Small MPU – Page 664
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News
Gay Sex doc gets US deals with Wolfe, Sundance
Joe Lovett has signed a raftof distribution deals for his documentary Gay Sex In The 70's, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festivalearlier this year.The picture will open intheatres on Nov 4 through, followed by DVD/video release through Wolfe Video in2006 and a television premiere on the Sundance Channel in ...
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Optimum acquires UK rights to Focus pair
Independentdistributor Optimum Releasing has acquired all UK rights to Rian Johnson's Brickandpurchased UK rights to Jeff Wadlow's Cry Wolf from Focus Features. The deal is the first between Focus andOptimum. Brick was awarded the Special Jury Prize at this year'sSundance Film Festival and is the story of a ...
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News
Brazilian admissions plunge in first half of 2005
Cinema admissions in Brazildropped 26% in the first six months of 2005, according to figures released byFilme B, a local film company specialised in compiling theatrical statistics. The total number of ticketssold fell to 41.7 million compared to 56.3 million in the same period lastyear.Total sales amounted to$125m (R$304.1m), a ...
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News
Locarno adds two features to official competition
Irene Bignardiis pulling out all stops for her last outing as Locarno's artistic director byselecting another two films for the official competition and bestowing aLocarno Excellence Award on the US actress Susan Sarandon.The twolatecomers just confirmed for the International Competition are Canadian LouiseArchambault's feature debut Familia, which is described ...
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News
Chinese media giant takes stake in Oz film channel
ShanghaiOriental Pearl Group (OPG), owned by China's second largest media conglomerate,the Shanghai Media Group (SMG), is acquiring a stake in Australian TV channeloperator Pan TV, according to local press reports. OPG has signedan agreement to buy the stake but is still awaiting approval from Chineseregulators according to spokesman Hua Wei. ...
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News
Bay's Island looks for international rescue
As NorthAmerican figures broke over the weekend analysts were quick to label MichaelBay's The Island adisaster. Certainly it isthe director's first domestic flop, but observers largely failed to recognisethe film's strong start in international markets, which more and more oftenacts as a saviour these days. That will be oflittle consolation ...
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UK Film Council boss responds to 'unrealistic' Kuhn speech
UK FilmCouncil chief executive John Woodward has written a strongly worded letter toMichael Kuhn following the ex-Polygram Filmed Entertainment boss' speech to UKproducer's association, PACT. In his Mayspeech, titled 'UK Film Crisis And What Can Be Done', Kuhn argued that Britishproducers currently face the "bleakest prospects" since the mid-1980s.In ...
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News
Wong Kar-wai's Lady shoot moves back to autumn
Wong Kar-wai's upcoming ALady From Shanghai looks set to moveinto production in the early autumn instead of an originally projected startdate of July.StarNicole Kidman has reportedly re-confirmed her participation in the film whichwill shoot in Russia - most likely St Petersburg - and elsewhere in the west. The film is ...
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News
US studios, exhibitors united on digital cinema standard
Hollywood'svision for a brave new world took a step closer to reality yesterday as leadingstudio and exhibition representatives unveiled an industry standard governingdigital cinema rollout.The move comesmore than three years after studios and exhibitors formed the Digital CinemasInitiative (DCI), the umbrella group charged with devising a set of unanimoussystem requirements ...
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News
Stein named senior vp for Dimension at The Weinstein Co
Matthew Stein has been named senior vice president of productionfor Dimension Films at The Weinstein Company.Stein will continue to work at Miramax in his current position asvice president of production for Dimension until Sept 30, after which time hewill assume his new full-time role at The Weinstein Company.Based in New ...
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News
Amritraj and Hyde Park seal five-year overall deal with Fox
Ashok Amritraj's Hyde ParkEntertainment has signed a five-year, first-look production and distributiondeal with 20th Century Fox which incorporates co-financing, production anddistribution and includes a number of put pictures.Fox will handle domestic distribution on all films under the deal,with Hyde Park retaining international rights and selling them through HydePark International under ...
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CANNES DEALS ROUND-UP
Germany's Senator Film has become the first international distributor to sign up to the highly anticipated package of studio-level films being put together by former Disney chief Joe Roth. The five-year deal initially gives Senator all media rights in all German-speaking territories. It is promised a minimum of six films ...
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News
NBC Universal keeps mum on DreamWorks acquisition report
Studio sources have declined to comment on yesterday's report thatNBC Universal is in talks to acquire live-action unit DreamWorks SKG.According to the New York Post the studios were in the earlystages of talks but a deal was not imminent.DreamWorks SKG issued a statement in which it said any commentsabout a ...
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Reviews
Sky High
Dir: Mike Mitchell. US2005. 90mins.Withmore than a passing nod towards Harry Potter, Spy Kids, TheIncredibles and X-Men, new superhero feature Sky High is setin a school for kids who are just coming into their paranormal powers - as ifteenage angst was not enough already.Given its mild, frequentlycorny, humour and the ...
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News
German politicians eye UK sale and leaseback model
The UK sale and leasebackmodel has been identified as an incentive to emulate by Germany's FreeDemocrats (FDP) who could become the junior partner in a new administrationunder the CDU/CSU's Angela Merkel after September's general election.Launching itselection manifesto, the FDP stated that there was a need for "innovativemodels which, alongside state ...
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MDC falls in love with Max Hansen Story
MDC International has picked upinternational distribution rights for Douglas Wolfsperger'shistorical documentary The Max HansenStory - Did You Ever Fall In Love With Me' (War'n Sie SchonMal In Mich Verliebt')which will have its world premiere in the Critics Week sidebar at next week's Locarno International Film Festival (August 3-13, 2005).The co-production ...
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News
Tartan Films in Great Ecstasy for Clay debut
Indiedistributor Tartan Films has acquired UK rights from Wild Bunch to ThomasClay's controversial Cannes Critics Week entry, The Great Ecstasy of RobertCarmichael. The feature,which is 25 year old Clay's directorial debut, stars newcomers Dan Spencer,Ryan Winsley and Charles Mnene alongside established talents Danny Dyer (HumanTraffic, The Football Factory) and Lesley ...
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Hrebejk embarks on Beauty shoot at Barrandov
Leading Czech director JanHrebejk has begun shooting his new feature, Beauty in Trouble, at Barrandov Studios. The film is produced byTotal HelpArt and Czech Television in cooperation with Barrandov Studios andHBO. Beauty in Trouble is expected to be another in a string of criticaland commercial successes for Hrebejk and Total ...
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Venice unveils full competition line-up
The Venice FilmFestival (August 31-Sep 10) has unveiled its streamlined line-up, whichfeatures a record nine US world premieres, as well as an eclectic mix of HighDefinition titles, documentaries and pictures from celebrated internationalfilm-makers.The main competitionincludes George Clooney's Goodnight and Good Luck, starring Clooney, Jeff Daniels and Robert DowneyJr, Abel Ferrara's ...
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Copenhagen selects ten Euro films for competition
The third Copenhagen International Film Festival (Aug18-28) has unveiled a ten strong line-up of European films for its maincompetition. Danish cinema is represented by by Murk, Jannik Johansen's thrillerfollow up to his caper comedy Rembrandt. German director Andreas Dresen follows up his festivalhit Grill Point with Willenbrock, the story of ...