Small MPU – Page 834
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News
Fox takes the top spot at US box office with Robots
Twentieth Century Fox'sanimated family romp Robots opened topover the weekend on an estimated $36.5m, while the much delayed Hostage finally opened in fourth place through Miramax on$9.8m.Meanwhile last weekend's champion The Pacifier was shunted into second place on $18.1mfor $54.4m in its second weekend through Buena Vista, and MGM's Be ...
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News
Glickman to kick off movie convention Showest
When the annual ShoWest convention opens in Las Vegas today [March14], the vast floors and ballrooms of the Paris and Bally's hotels will bebuzzing with talk of the standard issues that have beset the industry in recentyears - piracy and digital cinema roll-out.Yet there is another key element that distinguishes ...
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Kisk launches P&A fund for limited releases titles in US
New York-based entertainmentbusiness company Kisk Media Group International, which has satellite offices inthe UK and New Zealand, has launched the Kisk Media Group Prints &Advertising Fund I.The Fund is open toqualified independent producers with completed films budgeted at up to $8m thathave a distribution contract in place or one pending. ...
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Hitch romances $30.1m out of 42 markets for Sony
Hitchremained the top international picture over the weekend as the romantic comedyadded an estimated $30.1m on 4,640 screens in 42 markets for a $65.5minternational running total.Key drivers were a powerful $8m number one debut in the UK on 709screens including previews that raised the total after last weekend's exclusivedebut to ...
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Reviews
Unleashed (Danny The Dog)
Dir: Louis LeterrierFr-UK. 2005. 103mins.The latest action vehicleto roar off the assembly line at Luc Besson's EuropaCorp, Unleashed -known in France as Danny The Dog - is a wonky mixture of bone-crunchingviolence and mawkish sentiment. It casts martial arts star Jet Li as asub-human fighting machine who finds that music ...
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Reviews
Adam and Paul
Dir:Lenny Abrahamson. Ire. 2005. 86mins.Imaginea full-length Laurel and Hardy film set in Dublin's junkie netherworld andscripted by the bastard son of Samuel Beckett. If you like the sound of that,then you'll love Adam and Paul, Irish commercials director LennyAbrahamson's first feature.Abrahamsondoes a grand job, but it's scriptwriter and co-star Mark ...
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Reviews
Junebug
Dir: Phil Morrison. 2005.US. 102mins.Actress Amy Adams pullsoff a small miracle in Junebug, an ensemble comedy-drama about whathappens when a golden boy-turned-prodigal son brings his cosmopolitan bridehome to meet his working class North Carolina family.Adams (The Wedding Date)takes centre stage as Ashley, a sweet, naive Deep South chatterbox whoinstantly idolises ...
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News
Arclight takes on Dragon Squad rights
Arclight Films has picked up international rights excludingAsia to Dragon Squad, a US$4.5m martial arts action film which marks thefirst time that Steven Seagal has produced an Asian picture.The film, produced by Hong Kong's Visualizer FilmProductions, starts shooting March 23 with Daniel Lee directing and ChinKar-lok as action director. Seagal ...
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Deauville Asian festival enjoys Holiday Dreaming
Fu ChanHsu's Holiday Dreaming took the main prize at the 7th annual DeauvilleFestival of Asian Film which wrapped on Sunday. The Taiwanese film is a first effort from Fu-Chun Su andis a nostalgic look at youth. The film was also the recipient of the critics'prize.The jury prize went to This ...
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News
Tarr's Man From London shuts down
The ManFrom London has been shut down in Corsica following three weeks ofshooting. A French-German-British-Hungarian co-production, theEuros 5m film was adapted from a Georges Simenon novel. It had already fallenten days behind schedule when the plug was pulled, according to Agence FrancePresse.Directedby Bela Tarr, the film was to be co-produced ...
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News
Coppola embarks on Marie-Antoinette shoot
Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette has officiallybegun shooting at the Palace of Versailles just outside Paris. The new film from the director of Lost In Translationwill shoot entirely in France for 11 weeks before heading to the USfor post-production.Kirsten Dunst stars as Marie-Antoinette, the Austrian whobecame Queen of France and was beheaded ...
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News
Von Trier turns his hand to sitcom writing
Palme D'Or winning directorLars von Trier is taking a short break from film production to write for aDanish TV sitcom.The Danish director hasagreed to pen an episode of Clown, a critically acclaimed sitcom fromtwo of Denmark's top stand-up comedians Casper Christensen and Frank Hvam.The first draft of the scriptis ready ...
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News
Kiarostami set to shoot next film in Italy this summer
Abbas Kiarostami has announced that he plans to shoot afilm in Italy this summer.'Iwill shoot one film in Iran and I will make one in Italy this summer,' theIranian director said at a conference in Rome, where he is promoting Tickets,the picture he co-directed with Ermanno Olmi and Ken Loach.Kiarostamisuggested ...
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News
Sony Pictures Classics swallows Jordan's Breakfast
Sony Pictures Classics has taken North American, LatinAmerican, German and South African rights to Neil Jordan's latest film, BreakfastOn Pluto.Breakfast On Pluto is Jordan's second adaptation ofa novel by Patrick McCabe following on from his award-winning 1997 effort, ButcherBoy. Starring Irish trio Cillian Murphy, Stephen Rea and BrendanGleeson as well ...
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News
Stelios' easyCinema unveils DVD rental service
Stelios Haji-Ioannu'seasyCinema has launched what it claims is the UK's cheapest postal DVD rentalservice.The service, operated oneasyCinema's behalf by Video Island, will charge a DVD rental rate of £1.99 perfilm and allow customers to keep the film for up to three weeks. The pricecompares favourably with the average rental store ...
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Int'l grosses overtook US in 2004, says Glickman
MPAA president Dan Glickmansounded a determined note in his first address to ShoWest internationaldelegates yesterday [March 14] as he exhorted them to join a global partnershipin the war on piracy, while acknowledging their superior contribution to Hollywood's bottom line.Glickman, a formeragriculture secretary who served under former President Bill Clinton andsucceeded ...
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Robots scores strong opening in Mexico
Fox International releasedthe animated picture Robots inMexico over the weekend, day-and-date with the number one North Americanrelease.The picture opened top on anestimated $2.4m on 753 screens, a strong result that accounted for the bulk of Robots' $3m weekend business in its first internationalouting. It also opened number one in Malaysia ...
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News
Telefonica reportedly in merger talks with KPN
Spain's Telefonica is in talks with Dutch telco KPN in what could result in a merger of the two giants according to Spanish press reports. Telefonica has confirmed that it is in negotiations with KPN on a "variety of matters", but sources were unavailable to comment further.A report in Spanish ...
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News
Megastar announces first Vietnamese multiplexes
Megastar Complex, the joint venture between EnvoyMedia Partners and Vietnam's Phuong Nam Corporation, has announced plans on thefirst two multiplexes in Vietnam, a bustling South-East Asian country whose populationof 82million is served by only 100 screens.Envoy Media Partners is the joint venture between industry veteran J EdwardShugrue, Mekong Leisure and ...
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News
Campbell joins cast of Partition
NeveCampbell is in final negotiations to star opposite Jimi Mistry and KristinKreuk in the India-set epic romance Partition, which is being co-produced byLos-Angeles based Myriad Pictures and Canada's Sepia Films.Campbell, whose credits include the Scream franchise, Wild Things and BlindHorizon, will play the passionate but lonely Margaret Stilwell, who helps ...