 screens. At A$6,952 and A$8,057 respectively, the screenaverages on both these films were the two highest in the chart apart from ...
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NEW ZEALAND 23 August
The top 20 films in New Zealand together sold less ticketson the weekend than any other top 20 group of films this year. Despite thislack-lustre result, the five most popular films grossed within NZ$10,000 ofeach other, intimating that it was a hard-fought race at the top.Two openers, JerseyGirl from BVI/Miramax ...
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The Nameless wins Brussels Golden Raven
Spanish title The Nameless, directed by Jaume Balaguero, was awarded the Golden Raven at the 18th Brussels Festival of Fantasy, Thriller and Science Fiction Films (March 17 - April 1). The prize includes $25,000 (BFr1m) towards the film's domestic or international promotion. The Nameless has previously picked up the European ...
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Reviews
Exorcist: The Beginning
Dir: RennyHarlin. 2004. USA. 114mins.A thunderousassault of visual and aural effects, including digitally rendered hyenas androiling sandstorms straight out of The Mummy, the long-gestating Exorcist:The Beginning is a colossal studio misfire that is less unprecedented forits erratic production history than for its capacity to rival notorious fiasco ExorcistII: The Heretic ...
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Video Island, ScreenSelect join forces
UKmail-order DVD rental firms Video Island and ScreenSelect are to merge,creating what they claim will be the clear leader in the emerging marketsector.Thecompany will be headed by Saul Klein, currently CEO of Video Island, whileWilliam Reeve and Alex Chesterman, founders of ScreenSelect, will take on theroles of Chief Operating Officer ...
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Reviews
The Purifiers
Dir/scr: Richard Jobson.UK. 2004. 85minsThere are some areas of the international market in whichBritish cinema cannot reasonably expect to compete. A meaty, martial artsthriller might be one of them. That hasn't stopped ambitious writer-directordirector Richard Jobson making a plucky attempt to create his own pulpyScottish version of a Hong Kong ...
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International buyers clamour for Lord Of War
Lord Of War,billed as one of the biggest independent features currently in production inthe world, has relocated to South Africa after two weeks of shooting in NewYork.Executive producer and Arclight Films managing director GaryHamilton says he has already sold the US$50m action thriller starring NicolasCage and Ethan Hawke into "virtually ...
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Media Asia IPO application investigated
Media Asia Group's proposed listing on theSingapore stock exchange has reportedly been put on hold as the MonetaryAuthority of Singapore (MAS) has requested further information about somemembers of the company's management team.One of Hong Kong's leading production anddistribution companies, Media Asia is planning to raise around US$10m from theIPO which ...