Small MPU – Page 593
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News
Osher named COO at Columbia Pictures
Industry veteran Bob Osher has been named chief operatingofficer of the Columbia Pictures Motion Picture Group and began working at thestudio's Culver City-based lot yesterday (17).Osher's dutiesincludeoverseeing business affairs and physical production for the studioand he will report to Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Amy Pascal, workingalongside co-presidents of production Doug ...
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Van Helsing bearing down on $100m international
Official figures released yesterday (17) confirm Universal's VanHelsing grossed $24.5m on 5,121 screens in 41 territories in its secondweekend for a $95m industry running total.The picture added $23m from 4,876 screens in 38 UIP territoriesfor an $88.9m UIP total, while Russia, the Philippines and Iceland amassed$1.5m from 245 through third ...
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News
Initiative awards six completion grants
US-basedcharitable foundation Global Film Initiative has awarded six $10,000 completiongrants to film-makers from the developing world to be used with finishingproduction and post-production costs.The titles are: Manuel Niero Zas' story of a young man building ahouse in The Dog Pound (Uruguay), Albertina Carri's tale of anincestuous affair between siblings in ...
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Canadian film and video industry hits record
Canada's film and video industry saw a record-high $2.36bn(C$3.3bn) in revenues domestically and internationally in 2002-2003, up 8% fromthe year previous.According to numbers released by Statistics Canada, distributorssold a record $1.14bn (C$1.6bn) in DVD and video cassettes while the nation'scinema circuits saw a near 15% rise in revenues, reaching $331.2m ...
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Reviews
Bad Santa
Dir: Terry Zwigoff. US.2003. 91mins.With little advancepublicity, Bad Santa breezed intoNorth American theatres last Christmas like a breath of fresh air. Into a genreof films - the Christmas movie - traditionally dominated by sweetness andschmaltz (see The Santa Clause, Elf et al), Terry Zwigoff'sR-rated comedy injected a dose of profanity ...
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Reviews
Fahrenheit 911
Dir/scr: Michael Moore.US. 2004. 112minsA generation ago, thedogged, unwavering efforts of investigative journalists Bob Woodward and CarlBernstein helped to dislodge a president from power. Times change but couldhistory repeat itself with Fahrenheit 911' Probably not, but MichaelMoore's blistering documentary offers such a comprehensive assault on thefailings, lies and deceptions of ...
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FINLAND 18 May
As expected the all-star monster get-together Van Helsingcouldn't hold the fort against Wolfgang Petersen's boys in skirts Troyepic, which had a massive 62 prints and a solid Euros 4,255 screen average.However, the most impressive screen average was The GirlWith The Pearl Earring's Euros 8,857 on just one print, which moved ...
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News
Intractor appointed Imax Enterprises president
Imax Corporation has appointed Richard Intrator to the newly created position of president, Imax Enterprises and executive vice president, Imax Ltd. New York-based Imax Ltd handles the administrative side of the giant-screen company's business. Imax Enterprises, a new subsidiary, will be devoted to new business development. Intractor was ...
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DENMARK 18 May
Nothing changed at the top of the Danish box-office chartthis week as none of the new releases had a chance of challenging the rule ofStephen Sommers' all-star monster get-together Van Helsing - despite the fact that it dropped 54% and had aadmission screen average as low as 236.But neither House ...
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UK/IRELAND 18 May
UIP's Van Helsingheld on to the top spot in the UK and Ireland over the weekend, in the absenceof any tough competition.The film grossed a further £2.4m between Friday and Sundaygiving it a cumulative gross of £9.6m so far.However, Troy's £89,286 from its single screenplatform in London's West End, indicates ...
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News
UK Film Council eyes up Loach
Is the UK Film Council rediscovering the auteur bug'Earlier this week, the UK public funding body announced itwould be pumping $483,000 into The PianoTuner Of Earthquakes, the new feature from animators The Quay Brothers.Now, sources at Cannes suggest that the UK Film Council is "desperate" tosupport British director Ken Loach ...
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Thomas team take off with IRA samurai story
Asamurai-inspired story about an unemployed IRA hitman is set to be the nextproduction from May Miles Thomas and Owen Thomas, the director-producer teambehind market title Solid Air and theacclaimed One Life Stand.The digitalfilmmaking couple are putting the finishing touches to a script titled Tokushika, a Takeshi Kitano or JimJarmusch-inspired tale ...
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News
Carlsen ready to Jump again
Danishfilmmaking veteran Henning Carlsen gets back behind the camera on May 28 whenhe starts shooting his new film Spinget(literally: The Jump), his first film since 1998.The77 year-old writer-director's film follows an average 42 year old married manwho gets the rug pulled under him when he is told that he suffers ...
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News
Spain's Arcadia turns to English language
New Barcelona-basedproduction outfit Arcadia Pictures, in the market with the recently-completedEuros 3 million The Birthday, hasannounced two new English-language pictures to shoot in 2005 and 2006.Following the business modelperfected by Dolores Pictures, producers of Luna's Stranded and Whore!,Arcadia plans to finance the two new projects through pre-sales atinternational markets. The ...
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News
Optimum takes Tube's Aachi for UK
Optimum Releasing has picked up UK rights for Aachi & Ssipak, a BeavisAnd Butthead-style Korean animated feature about a futuristic world poweredby human feces. Represented by TubeEntertainment, the film has also been pre-sold to AB Films for Italy andProopitiki for Greece, and negotiations are underway with two major USstudios.In addition, ...
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Lusomundo swallows up Filmax slate
Filmax International hassold all rights in Portugal to their entire library of titles at Cannes toLusomundo Audiovisuals, plus newupcoming films Fragile, Captain Trueno,The Machinist (with Christian Baleand Jennifer Jason Leigh) and the three in-production animation titles Donkey-Xote,Pinnochio 3000 and Nocturna.The deal involves a morethan a hundred titles and includes current ...
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News
Monster sales for Film Transit's Metallica
Films Transit is reporting strong buyer interest in documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, inspite of the fact that world DVD rights to the feature have already been soldto Paramount Home Entertainment.Since its premiere at Berlin, theatrical rights for the film have beensold to the UK (Tartan), Australia (Dendy), Canada ...
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News
Salles to tackle football-themed film
Walter Salles,whose Motorcycle Diaries screens incompetition in Cannes today, is to make a low budget football-themed film forDonald K. Ranvaud's new production and sales collective, Buena Onda.Salles willco-direct with Daniela Thomas with whom he made Foreign Land. The film, set in Sao Paolo, will tell of four youngbrothers from an ...
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News
2046 too late for the press
The officialCannes press screening for Wong Kar-wai's competition entry 2046tomorrow morning at 8.30 am has been cancelled, Palais officials have confirmed.While WongKar-wai has always had a close-to-the-wire relationship with Cannes deadlines,"only a miracle will save the 8.30am screening now," said a source close to theproduction yesterday. The problem has arisen ...
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Brando returns - as himself
Shooting is due to startthis summer in LA for the 5.5m Brando And Brando, producer Norma Heyman(Dangerous Liaisons) ofHeyman-Hoskins Productions confirmedyesterday.The movie, to be directed byTunisia's Ridha Behi from his own script, is about a young boy who comes to theUS in search of the American dream - Brando. "It's ...