Press Releases Archive for June, 2010

'Twilight' Fever Brings Cybercriminals Out of the Woodwork

Norton Reports ‘Twilight’ Search Results Are Being Poisoned CULVER CITY, Calif., June 30 /PRNewswire/ — WHAT/WHY: The third installment of the “Twilight” franchise is breaking records for a midnight opening and legions of fans are searching for any details about the film they can find online. Cyber criminals know this and have already “poisoned” common…

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37th TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2010 GUEST DIRECTOR MICHAEL ONDAATJE

June 30, 2010 BERKELEY, CA – Telluride Film Festival (September 3-6, 2010), presented by National Film Preserve LTD., is proud to announce its 2010 Guest Director, Michael Ondaatje. The celebrated writer has been invited to select a series of films to present at the 37th Telluride Film Festival. The Guest Director program is sponsored by…

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"Eclipse" Leaves Imprint with 82% of Fandango Ticket Sales (as of 6/28/10)

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse opens tomorrow (Tuesday) night at midnight and currently accounts for 82% of daily ticket sales on Fandango, the nation’s leading movie ticketing destination. The film also ranks as the company’s top advance-ticket seller of the year to date. According to our recent survey of more than 1,000 Eclipse ticket-buyers on Fandango:…

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2010 Film Independent Jury Award Winners Announced

Film Independent Announces Jury Award Winners of 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival, Presented by The Los Angeles Times Pernille Fischer Christensen’s A Family wins Narrative Award J. Clay Tweel’s Make Believe wins Documentary Award Short Film Winners Also Announced LOS ANGELES, June 26 — Today Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit…

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Sandler bigger than Cruise? "Grown Ups" outselling "Knight" in today's ticket sales on Fandango

Among this week’s new releases, Adam Sandler’s raunchy Grown Ups (opening today) is currently outselling the Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz action-comedy, Knight and Day (which opened Wednesday) in today’s Fandango ticket sales, as of 10:00 a.m. PT. Meanwhile, the hotly-anticipated The Twilight Saga: Eclipse continues to dominate sales on Fandango, and ranks as the company’s top…

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ACADEMY INVITES 135 TO MEMBERSHIP

June 25, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Beverly Hills, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 135 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitation will be the only additions in 2010 to the…

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DreamWorks Animation to Bring Trolls Out of Hiding

Among Studio’s Priority Plans is Feature Film Project GLENDALE, Calif., June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (Nasdaq: DWA) announced today that it has reached an agreement with Dam Things from Denmark to debut the wildly popular Good Luck Troll on the big screen, introducing a new generation to one of the world’s most…

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“B-MOVIES AND BAD SCIENCE” RETURNS

Starting on June 26, 2010, the Quirky Movie Series Is Back! This year all films are outdoors and FREE, with screenings at both the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits and the Natural History Museum Join the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar…

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TIMUR BEKMAMBETOV ORGANIZES 1ST ASTANA INT'L ACTION FEST

2010 ASTANA INTERNATIONAL ACTION FILM FESTIVAL KICKS OFF ON JUNE 27 IN ASTANA CITY, KAZAKHSTAN Harvey Weinstein, Mike Tyson, Lawrence Bender, Sharlto Copley, and Dolph Lundgren, among others, to appear at first annual fest ASTANA CITY, KAZAKHSTAN (June 23, 2010) – The Astana International Action Film Festival announced today the kick off of its first…

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RUBEN FLEISCHER WILL DEVELOP TO DIRECT ‘BABE IN THE WOODS’ FOR COLUMBIA PICTURES

MIKE WHITE TO PRODUCE THROUGH HIS RIP CORD PRODUCTIONS SHINGLE (Culver City, June 22, 2010) — Ruben Fleischer, who most recently directed the break-out hit ZOMBIELAND, will develop to direct Columbia Pictures’ BABE IN THE WOODS, it was announced today by Matt Tolmach and Doug Belgrad, Presidents of Columbia Pictures. The screenplay, written by Mike…

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Pioneering Filmmaker Immortalized on Postage

