Small MPU – Page 720
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News
Toronto shoots for Cronenberg premiere, closes with Emotional Arithmetic
Paulo Barzman's Emotional Arithmetic will be the Closing Night Gala at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, sources told Screen Daily. David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (pictured) will also have its world premiere at the event.Emotional Arithmetic, a $5.8m production, features Susan Sarandon, Gabriel Byrne, Roy Dupuis, Christopher Plummer and ...
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News
Hong Kong's Sundream appoints Nan Wong as distribution chief
Hong Kong distribution executive Nan Wong has joined local producer-distributor Sundream Motion Pictures as general manager of distribution. Wong was formerly deputy general manager of local distributor Intercontinental Film Distributors, which handles Buena Vista product in Hong Kong. In her new role she will be responsible for Sundream's international film ...
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News
Monkey Magic leads Japan's quest for summer movie success
Fuji TV's Monkey Magic (original title Saiyuki) has become the first local live-action success of the summer season, grabbing the number two position at Japan 's box office this past weekend. However, it was unable to beat the latest adventure in the ever-successful animated Pokemon franchise, Gekijoban Pocket Monsters: Diamond ...
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Macquarie consortium acquires Korea's Megabox circuit
Major Korean studio Mediaplex has announced the $159m sale of the country's third most successful multiplex chain Megabox to a consortium, Korea Multiplex Investment Corporation (KMIC), led by Australian banking group Macquarie. Megabox comprises a total of 19 theatres and 155 screens nationwide, with scores that follow those of top ...
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Phuket film festival pushed back by two weeks
The inaugural Phuket Film Festival will change its dates to October 21-27, a delay of two weeks, as the screening venue will not be ready in time for its original play date. The event is scheduled to take place at the upscale Jungceylon shopping complex on Patong Beach in which ...
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News
Editorial opinion: talent to burn
In an unquantifiable business, backing talent is the best bet - provided you know where to look, says Colin BrownThere is a belief that all this new equity and debt financing that has gushed into the film industry over the past couple of years is somehow 'smart money'.Because the newly ...
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Screenwriting: cracking the code
Complaints from writers about their status in the film industry are perennial. So what can drive change, given the priority is to make films that find an audience - not keep writers happy' Danny Plunkett reports on a possible breakthrough at the International Screenwriters' Festival. This month's International Screenwriters' Festival ...
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News
William Schopf and Ed Arentz: boxing clever
Starting life as an arthouse theatre, a specialty film distribution enterprise is thinking outside the Box. Patrick Z McGavin reports. The first time William Schopf (pictured) met film distribution consultant Ed Arentz to discuss opening a new specialty film distribution venture, Arentz did everything he could to dissuade Schopf from ...
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The day after Tomorrow
A new multi-platform international outfit is looking to unearth cutting-edge talent. Wendy Mitchell reports.When a company is named Tomorrow Unlimited, it hints at the ambition involved.Six of the principles of the Res Media Group had grown frustrated by the limitations imposed on the company through various corporate deals, and wanted ...
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News
UCI launches new brand of cinema in the UK
United Cinemas International (UCI) today unveiled its "next generation" brand strategy to differentiate its cinemas from other exhibitors in the highly competitive UK market. "thefilmworks" concept, created through a three-way partnership with UCI, advertising agency BDHTBWA and architects RTKL, will be rolled out first at the group's 20 screen Printworks ...
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Features
Industry moves
Yari veteran Katz joins Gill and Sacker ventureRobert Katz has joined Mark Gill and Neil Sacker in their new independent venture The Film Department as president of production. He had been vice-president of production for The Yari Film Group.Purnell takes UK Culture Secretary roleAs new UK prime minister Gordon Brown ...
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Box-office opinion: rise of the machines
Multiplexes were originally envisaged as a way of expanding choice, but are now being dominated by a handful of titles, argues Len Klady.When Garth Drabinsky opened the first Cineplex in Toronto back in 1979, the idea of having 14 viewing options under one roof was looked on with a combination ...
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Features
Transformers take over the world
Robots ruled the international box office this weekend as Transformers took the number one spot with $47.1m, for a total of $97.2m to date. Michael Bay's blockbuster was up 30% after expanding in an additional 19 territories. A second weekend also proved helpful for Die Hard 4.0, which was up ...
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News
International box office - Local Figures on the slide
Leading South Korean exhibitor CJ CGV has released statistics for the first half of the year, which place the market share of local films at 47.3%, the lowest since 2001 and down from 59.5% for the same period last year.Local film market share in Seoul - traditionally lower than nationwide ...
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News
France: sales drop is still cause for cheer
After a record first half in 2006, the first six months of 2007 have seen a 12% drop in film attendance in France. However, the 90.5 million admissions racked up are an increase on the same period in 2005.That figure comes from France's Film Federation (Fncf), which represents the nation's ...
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News
Australia launches landmark website for film history
A comprehensive website showcasing Australia's extensive filmmaking history is about to be launched today in Sydney.The Australian Film Commission (AFC) received A$2.4 million to create the site - www.australianscreen.com.au - and executive producer Ron Saunders worked with a different curator for each genre. 'To the best of our knowledge this ...
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Arts Alliance strikes three-year digital deal with Park Circus
Arts Alliance Media has signed an exclusive agreement with UK distributor Park Circus to provide digital cinema content services for their theatrical releases for three years.The agreement covers services including digital mastering and creation and secure distribution of DCI-compliant digital prints.Park Circus specialises in distribution of classic titles for theatrical ...
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Reviews
The Substitute (Vikaren)
Dir: Ole Bornedal. Denmark. 2007. 89minsAll children know that teachers are weird, but what if some of them turned out to be really weird - extra-terrestrially weird' This serviceable premise has yielded entertaining dividends before - notably in Robert Rodriguez's 1998 teen chiller The Faculty - and Danish spoof scarer ...
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Reviews
Death At A Funeral
Dir. Frank Oz. UK. 2007. 90mins.Death At A Funeral reprises the old formula of assembling a raucous ensemble comedy from the mourners at a respectable upper middle-class funeral that comes unwound. Dysfunction becomes delirium, fuelled here by hallucinogens and the dead man's gay lover, a dwarf. The bawdy farce then ...
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News
Aardman works with Atom Films on animated shorts
From Broadcast: Aardman has teamed up with film download website Atom Films to launch a series of exclusive animated shorts. The Oscar-winning UK production company behind Wallace and Gromit has delved into its archive and created a series of Pib and Pog shorts. The series, which features two kids TV ...