Small MPU – Page 844

  • News

    Madonna's directorial debut joins Berlinale Panorama line-up

    2007-12-27T22:05:00Z

    Madonna's directorial debut Filth And Wisdom will be among the world premieres playing in the Berlinale's Panorama programme.The film starring Stephen Graham, Richard E. Grant and Eugene Hutz is listed as a UK production in a sidebarmain programmedominated by European films.Other world premieresinclude films from Laetitia Masson, Bruce La Bruce ...

  • News

    National Treasure 2, Juno soar at domestic box office

    2007-12-30T21:10:00Z

    Buena Vista's National Treasure: Book Of Secrets was the number one domestic film at the close of 2007, capping a record year at the box office that generated $9.7bn according to early estimates and beat by some way the $9.45bn previous best set in 2004.The adventure sequel added approximately $35.6m ...

  • News

    Legend leads international weekend with $46.1m in 25 markets

    2007-12-30T22:57:00Z

    I Am Legend heads into 2008 as the number one overseas film following a $46.1m estimated haul from 25 markets that raised the running total through Warner Bros Pictures International (WBPI) to $117m after three weekends.The sci-fi horror dominated the UK with a mighty $21.8m (£10.9m) haul from 438 sites ...

  • News

    Yip rejoins Hong Kong's Emperor Motion Pictures

    2008-01-02T12:22:00Z

    May Yip has rejoined Hong Kong's Emperor Motion Pictures (EMP) as general manager for distribution. Yip left EMP in 2003 to join Fortune Star Entertainment in which she spent the next four years heading up distribution. In her new role at EMP, she reports directly to chief executive Albert Lee.Lee ...

  • Reviews

    Those Three (An Seh)

    2008-01-02T13:13:00Z

    Dir/Scr: Naghi Nemati. Iran, 2007. 77mins.Naghi Nemati's assured, poetic debut proves that the Iranian talent factory is still up and running. Playing in Dubai after its Locarno festival bow and Toronto slot, this austerely-shot existential odyssey about three soldiers lost in a snowy wasteland seems tailor-made to illustrate Fellini's claim ...

  • News

    Japan, Korea make strong showing in HAF 2008 line-up

    2008-01-02T21:30:00Z

    Japan's Nakata Hideo (Ring series) and South Korea's Park Chan-wook (Old Boy) and Bong Joon-ho (The Host) are among the world-renowned Asian filmmakers who have had projects selected for the 2008 edition of the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). A total of 25 projects have been selected for the ...

  • News

    Berlin-Brandenburg and Hamburg funds receive more cash

    2008-01-02T17:00:00Z

    Father Christmas did not forget the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB) and Filmfoerderung Hamburg Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH) as local politicians have decided to increase their financial commitment to their respective funds.The federal state of Brandenburg provided an additional$2.2m (Euros 1.5m) for MBB's 2007 budget, bringing the final total to $42.3m (Euros 28.7m).The ...

  • News

    Films Distribution to premiere three new features at Rendez-Vous

    2008-01-02T17:37:00Z

    French sales outfit Films Distribution has announced the world premieres of three new titles at the upcoming Rendez-Vous with French cinema. The event, organized by French film export body Unifrance, runs Jan 10-14 in Paris.At the Rendez-Vous, Films Distribution will screen The Maiden And The Wolves directed by Gilles Legrand ...

  • News

    Robert Luketic's 21 to open 15th South By Southwest

    2008-01-02T19:53:00Z

    Columbia Pictures thriller 21 directed by Robert Luketic and starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey will open the 15th South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival on March 7 in Austin, Texas.The film, based on Ben Mezrich's book Bringing Down The House: The Inside Story Of Six ...

  • News

    Universal says 2007 was studio's 'most profitable year of all time'

    2008-01-02T22:18:00Z

    Universal Pictures has reported that 2007 marked a box office high for the studio with a global take of $2.133bn, consisting of a best ever $1.099bn domestic gross and $1.034bn in international markets.The studio also said it had scored best-ever financial returns from its domestic home entertainment and international television ...

