Woody Allen is continuing his self-imposed exile from the US and will make his next movie in Spain, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The as yet unnamed English-language script will be written and directed by Allen for Barcelona-based production house Mediapro, using international and Spanish actors, the report said.
"I'm happy to be able to work with Mediapro and make a film in Spain," Allen said. "I hope that I'll be able to enjoy my stay in Spain, a country that has become very special to me."
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Allen's current film Match Point starring Scarlett Johansson, was shot in the UK in 2004, as was its follow-up, Scoop, set for release sometime this year.
Though Americans spent 10 percent more on buying or renting DVDs last year than in 2004, the home video sector nonetheless saw its first drop in over 25 years, according to preliminary figures released last week.
According to the trade publication DVD Exclusive, the DVD and VHS market in the US rewound one percent last year compared with 2004, when the industry reeled in US$24.1 billion.
Though slight, the drop was the first in the home video sector since its inception in the late 1970s.
The dip was attributed in large part to the collapse of the VHS market, where sales were down 60 percent last year from a year earlier. Sales of videocassettes represent just six percent of the home video market.
The rental market also shrunk four percent to US$7.7 billion, and has been on a steady decline after reaching a 2001 peak of US$8.4 billion, according to DVD Exclusive.
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The trade publication noted that lower prices were also a factor, with new DVDs sometimes selling for as little as US$1.
Final figures are due to be released later this month.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's film industry suffered its worst year in a decade last year with plunging domestic box office receipts and a decline in the number of local productions, according to figures released Wednesday.
Ticket revenues slumped by a third, grossing US$36.4 million compared with US$54.29 million in 2004, according to Hong Kong's Motion Picture Industry Association.
The industry released just 55 films -- the lowest number in a decade -- and well down on the 64 that hit cinema screens the year before.
Only two local films made the year's top ten earners: car racing action flick Initial D starring Jay Chou (周杰倫) which grossed US$4.88 million and Wait Til You're Older starring heartthrob Andy Lau (劉德華) with US$20.2 million.
Action hero Jackie Chan's (
While a plunging box office has left Hollywood and Hong Kong in a sweat, India's Bollywood is breathing easier after four blockbusters by legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan helped reverse its declining fortunes last year.
Bollywood, India's prolific Hindi-language film industry, invested US$230 million in nearly 150 movies last year and ended the year with a loss of around US$29.8 million against losses of US$39.1 million in 2004, according to film analyst Komal Nahta.
With four of the 20 hits recorded at the box office this year to his credit, Bachchan, 63, emerged as the undisputed movie mogul of Bollywood despite a serious ailment in the past few months which has delayed shooting of his new projects.
Judi Dench says she is no intell-ectual and never reads plays, just doing them ``because someone asked me to.''
``I've gotten myself into real trouble by saying yes to a play, then going to the first reading and
realizing, `This is a bummer!''' the actress said in the latest issue of Newsweek.
Dench, who plays a 1930s British dame who opens a nude theatrical review in Mrs. Henderson Presents, also admits to sneaking a peek at Bob Hoskins, who appears briefly in the nude.
``Of course! Don't think I'm going to let Bob Hoskins take all his clothes off and me not take a look? I just had a quick look up and down, like you would,'' she said.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located