When Meg Ryan and Antonio Banderas signed up to star in an independently produced comedy-action movie called “My Mom’s New Boyfriend,” the film’s backers figured they had a slam dunk — a modestly priced film with bankable stars that would surge at the box office.
The producers say the $17 million movie scored well in test [...]

Abu Dhabi will today lay out plans to become one of the biggest movie producers in the world, with $1 billion to invest in productions from Hollywood to Bollywood, the Financial Times reported.
Abu Dhabi’s government will provide enough funding to support up to eight films a year over the next five years, Edward Borgerding, chief executive [...]

Mathieu Kassovitz is pissed off. The French auteur, who first made waves in 1995 with La Haine, is supposed to be celebrating the passion project he’s been nursing for the past five years. Instead — the week before Babylon A.D. hits theaters — he is nursing a grudge. “I’m very unhappy with the film,” he says. “I never [...]

Film buyers will be able to access hundreds of new films at the touch of a button, just one aspect of the Dubai Film Market, an initiative of the fifth Dubai International Film Festival. 
Cinetech will make its Middle East debut later this year, enabling industry buyers to watch and shortlist films, contact filmmakers and producers.
The [...]

Picture this: a film studio complex and public entertainment venue in Nashville that would capture the look and feel of Universal Studios Hollywood — only without the rides and with a project pipeline loaded with films targeted at heartland audiences.
That’s the pitch being made to redevelop the Tennessee State Fairgrounds by Woodland, Calif.-based Tower Investments [...]

Indie film’s easy-money era is over, but new opportunities are emerging.
 
These days, any seller hoping to land a distribution deal at a fest or market like Toronto in September realizes that only a few lucky winners will land a seven-figure minimum guarantee from a studio specialty division.
(Variety)
 

Emboldened by this summer’s success with “The Dark Knight,” Warner Bros.’ movie studio is setting a new strategy.
The Time Warner Inc. unit, like some other Hollywood studios, is planning to release fewer films into the crowded marketplace. But the studio, known for making more big, expensive movies than most rivals, plans to make even more of those [...]

How could this happen? The question springs to mind as 20th Century Fox claims it has the rights to the graphic novel on whichWarner Brothers is basing “Watchmen,” its giant superhero movie.
Peer deeper into the murk of Hollywood’s business practices, though, and the question becomes: How could it not?
The film industry was buzzing last week after [...]

Ear-shattering explosions? Check. Gore splattered across the screen? No problem. Graphic sex scenes, or maybe a little torture porn? Bring it on. In Hollywood, anything goes these days — except cigarette smoking.
Rarely in the history of motion pictures have the forces of censorship been as successful as anti-smoking crusaders have been recently. Last year, after [...]

A movie boss at Warner Bros studios has apologised to fans for delaying the much-anticipated release of the next film in the popular series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
The film was scheduled to be released in November this year, but Warner Bros rescheduled it to July 17, 2008, an eight-month delay that dismayed many Potter [...]