Category: International

MUMBAI: Harry Sloan, CEO of MGM has quit his post but he will officiate as the chairman. He is due to form an ‘Office of the CEO‘.

The newly created Office of the CEO, reporting to the MGM Board of Directors, includes Mary Parent, the chairperson for the worldwide motion picture group; Bedi A. Singh, the president of finance and administration and CFO; and Stephen F. Cooper, the newly appointed vice chairman.
According to a MGM announcement, Cooper‘s main role would be to explore options to improve the studio‘s balance sheet.

MUMBAI: The upcoming Pusan International Film Festival will honour Hong Kong director Johnnie To with a 10-film retrospective.

The festival depicts To as one of the last bastions of a Hong Kong cinema that began to dissolve after the territory‘s handover from Britain to China. It will also look at his influence on the careers of major Hong Kong stars including Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau.

MUMBAI: Film personalities across the world will assemble in Rome this September for the Rome International Film Festival that will take place on 11 to 12 September. The event that is scheduled at the DeSoto Theatre and Heritage Hall will feature 86 different films from across the world, including Spain, Australia and Canada.

MUMBAI: Distributor Xanadeux has turned out to be one of Japan‘s small to medium-sized distributors to go out of business. This follows a contraction in the territory‘s independent film and DVD markets.

Founded in 1996, Xanadeux gained notice for the Tamil-language release Muthu (aka The Dancing Maharaja) in 1998, which grossed $2m of its $6m worldwide box office in Japan and made Tamil superstar Rajnikant famous amongst the people of Japan.

Other Xanadeux releases included The Limey, Rob Zombie‘s 2007 Halloween remake, Yoichi Sai‘s Blood And Bones and J-horror releases Juon and Juon 2, on which it also served as production company.

Xanadeux was set to co-distribute director Sabu‘s The Crab Cannery Ship (Kanikosen) but left IMJ Entertainment, the film‘s producer, to handle distribution duties despite its lack of such operations. Upcoming releases including omnibus New York, I Love You are in limbo.

Several more small-to-medium sized companies are in financial trouble.

MUMBAI: James McAvoy is in the principal cast will star of Mandate Pictures‘ untitled comedy previously titled I‘m With Cancer that will be directed by Nicole Holofcener.

The film based on the life of the project‘s screenwriter Will Reiser is being produced by Seth Rogen.

The film that will go on the floors in January next year will have McAvoy playing a 25-year-old who comes to know that he has cancer.

MUMBAI: China is all set to appeal against the World Trade Organisation‘s (WTO) last week ruling that could open the country‘s market for US movies, music and books.

The ruling ordered China to stop forcing US content owners to use government-controlled distribution companies. Currently all foreign movies in China are distributed by the state-owned China Film Group Corporation or a second company, Huaxia Film Distribution, which is part-owned by China Film.

However the ruling did not address China‘s import quotas including an annual quota of 20 revenue-sharing films. Chinese regulations demand that foreign films should not exceed one third of the total number of films distributed in the country. Another 30-40 foreign films a year are distributed on a flat-fee basis.

“We are preparing the necessary documents and are not ruling out the possibility of an appeal,” said Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian. He added that the Chinese cultural sector suffers from a huge trade deficit and that “our competitiveness is still pretty weak.”

“Against this backdrop, I think it is appropriate and just for
China to impose some controls that are in line with the country‘s economic development stage, and cultural and historical tradition,” Yao added.

China has 60 days from the 12 August ruling to appeal or then it will passed to a vote among WTO member countries.

MUMBAI: Lionsgate has acquired the North American rights of Matthew Vaughn‘s action-comedy Kick-Ass that is currently in the post-production process.

Lionsgate plans to have a wide 2010 release of the film which Vaughn has co-written with Jane Goldman.

Based on a comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr, Kick-Ass is the story of an aspiring superhero with no powers who discovers a sub-culture of like-minded vigilantes. The film has Nicolas Cage and Aaron Johnson in stellar roles. The film also has Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

Vaughn brought early footage of the project to Comic-Con in late July. His Marv Films and Plan B Entertainment produced and financed.

MUMBAI: The North American rights of My Dog Tulip have been taken by The Film Sales Company (FSC).Based on a novel by J R Ackerley, My Dog Tulip tells a bittersweet retrospective account of a man who rescues a German Shepherd dog and how the two become fast friends.

Cinemavault has acquired the international rights of this animated tale that has voiceovers of artistes like Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave and Isabella Rossellini.

The film has been produced by Norman Twain, Howard Kaminsky and Frank Pellegrino and its North American premiere is scheduled in the Discovery section at the Toronto Film Festival.

MUMBAI: National Geographic Entertainment (NGE) has bagged the North American rights of Lu Chuan‘s Chinese film City Of Life And Death. The film will screen at Toronto Film Festival

NGE is collaborating with Chuan after they last worked together on the North American release of Lu Chuan‘s film Mountain Patrol: Kekexili.

NGE is also lining up a late 2009 or 2010 release, co-ordinating the marketing with IDG China Media Fund, a US venture capital company that belongs to International Data Group. Said NGE president Adam Leipzig, “This is one of the most memorable war films

ever made.”

This is the second major acquisition for NGE this year after Cherien Dabis‘ Sundance comedy hit Amreeka which premiered in New York and Los Angeles on September 4.

MUMBAI: Ron Shelton who directed Tin Cup has been signed up to helm Q School, a golf comedy based on a script he co-wrote with John Norville.

Dennis Quaid and Tim Allen are likely to star in the film which is to be produced by David Friendly.