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The experience of playing a role in an improvised movie, 'Tempted', is examined in detail.

Michael Eisner, the man who has run Walt Disney for 18 years, is in many ways the last of a breed. A man who made his reputation developing successful TV [...]

Walking back from the Gryffindor common room past the Gringotts bank and with the dining hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry just behind us, David Heyman says: 'Whether [...]

The holiday film season's two most eagerly awaited movies, Monsters Inc and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, together are expected to rake in about Dollars 500m at the US [...]

IPOH, Tues. - The Information Ministry will soon submit a fresh proposal to the Cabinet to corporatise RTM, Minister Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob said today. 'We are now awaiting feedback [...]

MALAYSIA is fast becoming a favourite location for Hindi film productions. In less than two weeks, Bollywood heavyweights Amitabh Bachan, Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt, Aishwarya Rai and Manisha Koirala will [...]

HERE's a chance for filmmakers to turn their documentary ideas into reality. Discovery Channel Asia is seeking non-fiction filmmakers to join their 'First-Time Filmmaker 2001' programme. Applicants from Malaysia, Singapore, [...]

BEING 'new' in the local entertainment world, Metrowealth Movies Production (MMP), the producers of the movie Syukur 21, inevitably experienced teething problems. The big-budget movie did not get the expected [...]

DESPITE the rampant VCD piracy situation here, it is not entirely hopeless for Hindi movies. Y. Subramaniam, sales manager for Dragon AV Distributors Sdn Bhd, the biggest importer of Hindi [...]

THE Malaysian film world leapfrogged into the IT era with the launch of the E-Village, aimed at making Malaysia the hub of the booming Asian film industry. The project is [...]

The scrawled note to Michael D. Eisner, chairman of Walt Disney Corporation, looked innocuous enough. 'To MDE - just to keep you up to date - probably worth a quick [...]

KATZENBERG CASE Toy gives evidence A talkative surprise witness was introduced yesterday into the breach of contract case which has pitted Walt Disney against Jeffrey Katzenberg, its former studio chief. [...]

No sooner had Close Brothers forecast that the number of listed groups leaving the stock exchange this year would double, than two companies announced plans to go private. After fluctuating [...]

Hollywood directors can be hired to produce TV commercials, and Top Dog is a company set up to encourage this.

The making of 'The Children's Midsummer Nights Dream', a movie from Sands Films being made in Britain, is examined in detail.

Dead celebrities are already being used to advertise products ranging from cars to condoms and Columbia Pictures began work in Aug. 1999 on the first film ever to feature an entire cast of computer-generated actors. However Jeff Lotman of Los Angeles, CA-based Virtual Celebrity Productions declares that computer-generated actors or 'synthespians' are five to seven years away, even in cameo roles. Nevertheless synthespians pose a threat to lesser actors since computer-generated crowd scenes are becoming increasingly common, and to stunt men since synthespians can do the job more cheaply as well as more safely.

Hollywood seems bereft of original ideas, preferring to adapt classic plays and novels by long dead authors such as Shakespeare and Jane Austen. New versions of old stories being released over the next year or so range from traditional costume dramas such as an adaptation of Austen's 'Mansfield Park' to a kung fu version of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet.' Some film adaptations of classic works are aimed at audiences who will be familiar with the original but others, such as a version of 'The Taming of the Shrew' set in an American high school, are not.

A dinner with US Pres. Bill Clinton and Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin on Sep. 28, 1994, inspired three of Hollywood's biggest players, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, to go ahead with their plan to create their own studio. The trio announced the formation of their venture at a press conference on Oct. 11, 1994, and it was officially named DreamWorks SKG in Jan. 1995 after entering into a $100 million television production venture with ABC. Plans to build a DreamWorks 'campus' have been hampered by environmental protests, but the studio is producing films.

Disney is releasing its latest film, 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame,' at a time when it is facing a number of difficult issues. These include legal action being taken against it by former chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, which is forcing the company to reveal financial details about which it has traditionally been secretive, and competition from DreamWorks, a venture created by Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg. This company is actively seeking to employ leading animators, and has already enticed James Baxter, a rising star, from Disney.

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment is the parent of Working Title, which produced Four Weddings and a Funeral, a low-budget motion picture which has been very successful. The movie could gross $50 million from the North American market, and a further $50 million in the rest of the world. Michael Kuhn, London president of Polygram Filmed Entertainment, argues that the success of this movie does not mean a revival of UK cinema, since it has been funded from profits made by record companies world wide.

