Small MPU – Page 580

  • News

    French protesters threaten daily disruption at Cannes

    2004-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Protestorsstormed the newsroom of leading Frenchpay-TV network Canal Plus on Thursday, forcing the channel to abandonits afternoon and evening news broadcasts.Theprotesters are the intermittents du spectacle - audiovisual workers includingactors, film directors, cameraman and other technicians, all of whom havetraditionally received financial support for a proportion of their periods ofunemployment ...

  • News

    BV horror quartet shoots for Hollywood Wizard

    2004-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Horror titles Preggers, Serpent's Kiss, Spider People and Doom Town are scheduled to begin production this summer in a joint venturebetween Kenneth Hall's Los Angeles-based production house B V Entertainment andTony Kandah's sales outfit Hollywood Wizard.Kandah will handle foreign sales on all four titles at Cannes,along with B Vús first ...

  • News

    Here come the global juggernauts

    2004-05-07T00:00:00Z

    This weekend, Universal's monsterfest Van Helsing will open day-and-date with the US in 40territories around the world, raising the curtain on what could become the mostlucrative summer season ever for the studios' international divisions.The sheer volume of heavy hitters lining up on the runways ismind-boggling with Van Helsing just one ...

  • News

    Bird flies to Yakin-scripted satanic ritual

    2004-05-07T04:00:00Z

    Raw Nerve, the production horror house affiliated with New York's GreeneStreet Films, has signed AntoniaBird to direct Abraham's Daughter, which is out to casting and scheduled to begin filming thissummer.Written by Raw Nerve principal Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt, Abraham'sDaughter centres on a recently widowedwoman whose recurring visions of murdered ...

  • News

    Publicity veteran Pflug lands at Universal Pictures

    2004-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Fresh from his one-yearstint at Miramax, industry veteran Paul Pflug has landed at Universal Pictureswhere he will serve as senior vice president of media relations and play a keyrole in boosting the company's corporate profile.In his new post Pflug willserve as the primary strategist for the company's external corporate andexecutive ...

  • News

    Lightning Entertainment picks up blues biopic Lightning In A Bottle

    2004-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Lightning Entertainment haspicked up international rights to Antoine Fuqua's blues documentary LightningIn A Bottle, which was executive produced by Martin Scorsese and will bereleased in the US through Sony Pictures Classics in October.The picture spotlights abenefit tribute concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall in February 2003featuring such luminaries ...

  • News

    ROMANIA 7 May

    2004-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Despite strong attempts from AlongCame Polly and Taking Lives, ThePassion of the Christ is stillstrongly holding its top position at the Romanian box office. The film tookover ten thousand admissions in the third week of its release and itscummulative admissions are now nearing the 120,000 mark.The only real threat the ...

  • News

    ROMANIA 7 May

    2004-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Despite strong attempts from AlongCame Polly and Taking Lives, ThePassion of the Christ is stillstrongly holding its top position at the Romanian box office. The film tookover ten thousand admissions in the third week of its release and itscummulative admissions are now nearing the 120,000 mark.The only real threat the ...

  • News

    ITALY 7 May

    2004-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Kill Bill Vol.2 shed almost half its earnings in Italy on its secondweekend, as it handed over the box office crown to Eagle Pictures' dance movie Honey, which grossed $1,125,234 from 262 screens for ascreen average of $4,295.BVI's earnings for Quentin Tarantino'saction movie fell a drastic 46%, as it registered ...

  • News

    GERMANY 7 May

    2004-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Columbia TriStar reignedsupreme at the German box office taking the top two positions with romanticcomedy 50 First Dates moving up topole position and the Johnny Depp starrer Secret Window coming in at number two with over $ 1.3m gross in itsfirst four days of release.Meanwhile, last week's numberone - Kill ...

