Small MPU – Page 456
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Denmark selects Obstructions as Oscar choice
Lars von Trier and Joergen Leth's provocative andplayful experimental documentary The Five Obstructions has been selected as Denmark's official Oscarcandidate for best foreign language film category.The film had its world premiere in Venice last year and hassince won acclaim across the world, screening in Toronto, Amsterdam andSundance among others. Two ...
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New Yorker takes My Eyes for US
Spanish sales house Sogepaq has closed a deal with NewYorker Films for US distribution of award-winning local drama Take My Eyes.New Yorker is expected to premiere the film in 2005. The USwas the last of the major territories to sell excluding Germany, which Sogepaqsays it is near to closing.Take My ...
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Leigh's Vera Drake to open London Film Festival
Mike Leigh's Vera Drake has been named as the opening night film for The Times bfi 48th London Film Festival on October 20.David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees will close the festival on November 4.The Opening Night Gala will be the UK premiere ofLeigh's Vera Drake, which starsImelda Staunton and ...
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Fox, UGC to end French distribution partnership
Twentieth Century Fox and UGC are ending their French theatricaljoint distribution venture UGC Fox Distribution (UFD) and will launch separatedistribution operations in the territory at the start of 2005.In a joint statement, the companies attributed the end to volumeand shifting conditions in the French marketplace."With the number of titles UGC ...
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ThinkFilm, New Line Home Entertainment sign US video deal
Independent distributor ThinkFilm has signed a US videodistribution deal with New Line Home Entertainment.Among the first titles to be released on DVD and VHS under the newpartnership will be Stephen Fry's British period drama Bright Young Thingsand Bayambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni's German-Mongolian documentary TheStory Of The Weeping Camel.Though the ...
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Evergreen gets AMC digital roll-out
Under what the parties involved describe as a "unique partnership",independent US feature Evergreen will be digitally distributed to 115AMC theatres in 27 major US markets.The family drama, written and directed by newcomer Enid Zentelis,will premiere on Sept 10, being presented digitally using AMC's proprietaryDigital Theatre Distribution System (DTDS).The system eliminates ...
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Indie icon Smith readies The Passion Of The Clerks
Ten years after he burst onto the US indie scene with Clerks,filmmaker Kevin Smith has decided to make a sequel to the now almost legendaryno-budget comedy. Smith will direct The Passion Of The Clerks from hisown screenplay, with principal photography set to begin next January andMiramax set to distribute.Brian O'Halloran ...
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Universal's Bourne is supreme in Australia with $3.4m debut
Universal's spy sequel The Bourne Supremacy scoredthe studio's biggest international debut of the year at the weekend as itopened top in Australia on an estimated $3.4m on 231 screens.The mighty launch through UIP took 52% market share and wasUniversal's sixth biggest ever opening in the territory, grossing 117% more inUS$ ...
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Love rules in Edinburgh
Pawel Pawlikowski's My Summer Of Love was named as the winner of the Michael Powell Awardfor Best British Film on the closing day (August 29) of this year'sEdinburgh International Film Festival.His intense evocation of the fleeting relationship between twolonely teenage girls saw off competition from the likes of Ae Fond ...
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Russian Granny wins top Copenhagen prize
Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami and Hungarian newcomerNimrod Antal might have taken most of the applause at the closing ceremony forthe second Copenhagen International Film Festival, but it was LidijaBobrova's Russian feature debut The Granny which scooped most of the awards.The film took the Golden Swan for best film, best screenplayand ...
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Local features generate buzz as Haugesund wraps
The Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund endedits 32nd edition with two awards nights in a row on. On Thursday(August 26) it held the festival prizes, and on Friday (August 27) night dishedout the Norwegian film and TV awards, the Amandas.At the festival's closing ceremony, Erik Poppe's new localdrama Hawaii, ...
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Anacondas grips India with mighty $1m launch for CTFDI
Sony's action sequel Anacondas scored a huge resultin India at the weekend as Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International(CTFDI) released it day-and-date with the US in several markets.Anacondas opened number one in thesub-continent on an estimated $1m on 275 prints to record the fifth biggestdebut by a Hollywood release in the ...
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Terra Firma acquires 35% of UK cinema market
The UK cinema sector witnessed its biggest shake-up for over a decade on Friday when private equity firm Terra Firma acquired both the Odeon and UCI circuits in one fell swoop.The resulting estate, valued at approximately £580m and which is estimated to represent 35% of the UK's box office revenues, ...
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Hero scores record debut for Asian picture in Hollywood
After a considerable delay, Miramax released Zhang Yimou'smartial arts epic Hero in the US and it was easily the highlight of asluggish weekend, opening top and setting a record for an Asian picture on anestimated $17.8m.The picture, which stars Jet Li as a nameless fighter inthird century China, earned great ...
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Hero dominates lacklustre weekend at US box office
After a considerable delay, Miramax released Zhang Yimou'smartial arts epic Hero in the US and it was easily the highlight of asluggish weekend, opening top and setting a record for an Asian picture on anestimated $17.8m.The picture, which stars Jet Li as a nameless fighter inthird century China, earned great ...
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ROMANIA 30 August
Shrek 2. managedto succeed in what many films failed in previously, namely to lure Romanianaudiences back into the cinemas. The film which was released on seven prints bydistributor RO-Image 2000 opened with over 11,000 admissions, a rarely seenstrong performance at the Romanian cinemas. It is also likely to hold onto ...
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HONG KONG 30 August
Mei AhEntertainment's Hidden Heroes toppedthe Hong Kong box office in a competitive week in which five new films werereleased.The Joe Ma comedygrossed US$664,868 from 36 screens narrowly beating Fox's Garfield The Movie to the top spot. The film stars Ronald Cheng asa policeman who becomes entangled with a robot from ...
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Starsky & Hutch scores strong Italian debut
Miramax's Starsky & Hutch launched in its final international market of Italyat the weekend, opening top on an impressive $2.3m including previews through BuenaVista International (BVI).Miramax International executives originally had exhibitorsupport to release the police caper in June, but decided against such a movewhile the Euro 2004 football championships were ...
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Garfield is top cat for Fox Int'l, raises total to $65m
Fox International's Garfield was the number one international picture at theweekend, clawing in $9.7m on 3,360 screens to elevate its running total to$65m.Highlights were $932,000 on184 screens in Russia for an unconfirmed ranking, an excellent $418,000 on 63in Norway for an unconfirmed ranking, and a number one $440,000 debut inHungary ...
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House Of The Flying Daggers scores mighty Japanese debut
Warner Entertainment Japanopened Zhang Yimou's epic Lovers (aka House Of The Flying Daggers) in top spot in Japan at the weekend on an excellent estimated $3.6m on 361screens.Elsewhere Catwoman grossed an estimated $2.3m on 1,986 screens in 21 territories through Warner Bros Int'l at the weekend, raising its international running ...