Small MPU – Page 581
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News
Douglas, Dunaway to attend first Las Palmas fest
The autonomous governments of Spain's Canary Islands and its capital Las Palmas have launched the International Film Festival of Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island. The first annual edition of the festival, which is co-sponsored by Canal Plus, will be held April 8-16.Kirk Douglas, Kristen Scott Thomas and Faye Dunaway are ...
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News
Summit steps into The Dark, offers The Alibi
Independent sales, financingand production powerhouse Summit Entertainment has added two new pictures toits Cannes lineup - The Dark, thelatest horror movie to emerge from Paul Anderson and Jeremy Bolt's ImpactPictures via its financing deal with Constantin Film and The Alibi, a contemporary thriller, which Summit isco-financing and co-producing with Jim ...
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News
Emmerich goes from global disaster to Shakespeare drama
Roland Emmerich, the Germanfilm-maker behind popcorn blockbusters such as Independence Day, Godzilla and the upcoming The Day After Tomorrow, will take a major change in direction with his nextpicture The Soul Of The Age, anintense 16th century drama about the question of the authorship ofShakespeare.Emmerich is scoutinglocations in the UK ...
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Herwitz takes on Un Certain Regard thriller Kontroll, four others
Andrew Herwitz of New York-basedThe Film Sales Company has picked up worldwide rights to five films forrepresentation during Cannes led by Hungarian thriller Kontroll from US-born director Nimrod Antal which has been abig local hit and is screening in Un Certain Regard.Herwitz has also beenhandling three films which premiered at ...
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News
Cannes says strikers will not derail festival
The Cannes Film Festival will not be derailed by a rowbetween the French government and showbiz workers protesting changes tounemployment benefits, organisers said on Sunday.The departure of a number film reels for Cannes was delayedfor several hours at the weekend after a hundred protesters blockaded the Pariswarehouse where they were ...
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News
Kinowelt eyes up insolvent Senator
Despite having to answer claims of embezzlement, delayingthe filing of insolvency, and bankruptcy in Munich's District Court sincemid-April, Kinowelt's Michael Koelmel is apparently still in a buying mood.In an interview with the Dresden-based newspaper SaechsischeZeitung, he indicated that the revamped Kinowelt has a "seriousinterest" in a takeover of the insolvent ...
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HONG KONG 9 May
Gangster thriller JiangHu dominated the Hong Kong box officethis week grossing US$1.15m in seven days from 51 screens. The star-studdedfilm took almost four times the tally of its nearest competitor, Kill Bill 2, which opened with US$288,786 from 25 screens.Directed by newcomer Wong Ching Po, Jiang Hu is a stylish ...
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SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO 9 May
After having changed itstitle from Civil Life (Civilni Zivot) to Fall Into Paradise! (Pad U Raj) just a couple of days before its premiere, Milos Radovic'ssecond feature kept the pole position at the Serbian-Montenegrin chart.The story of a Serbian blackmarket king who shoots down an American plane with a rocket ...
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News
Van Helsing opens summer with record weekend for Universal, UIP
The summer has begun. Universal's Van Helsingscored a record-breaking $53m on 5,000 screens in 41 countries at the weekend,dominating the market and ushering in what is shaping up to be a monsterinternational season for the studios.It was Universal and UIP's biggest opening weekend ofall time, beating director Stephen Sommers' The ...
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News
Van Helsing opens the summer on $54.2m weekend
After months of hype thesummer season got underway in fine style over the weekend as Universal's VanHelsing opened top on an estimated $54.2m, brushing aside the Olsen twinstheatrical lead debut New York Minute, which flopped in fourth on$6.2m.Despite a slew of scathingreviews the $160m monster mash averaged a magnificent $15,165 ...
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News
The Notebook, Intimate Strangers bookend Seattle
Nick Cassavetes' romance The Notebook starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams will openthe 30th SeattleInternational Film Festival and Patrice Leconte'sromantic thriller Intimate Strangers starring Sandrine Bonnaire andFabrice Luchini closes the event, which runs from May 20-Jun 13 and boasts 10 world premieres.All in all 224 features and 84 shorts from ...
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News
Shoreline snaps up Dunsmore and Now And Forever
Shoreline Entertainment has acquired Peter Spirer's mystery Dunsmoreand Bob Clark's interracial love story Now And Forever and will bringthe titles to Cannes under its expanding Watermark banner.Dunsmore centres on a small Florida town where the residents aretormented by a deeply repellent individual. However an investigation revealswide pools of guilt that ...
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News
Lane, Endeavor settle with Intermedia over Me Again suit
Actress Diane Lane hasreached an agreement with Intermedia to settle the lawsuit that she broughtagainst the company last year over a pay-or-play deal to star in the film MeAgain.Nodetails were revealed in the settlement, but Lane's agency Endeavor, which hadrefused to work with Intermedia until the deal was settled, has ...
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News
FRANCE 10 May
French films lead the box office this week taking three ofthe top five spots. Last week's number 2, Mariages! jumped to number 1selling another half a million tickets its second week in release.What's turning out to be a sentimental blockbuster, LesChoristes, has taken over $30m in its first seven weeks ...
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AUSTRALIA 10 May
Van Helsing sold more tickets on its opening weekendthan any other film released so far this year in Australia. It grossedA$4,596,027 from a whopping 338 screens for UIP. This was nearly six times morethan the second placed, Gothika, while its screen average, at A$13,597,was more than A$3,000 ahead of every ...
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ITALY 10 May
As the end of Italy's eight-month box office seasonapproaches, distributors unleashed a massive seven new releases last weekend.UIP's monster movie Van Helsing opened with a bang atnumber one at the Italian box office, grossing $3,554,207 from 439 screens foran astounding average of $8,096 per screen.However, none of the other new ...
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Reviews
Mean Girls
Dir: Mark Waters. US.2004. 97 mins.A cut above the low-cost teenage movies churned out of Hollywood studiosthese days, Mean Girls is a smart comedy with an acerbic edge which hasalready found a wide audience in North America, taking more than $42m after twoweeks on release, and should carve out a ...
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News
Serbia launches film industry rescue scheme
In abid to stem the decline of the local film industry, the creation of the FilmCenter of Serbia was announced last week. "Serbian cinema is on its death bed,but this is not a funeral. This the celebration for the opening of its new ER",said Djordje Milicevic, founder and president of ...
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News
HONG KONG Production Listings - May 11
HONG KONG - MAY 10PRE-PRODUCTIONABNORMAL BEAUTY(Magic Head Film Production) Budget: US$2m.Backers: Universe Entertainment. Int'l sales: Universe Films Distribution.Genre: Thriller. Synopsis: A photography student becomes obsessed with the ideaof taking pictures at the moment of death. She attracts the attention of apsychotic killer who finds her unusual behaviour interesting. Exec prod: ...
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News
New talent invigorates Hong Kong production
Now that local films areincreasing their share of the Hong Kong box office, there are several signs ofrenewed vigour in the domestic production industry. Budgets are getting bigger,investors are becoming more adventurous and the range of films on offer isbecoming increasingly diverse.But the most encouragingdevelopment is the influx of new ...