 Potter Casts Spell on Production Boom
A rucksack of industry papers and news sites have been hailing the recent figures for film production investment as a latest step in the revival of the UK film scene. Among the online news sites were Screendaily.co.uk, aintitcool.com and Ananova who all extolled the same leap in the same vain over the past week. Essentially, The Film Council has reported that movie production in Britain was up by a third for 2000 with around £540 million being invested. The Harry Potter film and other high budget productions such as 51st State and Tomb Raider pushed the levels of cash pouring into the industry to record levels. Among notables quoted was British Film Commissioner Steve Norris who said, "We are delighted to see such a vast increase in revenue for the British film community in the UK and proud to see such a strong indication of the growing international awareness of British film-making talent found here." But he went on to warned against complacency: "Without doubt the combination of the weaker pound against the dollar and fiscal breaks have proven to be major incentives in continuing to attract foreign productions to our shores. However, we are highly aware of the increase in global competition for this business and without the continued support from Government in the form of tax breaks the incredible success we have seen from this year may be short-lived."
Film Minister Janet Anderson said, "The Government wants Britain to become a hive of film making activity and a centre for expertise and excellence."
She added that the introduction of tax incentives in 1997 had helped secure large levels of inward investment for the film production industry.
Forrester Finds Philosophy
Finding Forrester star Sean Connery is to play the Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates in a new film. The aspiring Scottish studio magnate made the announcement in Athens whilst attending the opening of an exhibition of his wife Michelin's artwork. He said the film had been conceived by his closed friend the composer Vangelis, who will also write the music for the film. A director for the project was not named.
Clouseau Comedy Caper Copy?
Jeremy Irons will be investigating the likes of Renee Zellweger and Robin Williams in a new film about the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre.
The £40 million romantic comedy is being directed and written by Jeremy Leven and production is set to begin in the spring with Antonio Banderas playing a naïve Louvre carpenter who helps the duo get away with the masterpiece. Irons has been called upon for the role of a French sleuth who tracks down the theives. An insider told virtual newscaster Ananova, "The part is very straight as a foil against Williams. The temptation might be to camp it up but that would upset the balance of the script. Jeremy has been on the look out for a comedy for a long time." So we won't be expecting a Clouseau then?
Tiger Claws New Box Office Prey
Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon set another record in a regular series of box office takes on Wednesday as it became the highest-grossing foreign-language film ever released in the UK. In just 3 weeks, it has tallied £3,078,380 eclipsing the previous record of £3,036,708, Benigni's Oscar winner Life Is Beautiful.
UK distributor Columbia will add a further 15 prints on Friday in a canny staggered release that now totals 120 in the UK and Ireland. This is still meagre though when compared to chart toppers Cast Away and Columbia's own Vertical Limit that were both released on around 390 screens. Crouching Tiger has held the highest screen average in the UK chart for each of its three weekends on release.
Records are also being smashed in North where it has achieved gross of $37.3m. The best Chinese-language film in US history currently has a worldwide gross at over $65m and it should benefit heavily from its Golden Globe wins on Sunday night, and anticipated Oscar nominations.
TOP TEN FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILMS IN THE UK
Title (Distributor) Country Of Origin (Release Date) Total Gross
1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Col TriStar) Ch-Tai-US (5-Jan-01) £3,078,380*
2. Life Is Beautiful (BVI) It (12-Feb-99) £3,036,220
3. Cyrano de Bergerac (Artificial Eye) Fr (1-Jan-91) £2,458,175
4. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Yash Raj Films) Ind (Aug-98) £1,498,006
5. The Lover (Guild) Fr (19-Jun-92) £1,375,697
6. Il Postino (BVI) It (Oct-95) £1,273,708
7. All About My Mother (Pathe) Sp-Fr (27-Aug-99) £1,179,824
8. Farewell My Concubine (Artificial Eye) Ch-HK (7-Jan-94) £1,039,622
9. Cinema Paradiso (Palace) It-Fr (23-Feb-90) £1,022,000
10. Buena Vista Social Club (FilmFour) Ger-US-Fr-Cuba (17-Sep-99) £955,278
* Still on general release
NMI Bullseyed by Target
Target Media, a leading ad space buyer for the UK film industry, has merged with the internet company New Media Industries (NMI). Target represents a heavyweight UK client base including FilmFour, Metrodome and Redbus, and its parent DPA Soho are will now be re-branded as Target NMI. The new company is expected to increase it's focus on new media advertising and promotion.
