Small MPU – Page 653

  • News

    War of the Worlds reaches $113.2m in US

    2005-07-04T00:00:00Z

    War of the Worlds captured the top spot on the NorthAmerican box office chart for the July 4 Independence Day holiday weekend withan estimated gross for the four days from Friday to Monday of $77.6m from 3,908theatres, for a powerful per-theatre average of $19,857.Having opened on Wednesday, the Tom Cruise-Steven ...

  • News

    War of the Worlds reaches $113.2m in US

    2005-07-04T00:00:00Z

    War of the Worlds captured the top spot on the NorthAmerican box office chart for the July 4 Independence Day holiday weekend withan estimated gross for the four days from Friday to Monday of $77.6m from 3,908theatres, for a powerful per-theatre average of $19,857.Having opened on Wednesday, the Tom Cruise-Steven ...

  • News

    Technical problems...

    2005-07-04T09:40:00Z

    Due to technical errors, we were not able to bring you the full Screendaily service this morning. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

  • News

    UK box office dips after disappointing second quarter

    2005-07-05T10:15:00Z

    The one ray oflight for the European box office at the end of the first quarter, the UK, has also dimmedsignificantly.Up 13%year-on-year at the close of the first quarter, the UK was the toast of Europe,looking rosy for a potential record year. Now, however,second-quarter figures closed out last Thursday (June ...

  • Reviews

    The Descent

    2005-07-05T00:00:00Z

    Dir/scr: Neil Marshall.UK. 2005. 96mins.The Descent, Neil Marshall's follow-up to 2002 hit DogSoldiers, is superior British genre fare: unashamedly gory but handsomelycrafted and inventive too, and with some gallows humour to leaven the moreextreme moments. Marshall's influences are wide-ranging. He has pitched thefilm as 'Deliverance goes underground', but he seems ...

  • Reviews

    Seven Invisible Men

    2005-07-05T00:00:00Z

    Dir:Sharunas Bartas. Lith-Fr-Port. 2005. 119mins.Add to the seven invisible men of this film's title aninvisible plot and invisible characterisation. Sharunas Bartas, the darling ofcinema purists in the 1990s, here self-destructs, offering us a brilliantparody of an art film. Alas, this appears to have been unintentional. Thiscompletely impenetrable exercise will find ...

  • News

    Trio joins Helkon in European power play

    2000-05-15T16:16:00Z

    Helkon International Pictures (HIP) has unveiled its own network of distributor partners who will jointly release movies from Hollywood producers as well as originate its own big budget films that can be shot in Europe. The consortium marks a concerted attempt to help level the playing field with Hollywood, giving ...

  • News

    UK industry comes together to launch Film Academies

    2005-07-05T00:00:00Z

    Senior figures from the UKfilm industry, the government and the world of higher education attended aSkillset organised ceremony in London today (July 5) to launch a new network of screenacademies to train film-making talent.The network is made up ofseven existing institutions in England, Scotland and Wales. They include TheScreen Academy ...

  • News

    Broadcasters boost backing for Hong Kong film

    2005-07-05T00:00:00Z

    There was acollective sigh of relief in the Hong Kong film industry last week as the firstlocal release of the summer - Media Asia's drift racing drama Initial D -burnt rubber in five Asian territories, including an impressive haul of US$2.6min its first week in Hong Kong. The results seemto ...

  • News

    German industry intensifies call for 'local spend'

    2005-07-06T04:00:00Z

    Leadingfigures in the German film industry have called for the introduction of a"German spend" as a key element in any future legislation regulating taxincentives. The move, they say, will put Germany on a equal footing with itscompetitors in such countries as Hungary, Ireland and Luxembourg.At lastweek's media funds conference held ...

  • News

    European Film Academy launches new prize categories

    2005-07-05T00:00:00Z

    Achievements in film editingand production design will be recognised at the next European Film Awards to beheld in Berlin on December 3, 2005.The European Film Academy(EFA) has introduced two new prize categories for European Editor 2005 andEuropean Production Designer 2005 to add to the existing 15 award categories. The two ...