  • News

    David A Grafton to receive Academy's Gordon E Sawyer Award

    2008-01-02T22:40:00Z

    David A Grafton will receive this year's Gorden E Sawyer Award, an Oscar statuette for technological industry contributions, from the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.Grafton is a pioneer in designing lenses for optical effects printers which, at the time of their development, were adopted by virtually every visual ...

  • News

    Sean Penn to head 61st Cannes Film Festival jury

    2008-01-03T10:21:00Z

    Sean Penn will head the jury at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, organisers have announced.The 61st festival runs May 14-25.'In the last few years, it seems there has been a rejuvenation of cinema building worldwide; increasingly thoughtful, provocative, moving, and imaginative films by talented filmmakers: that a new generation of ...

  • News

    Western Australian mining boom helps funding for thriller Crush

    2008-01-03T10:23:00Z

    Few feature films are made in Western Australia but producer Deidre Kitcher said that profits from the area's mining boom lead to the thriller Crush going into production yesterday.She and co-directors John V Soto and Jeff Gerritsen convinced six investors to put up the $1.76m (A$2m) budget with the help ...

  • News

    Spain's Dygra Films reveals five film slate until 2012

    2008-01-03T10:29:00Z

    Galicia based animation studio Dygra plans a slate of digital 3D projects.Dygra Films will release one film per year starting with Spirit Of The Forest in 2008, a sequel to The Animal Forest (2001), the first European film to be made entirely using CGI, which achieved $2m at the box ...

  • News

    Norway's local market share holds steady as admissions fall 10%

    2008-01-03T15:21:00Z

    In 2007 Norwegian cinemas registered a 10% decline in admissions, to reach 10.8m, according to statistics from the Norwegian cinema association, Film & Kino. Local productions accounted for 1.7m admissions, to maintain last year's market share of 16.4% which (except for 2003) is the largest since 1975.'The big international blockbusters ...

  • News

    Veterans of TF1, UGC launch new sales outfit Elle Driver

    2008-01-04T05:00:00Z

    A new sales outfit will debut next week at the Unifrance Paris Rendez-Vous. Elle Driver, headed up by Eva Diederix and Adeline Fontan Tessaur has taken up residence at Stephane Celerier's Mars Distribution offices and, with help from an outside investment fund, will work 'with quality films that can travel,' ...

  • News

    Keinohrhasen leads non-US films in Screen international chart

    2008-01-03T15:48:00Z

    German film Keinohrhasen was this weekend's highest non-US performer in the international top 40, generating a robust $7.6m over the three-day period.The top 40 international films generated $269.1m from 49,546 screens for the period of December 28-30.For the full international chart, compiled by Len Klady, click here.The romantic comedy was ...

  • News

    Sky, Curzon Artificial Eye work together on The Edge Of Heaven

    2008-01-03T16:14:00Z

    As Screen International previously reported, Sky Television and Curzon Artificial Eye are working on a groundbreaking release for Fatih Akin's The Edge Of Heaven.The film will be released in at least 14 Curzon and City Screen cinemas on Feb 22, the same day it will be available to Sky Anytime ...

  • News

    Mediaset to acquire Kirch stake

    2000-09-18T16:50:00Z

    Italian broadcaster Mediaset has announced that it will acquire a 2.48 % stake in its German partner, Kirch Media, underscoring both companies' aim to cement their film buying and production alliance, Epsilon.Additionally, Mediaset's board of directors approved a plan to increase the group's share in Spain's Telecinco by 5% to ...

  • News

    Maycock appointed managing director of Technicolor (Thailand)

    2008-01-03T19:27:00Z

    Ian Maycock has been appointed managing director of Technicolor (Thailand), the Bangkok-based facility film lab which provides servicing for films, commercials and documentary projects.Maycock moves into the position from his role as director, business development. He has been with Technicolor since May 2007.The facility was established in Bangkok in 1977 ...