Target/DPA chairman, John Duncombe was understandibly optimistic "From the first conversations more than a year ago, the beauty of this alliance is that there is virtually no overlap in terms of skills and client conflict. This means that clients on both sides benefit." NMI CEO Alan Page added, "This is a vital step in our strategy of building a multi-disciplined, integrated communications business capable of brand solutions across the whole spectrum of media. With DPA and Target, we gain critical mass, a high level media buying capability, and access to more than fifty major new clients in sectors that are growing fast and would welcome our cross-platform skills."
26 Year BO KO'd
Alongside the boost in UK film investment, UK cinema attendance's hit a 26-year high last year - despite a large drop in November. Around 142.5 million tickets were sold, compared with 139 million in 1999.
As predicted by Netribution a fortnight back, strong box office performances towards the end of the year from the likes of Meet The Parents and The Grinch gave 2000's box office a serious leg-up after the November slump.
In English, a £627.5m box office total in the UK in 2000 4% up on the 99 total, and an increase of 124% since 1990.
Brit directed Gladiator and Brit funded Chicken Run also hit the top 10 UK grossers, at positions 9 and 10 respectively. TOP TEN FILMS IN THE UK IN 2000
Title (Country of origin) Distributor (Release date) Total gross
1. Toy Story 2 (US) BVI (Feb 4 2000) £43.5m
2. Gladiator (US) UIP (May 12 2000) £30.9m
3. Chicken Run (UK-US) Pathe (June 30 2000) £29.4m
4. American Beauty (US) UIP (Jan 28 2000) £21.3m
5. Stuart Little (US) Col TriStar (June 30 2000) £17.8m
6. Mission: Impossible 2 (US) UIP (July 7 2000) £17.3m
7. Billy Elliot (UK) UIP (Sept 29 2000) £16.8m
8. X-Men (US) 20th Fox (Aug 18 2000) £15.0m
9. The Beach (UK-US) 20th Fox (Feb 11 2000) £13.3m
10. What Lies Beneath (US) 20th Fox (Oct 20 2000) £13.2m
Source: Cinema Advertising Association
What Whingers Want
U2's lead Bono has lashed out at Mel Gibson's claim that Wim Wender's Million Dollar Hotel was "as boring as a dog's arse" by insisting that Gibson was unhappy with the lack of glamour in he part. Mel, who plays a freak with an amputated spare arm in the whodunit, made the slur on the What Women Want publicity tour. Bono told Q Magazine, "It was a thankless part. He doesn't win, he doesn't get the girl and he doesn't get to kill everybody." He divulged that he'd felt 'very hurt' on Wenders' behalf for Gibson's comments and continued his Gibson lambasting "Wim has made two, maybe more, of the top 30 films ever made. Has Mel? In the end, is it about box office over being great?" lan Neirob, Gibson's spokesperson refuted the retort by calling them "absurd."
Oscar: A False Idol?
Despite a lot of hints, this year's Golden Globes provided no real indication as to this year's Oscar winners. While Gladiator was named Best Picture, its success was superseded by the success of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which was only eligible for Best Foreign Film - which it duly won. But Lee himself beat both Scott and the favourite Steven Soderbergh, who was nominated twice for both Traffic and Erin Brockovich, as best director.
Crouching Tiger should bag Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film nominations when they are announced on Feb 14, and Ang Lee should easily win a Best Director nomination but fortune is a fickle deity when it comes to Oscars themselves
The evening started well for Soderbergh with wins for Traffic in the screenplay and supporting actor categories. And, as expected, Julia Roberts won the best actress award for Erin Brockovich. But in the director and picture category, both films were overlooked. Almost Famous was winner of the Best Picture (Musical or comedy), but was largely unchallenged. Brit beauty Kate Hudson also won the supporting actress award, making Cameron Crowe's festival hit a 2 Globe winner.
GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS 2000
BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA
Gladiator
BEST MOTION PICTURE - MUCISAL OR COMEDY
Almost Famous
BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
BEST ACTRESS - DRAMA
Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich
BEST ACTOR - DRAMA
Tom Hanks, Cast Away
BEST ACTRESS - MUSICAL/COMEDY
Renee Zellwegger, Nurse Betty
BEST ACTOR - MUSICAL OR COMEDY
George Clooney, O Brother Where Art Thou?
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kate Hudson, Almost Famous
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Benicio Del Toro, Traffic
BEST SCREENPLAY
Stephen Gaghan, Traffic
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Hans Zimmer, Gladiator
BEST SONG
Things Have Changed, Bob Dylan, Wonder Boys
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