  • News

    Leading Canadian directors get Telefilm funding

    2005-07-06T04:00:00Z

    Montreal-base SevillePictures has the greenlight on a biographical drama about Canadian generalRomeo Dallaire, the commander at the helm of the bedeviled UN peace-keepingmission during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. The Canada-South Africa-UKcoproduction, to be directed by LA- and Montreal-based Yves Simoneau, is one oftwelve features to receive backing from Telefilm Canada ...

  • News

    Fox claims victory as first studio to cross $1bn in international

    2005-07-06T00:00:00Z

    20th Century FoxInternational has become the first studio to cross $1bn in internationalgrosses in the increasingly fierce race for grosses outside the US. As oftoday, the studio's international distribution arm reported $1.09bn in boxoffice returns so far in 2005.The films included in theachievement are Robots, theanimated movie which took $114m ...

  • News

    Spielberg's Mossad thriller to shoot in Malta, Hungary, US

    2005-07-06T00:00:00Z

    Steven Spielberg's untitledthriller set in the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre has begunshooting in Malta, with stints to come in Hungary and New York City beforepost-production and delivery in time for a Dec 23 release date in the US.The movie, scripted by TonyKushner, follows the secret Israeli squad ...

  • Reviews

    Samurai Commando Mission 1549 (Sengoku Jieitai 1549)

    2005-07-06T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Masaaki Tezuka.Japan. 2005. 119mins.A remake of Kosei Saito's1979 film about a military Self Defence Forces (SDF) unit that time travelsback to the days of the samurai, Samurai Commando: Mission 1549 hasalready attracted a flood of foreign rights offers for producer KadokawaPictures. Concluded deals totalled 31 at last count - ...

  • News

    Worldwide box office slumps in first six months of 2005

    2005-07-07T04:00:00Z

    Theworldwide box office has slumped dramatically in the first six months of theyear, according to latest figures from Nielsen EDI.TheNorth American and international box office was already performing poorlyaccording to first quarter figures. Updated figures for the first six monthsmake those first-quarter figures look positively rosy.Thenegligible 1% first-quarter deficit in ...

  • News

    Schnabel to direct Doll for Killer, Number 9

    2005-07-06T00:00:00Z

    ElizabethKarlsen's Number 9 Films has reteamed with Christine Vachon's Killer Films toproduce The Lonely Doll, which will be directed by Julian Schnabel (BeforeNight Falls, Basquiat).The film, writtenby Carl Lund, is based on the life story of Dare Wright, the beautiful andeccentric author and photographer of the best-selling Lonely Dollchildren's books.The ...

  • News

    Seagull flies with Independent Artists

    2000-05-15T16:17:00Z

    Los Angeles-based distributor and sales agent Independent Artists (IA) has signed a first-look deal with Spanish start-up The Seagull Productions (TSP). The initial five-year deal gives IA first-look for US distribution on all TSP productions, while TSP gets first-look as Spanish co-producer on IA films.The deal will include the first ...

  • News

    UK film-makers celebrate London Olympic win

    2005-07-06T00:00:00Z

    Film-makers Daryl Goodrichand Caroline Rowland of New Moon, an independent London-based commercialsproduction company, are celebrating after playing an important role in helpingsecure the 2012 Olympic Games for London.New Moon was responsible twokey films used by the London campaign: the official star-studded 'MakeBritain Proud - London 2012' film and the film ...

  • News

    Garcia wins prestigious French prize for directing

    2005-07-07T04:00:00Z

    Actress and filmmaker Nicole Garcia has been awarded the Francois-VictorNoury prize for her work as a director.The prize comes with a Euros 20,000 purse and is given by the film andtelevision department of France's Academy of Beaux Arts. Prizes are awardedeach year by the foundation in different areas of the ...