Small MPU – Page 701
-
News
Marjane Satrapi: drawing on the past
Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-born film-maker of Persepolis, tells Antonia Carver why she hopes it will be seen as a film that just happens to be animated. Following the success of her graphic novels, Marjane Satrapi received enquiries from several US studios. 'One wanted to make a kind of Beverly Hills ...
-
News
Fatih Akin: stairway to heaven
Expectations were high for German director Fatih Akin's follow-up to arthouse hit Head-On. So were they met' Martin Blaney reports. Fatih Akin is a relieved man. He has got the difficult follow-up film out of the way. Head-On won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2003 and was an arthouse ...
-
News
Jamie Morgan: the explorer
Wendy Mitchell meets Jamie Morgan, a first-time documentary film-maker who created a stir in Tribeca with his provocative and personal documentary, The Workshop. Documentary film-maker Jamie Morgan set out on a personal spiritual quest and ended up with a legal battle hours before the world premiere of his film at ...
-
News
The big cinema squeeze
European exhibition has seen an influx of private equity in recent years. But can more profits be squeezed out of Europe's saturated cinema market, asks Richard Brass. Navigate links (right) to see the state of play in leading territories. When Cineworld floated on the London Stock Exchange at the end ...
-
News
IN THE HOT SEAT - ROBERT JONES
The Film Council's new head of commercial production, Robert Jones, has a heavy burden to bear. If he fails to generate a flow of hit mainstream films the whole of the UK government's recently revamped film support strategy could be in jeopardy. Adam Minns asks if he has what it ...
-
News
Cine Expo talking point: alternative means
Exhibitors struggle to find alternative revenue streams, reports Richard Brass.For exhibitors it is the holy grail: how to maximise the use of all that expensive real estate by getting paying customers through the doors at off-peak times.However, despite regular announcements of its imminent expansion, using cinemas for anything other than ...
-
News
Exhibition: clean windows
Calm is restored after the furore over release windows, but the issue remains a live one. Richard Brass reports. Tensions have been running high between exhibitors and distributors over narrowing theatrical and DVD release windows, but for now the storm has abated.Earlier this year, Twentieth Century Fox attempted to release ...
-
News
German exhibition: uneasy riders
Germany's rocky ride continues as the 2007 box office looks set to stall, writes Martin Blaney. Germany's cinema fortunes were revived in 2006 after a poor 2005, with a year-on-year increase in box-office takings of 9.6%, and admissions rising by 7.9%. But exhibitors have had little to cheer in the ...
-
News
UK exhibition: rule Britannia
UK exhibitors anticipate a record-breaking performance this year, but still await digital rollout, writes Diana Lodderhose. The UK box office has seen a healthy start to the year, with takings up 7% in the first five months compared to the same period in 2006, generating $661.9m (£332.1m).February and March were ...
-
News
French exhibition: Hollywood makes a play
France's dominance of the local market looks set to be replaced by Hollywood this summer. Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte reports. While the box office for the first five months of 2007 shows a 12.6% decrease compared to last year, exhibitors are nonetheless optimistic. Last year's early numbers were blurred by the mega-hit ...
-
News
Spanish exhibition: negative impact
Claire Wallerstein reports on the country's drop in admissions and negative impact of the new film law. Spain has the most screens per capita worldwide outside the US, and yet admissions reached only 121 million for 2006 - the lowest since 1998.Revenue increased just 0.2% year on year, to $856.6m ...
-
News
Italian exhibition: hot shots
With distributors now braving the Italian mid-summer, Italy's box-office prospects are heating up. Sheri Jennings reports. The Italian exhibition sector is looking strong, with a 23% year-on-year increase in box-office revenue for the first quarter, and an impressive slate of summer blockbusters still to come.May ushered in Spider-Man 3 and ...
-
News
When LUFF comes to town
Cementing its place in the international calendar, the London UK Film Focus (June 25-28) is attracting influential buyers and a growing number of premieres. Geoffrey Macnab reports. Four years after its inception, the London UK Film Focus (Luff) is now an established part of the calendar. UK sales agents are ...
-
News
Critical opinion: the people's choice
When critics bemoan the state of Hollywood movies, they are also implicitly - and unfairly - criticising the film-going public who flock to see them, says Lee MarshallThe back-to-back releases of Spider-Man 3, Shrek The Third and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End have generated a spate of op-eds ...
-
Reviews
There's Only One Jimmy Grimble
Dir: John Hay. UK. 2000. 105 mins.Prod co: Sarah Radclyffe Productions, Impact Films. Co-prods: Arts Council, Le Studio Canal Plus. Domestic dist: Pathe. Int'l Sales: Pathe (001 310 247 4747). Exec prods: Alexis Lloyd, Andrea Calderwood, Bill Godfrey. Prods: Sarah Radclyffe, Jeremy Bolt, Alison Jackson. Scr: Simon Mayle, Hay, Rik ...
-
News
Box-office: undiscovered territory
Current measures of the international market fail to include more than a sixth of the world's population, says Len KladyThere was an odd popular culture annotation to the story of British seamen held captive in Iran, which was this week the subject of a major inquiry in the UK. One ...
-
News
Pirates' ship gets Shrek'd
Good things come in threes, as Shrek The Third knocked Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End off the top spot this weekend. The royal ogre grossed $46.6m over the three-day period - an 86% increase after expanding to an additional 11 territories.Pirates held on strongly to second place, generating ...
-
News
Byrne to head GE and NBC's $250m Peacock Equity Fund
GE Commercial Finance's Media, Communications & Entertainment business and NBC Universal have appointed Thomas M. Byrne, 40, as managing director of the $250m Peacock Equity Fund. Megumi Ikeda, 37, has been named as London-based executive director, reporting to Byrne. Peacock Equity, a joint venture between GE and NBC Universal, invests ...
-
News
Hamed to direct Chicago from Yacoubian author Alaa-Al-Aswani
Egyptian director Marwan Hamed is in talks to direct a film based on Chicago, the follow up book by Yacoubian Building author Alaa-Al-Aswani with Dar El Shorouck, the book's Egyptian publisher as producing partner.The director made the announcement from the Taormina Film Festival where he is serving on the ...
-
News
IFC First Take to release Last Winter in North America
IFC Entertainment has acquired all North American rights to Larry Fessenden's supernatural thriller The Last Winter and will release through its multi-platform IFC First Take label.The film premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and screens this week at the Los Angeles Film Festival.Larry Fessenden wrote and directed the ...