Films that take up to two hours to watch take months and sometimes years to make. Three phases form the complete operation, pre-production, production and post-production. The first phase involves selecting the cast and crews, designing costumes and sets and deciding on the filming location. The production stage, which normally takes just six to eight weeks, involves the camera work. The rest is post-production, done in the editing or cutting room, where all the film is fitted together into the shape of the final film.

The current state of the UK film industry is considered. Particular reference is made to director Lewis Gilbert's work on a film version of Shelagh Stephenson's play 'The Memory of Water.' Gilbert indicates that, even with years of experience, it is hard to tell which films will be successful.

British publishers are being approached by the film industry which wants to sign film deals with new, promising authors.

The challenges facing Disney are discussed. The company has fallen behind competitors such as Time Warner as it has failed to adapt to new media marketplaces. It has also been negatively affected by the failure of Go Network.

Experiences of shooting a film in the revolving restaurant of the Berliner Television Tower, or Fernsehturm, in Berlin, Germany, are presented. The way in which the light and sense of space change throughout the day is highlighted.

The changing role of gleaners over time, and the making of 'The Gleaners and I', by Agnes Varda, are examined in detail.

Hollywood has turned out many dreadful films in 2000 and it is suggested that this is because the industry is afraid of trying anything new and is relying on old ideas.

Italy's biggest film producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori, head of the Cecchi Gori Group, is basking in the reflected glory of Roberto Benigni's three Oscar wins for 'Life is Beautiful'. However, although Cecchi Gori is seen as the mastermind of 'Life is Beautiful', he had very little to do with the making of the film, his name not even appearing on the credits. The Cecchi Gori Group distributed 'Life is Beautiful' in Italy where it was a record-breaking box office success, yet figures released in Jul. 1999 showed that its distribution arm had suffered a 43% slump in ticket sales in the last calender year.

DreamWorks, the film studio established by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, has proved extremely successful. In 1998, only its second year of film releases, all its films were very popular, with US box-office receipts averaging 65 million pounds sterling per film. DreamWorks has now purchased a plot of land on the Westside of Los Angeles, CA, and plans to construct its own high-tech production facilities. However, there are some negative rumours circulating about the studio, and problems could emerge if the relationship between Katzenberg, Geffen and Spielberg starts to break down.

Young film stars, such as Will Smith and Leonardo DiCaprio, are responsible for most of the recent hit films while older stars like Bruce Willis are declining in popularity. DiCaprio, in particular, is massively popular as a result of his role in the film, Titanic, which grossed over $600 million. He earns $25 million for each film he makes. Teenagers are his main fans and they are important to the movie industry because there are nearly 40 million American teenagers and the number is increasing rapidly.

The Dec 1998 launch of DreamWorks' first big animated film, 'Prince of Egypt' will test co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg's aim of changing the way cartoons are made. Katzenberg formed DreamWorks in 1994 along with David Geffen and Steven Spielberg. Katzenberg is enthusiastic about his work, saying what the firm is trying to achieve is 'so important', but admits to being nervous about the launch. 'Prince of Egypt' is based on the biblical story of Exodus, and is targeted at grown-ups. Katzenberg says the film 'has miracles at its centre', and that everyone wants to believe in miracles.

Seagram Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. is seeking to shift the focus at the company towards entertainment. This strategy has included purchasing the 75% stake held in PolyGram, the largest music group in the world, by Dutch electronics group Philips. With this deal, Seagram will derive more than 70% of its revenues from music, films and theme parks, with drinks accounting for less than 30%. Bronfman believes that, by adding PolyGram's 17% share of the world music market to the 6% held by Universal Music, he can reduce their combined costs by at least $275 million a year.

Following the sudden resignation of Rank Group Chief Exec Andrew Teare on Oct 29 1998, the UK leisure group now needs to find someone with 'an even more determined approach to drive the business forward', according to Chmn Sir Denys Henderson. There had been growing criticism of Teare and market speculation that the group would be broken up. The new chief executive will have a tough task, as did Teare, given the mixed nature of Rank's assets, which include a pub chain, the Hard Rock cafes, holidays, bingo clubs and cinemas.

Disney films were originally aimed specifically at children, even though adults also enjoyed them. In contrast, it now appears that Disney is actively targeting adults, seeking to turn them back into children. This trend seems to have begun with the notion of the theme park, especially the original Disneyland. The theme park ride, which has universal appeal, has now become the model for all cultural pleasures, and Disney films have become to increasingly resemble the mixture of thrill and fear contained in a theme park ride.