  • News

    Artcam acquires Wenders title at Film Days

    2000-03-28T15:09:00Z

    Czech distributor Artcam Prague acquired rights for the Czech Republic to Wim Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club at this year's European Film Days held March 9-19 in Prague and March 20-29 in Brno.Wenders' Road Sales and French sales outfit Roissy-Celluloid are selling the film. Meanwhile Czech distributor Sunfilm, which specialises ...

  • News

    Worst year ever for European films in EU

    2004-05-10T04:00:00Z

    2003 was the worst year for the circulation of Europeanfilms within the EU on record, according to new figures from the EuropeanAudiovisual Observatory.Only 6.3% of admissions to European films were earned in EUcountries outside of their home markets - down from 9.9% last year.UK/US co-productions Johnny English and Love Actually ...

  • News

    Son Of The Bride director's latest to premiere at Valladolid

    2004-05-10T04:00:00Z

    Argentine director Juan Jose Campanella's Luna de Avellaneda (The Moon of Avellaneda) will open the 49th Valladolid International Film Festival on October 22.The move mirrors the career path taken by Campenella's last film, the Oscar-nominated Son of the Bride (El Hijo de La Novia), which won the festival's top prize ...

  • News

    Reding backs Europe wide Film Commission network

    2004-05-10T04:00:00Z

    Spanish-backed moves to set up a European Film CommissionNetwork have gained ground with news that European Commissioner for Culture,Viviane Reding, is backing the initiative.Now supported by Film Commissions from the UK, Ireland,Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Hungary, Portugal,Belgium, and Spain, the proposed Network would exchange information, sharetraining opportunities and ...

  • News

    Warners' Polar Express set for 3D release

    2004-05-10T04:00:00Z

    Warner Bros says it will release RobertZemeckis' The Polar Express inconventional cinemas and Imax 3D format day-and-date on Nov. 19 in NorthAmerica and in some international territories. It's the first majorHollywood release in the 3D format.Warner Bros would not confirm whichterritories it is considering. The company is the exclusive distributor ...

  • News

    Beckham drops out of Pink Panther

    2004-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Internationalsoccer star David Beckham will not be making his acting debut in MGM Pictures' ThePink Panther after all.Whatare described as "scheduling conflicts" have prevented the England captain andReal Madrid midfield superstar from making a much anticipated cameo in the filmas a soccer player, confirmed producer Robert Simonds on Friday.Thefilm, which ...

  • News

    French box office storms ahead in first quarter

    2004-05-10T04:00:00Z

    Admissions for the first four months of the year in Franceovertook those in the same period of 2003 by a thumping 16%.According to new data from the Centre Nationale de laCinematographie (CNC) admissions between January and April totalled 68 million,boosted by a heavyweight April, 43% better than the same month ...

  • News

    Metropolitan takes Stratus Hostage

    2004-05-10T04:00:00Z

    Metropolitan Filmexport has bought French distributionrights to Hostage, the BruceWillis-starring action thriller financed by Stratus Film Company.The film is directed by French national Florent Emilio Siri,who previously directed local-language action title The Nest (Nid De Guepes). Headed by Sami and Victor Hadida, Metropolitan is the largestindependent in France regularly handling ...

  • News

    Troy director lays siege to US foreign policy

    2004-05-10T04:00:00Z

    On the eve of the worldwide release of his $175 millionepic, Troy, German director WolfgangPetersen has waded into the dispute over current US foreign policy in Iraq bydrawing some provocative comparisons between the behaviour of Agamemnon, theGreek tyrant who launched the assault on Troy 3000 years ago, and contemporaryworld leaders."History ...

  • News

    Germany's Advanced buys leading inflight entertainment service

    2004-05-07T00:00:00Z

    German distributor-licencetrader Advanced Medien has acquired the former Kinowelt subsidiary Atlas AirFilm+Media Service and its wholly-owned US subsidiary Atlas Air EntertainmentConcepts, Inc., based in Los Angeles.The Atlas Air Group, which posted turnover of approximatelyEuro 20m in 2003 , is one of the world's leading providers of inflightentertainment services and currently ...