Aiom Maidan
French film groups G
stanley cup aumont and Pathe - headed respectively by brothers Nicolas and Jerome Seydoux - are forming a joint venture to house their exhibition interests, EuroPalaces, which will be 66% owned by Pathe and 34% by Gaumont.The new combine, which will be chaired by Pathe/Chargeurs Eduardo Malone, will operate 700 venues in Europe and forecasts sales of $267.4m FFr2bn for 2000.Both companies have suffered from the launch of UGC s loyalty pass, although Gaumont, which competes head on with UGC in Paris, has been hardest hit. Gaumont, which operates 370 screens in France, had a market share of 12.7% at December 1, compared to 15.6% for UGC with 340 screens.Gaumont, which has also suffered from the dismal box office results of its $36m Cannes-opener Vatel, has already registered a $3.48m FFr26m loss for the first half of 2000. Following the merger, Gaumont will conce
stanley cup ntrate on its film production and distribution activities.Pathe, which operates 219 screens in France and has an 8.8% market share, also operates a
stanley cup strong theatre network in the Netherlands and has development projects in Italy and Swizterland. EuroPalaces is expected to invest $401m FFr3bn over three to four years in the development of new venues, according to Malone, more than 50% of which will be in France, with the remainder in the Netherlands, Italy and Switzerland.Jerome Seydoux described the UGC pass, which has been investigated by French competition authorities, as an accelerator, making consolid Gxvb There s life outside London
Dir:Roberto Ando. It-Switz. 2004. 105 mins.Asurprise choice as closing film for this year s Cannes Critics Week, StrangeCrime is a frustratingly
stanley cup unresolved erotic thriller about false identityand dark secrets from hardworking Italian indie director Roberto Ando. Mostmemorable for its steamy sex scenes between Daniel Auteill and Anna Mougalis,which take us back to the good old days when European arthouse cinema was soldabroad as soft porn for intellectuals, the film suffers when it lets its plot,as well as its characters, become overheated.Thoughmajority-produced in Italy, the film was shot in French,
stanley cup and this, togetherwith Auteuil s Gallic pulling-power, may translate into better results inFrance than in Italy, where the film has taken a lacklustre Euros 456,435 fordistributor Medusa since its Feb 27 release.Outsideof Francophone Europe and Poland - where parts of the film are set - StrangeCrime is unlike
stanley germany ly to get more than the most perfunctory theatricaldistribution, but its auxiliary prospects are a shade better. It s the sort offilm that would benefit from being rewound a couple of times, especiallytowards the end, when it gets difficult to unpick the whos, whys and whens ofan increasingly rococo storyline.Thestory - about a successful writer who is being blackmailed by the daughter of adead colleague whose manuscript he may or may not have appropriated to launchhis career 20 years before - is intriguing at first. But eventually it losesits way, as one plot twist too many