Oscar Micheaux Joins Black Heritage Stamp Series NEW YORK, June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Film director, screenwriter, producer and distributor Oscar Micheaux, who illuminated the African-American experience through more than 40 feature films, was immortalized on a U.S. postage stamp today, taking his place as the 33rd person honored in the popular Black Heritage commemorative stamp…

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'Eclipse' interview teaser: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner talk 'Breaking Dawn' and the end of 'Twilight'

Entertainment Weekly sat down with Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner for a feature interview running in this week’s magazine to discuss the world they inhabit within the Twilight universe — both on screen and off. The three young stars opened up about coping under the glare of intense media spotlight, how they rely…

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Los Angeles County Museum of Art Film Programs

WEEKEND SERIES LAUGHTER IN PARADISE: THE AMERICAN COMEDIES OF ERNST LUBITSCH July 9 7:30 pm Trouble in Paradise July 9 9:05 pm Desire July 10 7:30 pm Ninotchka July 10 9:30 pm Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife July 16 7:30 pm Design for Living July 16 9:15 pm The Smiling Lieutenant July 17 7:30 pm The Shop…

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OSCILLOSCOPE ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO RICHARD SHEPARD’S JOHN CAZALE DOC “I KNEW IT WAS YOU”

Venerable Actor Played ‘Fredo’ in THE GODFATHER Parts I and II DVD release planned before 2010 holiday season New York, NY (June 22, 2010) – Oscilloscope Laboratories announced today that it has acquired North American rights to Richard Shepard’s (THE MATADOR, Emmy® Award-Winning director of Ugly Betty “Pilot”) documentary I KNEW IT WAS YOU, which…

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LOREN SCHWARTZ PROMOTED TO EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING FOR SCREEN GEMS

CULVER CITY, Calif., June 22, 2010 – Creative advertising veteran Loren Schwartz has been promoted to executive vice president, marketing for Screen Gems, it was announced today by Jeff Blake, chairman of Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing and Distribution, to whom Schwartz will report. In his new role, Schwartz will oversee the creation of trailers, posters,…

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VES to Present the Second Annual Entertainment Industry Production Summit on October 23rd

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Event to Focus on Navigating Tomorrow’s Business Models Los Angeles, June 22, 2010 — The Visual Effects Society (VES), the world’s premiere visual effects organization, announced today that it will hold its second annual Production Summit for the greater entertainment industry on October 23rd. Production Summit 2010: Navigating Tomorrow’s Business Models will…

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BREWER’S CAST COMES TOGETHER FOR “FOOTLOOSE”

For Immediate Release Paramount Pictures Will Release On April 1, 2011 HOLLYWOOD, CA (June 22, 2010) – Adam Goodman, President of Paramount Pictures Film Group, announced today the completion of principle casting on writer / director Craig Brewer’s “Footloose”. Following an extensive worldwide search, newcomer Kenny Wormald will play the highly coveted role of ‘Ren’,…

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MJ's Fans Turn to Texting on 1 Year Anniversary

This Friday, Michael Jackson fans across the globe will mark the one year anniversary of his untimely death by immersing themselves in the artist’s countless hit singles. To help celebrate MJ’s legacy, leading mobile entertainment company Predicto Mobile (www.predicto.com) has created “The King of Pop’s Top 10 Text Message-Ready Lyrics” that are certain to get…

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Lionsgate Amends Its Revolving Credit Facility

Change of Control Trigger Threshold Increased to 50% SANTA MONICA, Calif. and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) (the “Company”) announced today that JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (“JPMorgan”), as administrative agent, has secured requisite consent of the lending syndicate to modify the “Change of Control” provisions contained in the Company’s $340…

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HBO HOSTS MAJOR EVENTS AT FILM LIFE’S 14TH ANNUAL AMERICAN BLACK FILM FESTIVAL, JUNE 23-26, 2010

For Immediate Release — Spotlight Events Feature Cast Members from HBO Series, New Filmmakers, Plus Director Spike Lee — New York, N.Y., June 22, 2010 – As the founding and premier sponsor of Film Life’s 14th Annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF), HBO will once again have a major presence at the industry retreat, being…

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Press Releases

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon