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48 BoxomcE<br />
INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS<br />
EUROVIEWS<br />
European News Notes by Kim Williamson<br />
LEAD STORY: MEGA MERGER<br />
BRUSSELS—Following a November ruling by Belgium's Competition Commission<br />
that the move was not anti-competitive, the Kinepolis companies—high-profile<br />
Belgian megaplex operators the Bert Group ana the Claeys Group, wnich<br />
together account for half the country's annual boxoffice—on Dec. 5 formally<br />
merged into one as Kinepolis Group Holding. The Bert and Claeys families, which<br />
are related not only monetarily but by marriage, plan to take the formalized<br />
Kinepolis operation public in the near future to help fund expansion plans, and its<br />
new corporate profile should prove more investor-friendly. Primarily through joint<br />
ventures, the 1 33-screen Kinepolis is involved in theatre builds in nearby France,<br />
Holland and Luxembourg and in such further climes as Spain, Hungary and India.<br />
DUTCH TREAT<br />
AMSTERDAM—With Minerva Theaters owner Jo van Willigen<br />
retiring. Polygram Filmed Entertainment Germany managing<br />
director Haig Balian and financial consultant Jan Willem Verhoef<br />
have acquired the 38-screen circuit, which is Holland's third largest<br />
and is known for its low-key strategy of upgrading aging sites and<br />
for building smaller plexes in medium-sized cities Uke Amhem.<br />
capita annually, that could change. The<br />
81 -screen Finnkino circuit has announced<br />
it plans to build a 10-plex in<br />
college town Tampere by spring 1999<br />
and to open a 14-plex in downtown<br />
Helsinki later this year, and Sandrews<br />
Metronome also is targeting the capital,<br />
with a lO-screener planned for 1998.<br />
CRACKING A SMILE<br />
OSLO—Timo Lahtinen, an eightyear<br />
veteran of Nordisk Film, where he<br />
was chief buyer for the Danish colossus,<br />
plans to bow Smile Entertainment in March. To be involved in<br />
distribution and consulting, the pan-Scandinavian operation will<br />
concentrate on importing international fare. Smile enters a marketplace<br />
that's a little moody: Formerly affiliated with SF Norge,<br />
Columbia TriStar Intl. this month launches its new venture with<br />
Danish giant the Egmont Group (which acquired Nordisk in 1 992),<br />
with ex-SF Norge director Bjom Hoenvoll at the head.<br />
AUSTRIA HUNGRY NO MORE<br />
VIENNA—Austrian filmmakers could find financing easier to<br />
come by this year, with the Austrian Film Institute forecasting a<br />
$10 million rise in funding, representing a 20 percent increase. The<br />
Vienna Film Financing Fund, the country s other government<br />
source for production financing, will provide another $4 million for<br />
filmmakers siting their projects in the capital during 1998.<br />
GIVING THE DIZ THE ROOT<br />
ROME—The fall cinema season was sluggish in Italy, which<br />
saw only "The Fifth Element" (US$2.5 million opening weekend,<br />
$7.7 million after three weeks) and local hit "Fireworks" (a phenomenal<br />
$9.2 million opening, $26.6 million after five weeks)<br />
strike gold. Moderate interest in such Hollywood fare as "Face/Off<br />
and "The Lost World" led to a 21 percent, or $12.5 million, boxoffice<br />
drop nationwide for the season's first two months.<br />
Money was also slow elsewhere: The Halloween deadhne passed<br />
without most private investors fmaUzing their participation in the<br />
newly formed Cinecitta Servizi, which will manage the partially<br />
privatized studio faciUty in Rome. Only Vittorio Ceccni Gori' s Cecchi<br />
Gori Group, Aurelio De Laurentiis' Filmauro and state film group Ente<br />
Cinema came in; among the holdouts were Silvio Berlusconi's<br />
Mediaset and England's Rank. Ente CEO/Cinecitta president Luigi<br />
Abete said he would seek replacement investors to provide the remainder<br />
of the $ 1 5 million in capitalization slated to be in place by June 30.<br />
Meanwhile, even as Berlu.sconi's Medusa Films (the production,<br />
distribution and exhibition unit of his Fininvest) said it planned to<br />
go public on the Milan exchange, Berlu.sconi and Medusa president<br />
Carlo Bema,sconi were found guilty of fraud in connection with the<br />
1 989 acquisition of Medusa predecessor Medusa Cinematographica.<br />
Both men's 16-month prison terms, however, were canceled.<br />
A FINE FINNISH<br />
HELSINKI—Finland's exhibition industry saw a 9.6 increase<br />
in admissions during 1997's first three quarters, according to the<br />
local Cinema Owners Association. At 350,000 tickets. Polygram's<br />
"Bean" by itself could be said to account for the rise to 4. 1 million<br />
heads, versus 3.8 million during the same period in 1 996. Although<br />
Finland is an industry laggard, averaging just 1.1 admissions per<br />
WHEREVER YUGO<br />
BELGRADE—^The operator of Moscow's high-profile Kodak<br />
Kinomir theatre. Golden Ring Entertainment, and Delta Holding, a<br />
real estate and banking concern operating in Belgrade, are planning<br />
Yugoslavia's first multiplex. Slated for midsummer 1998, the four- to<br />
six-screener (925 to 1 ,000 .seats) would convert an existing building at<br />
a cost of $2 million to $2.5 million. The 50/50 joint venture calls for<br />
GRE to operate the theatre and Delta to handle site concerns.<br />
TWIN BILL<br />
PRAGUE—London-based Toucan Entertainment has bought 49<br />
percent of the Galaxie multiplex, which was developed by<br />
CzechySlovak concern Kino 2005 and which has become a dominant<br />
boxoffice player in Prague, averaging 30 percent of the city's ticket<br />
receipts. An American company run by Robert Hemphill and Linda<br />
Powers, who've built energy projects in Eastern Europe, Toucan<br />
plans to spend $80 miUion on up to a dozen multiplex projects. Also<br />
in Prague: AB Barrandov has lost another leader. Like his predecessor,<br />
Vaclav Marhoul, whose induced exit won unpopular response<br />
last spring, general manager Pavel Prerovsky has left. Barrandov<br />
Studio chief Radomir Docekal is expected to run both operations.<br />
EUROBRIEFS...<br />
U.K. OK: Northwest London's revitalized<br />
Elstree Studios is<br />
adding two 15,000-square-foot soundstages to the three-stage facility,<br />
with the $6.5 million-$8.5 million expansion underway and<br />
set for October completion.. .CAPS ON: The film/TV think tank<br />
formed by European Union culture czar Marcelino Oreja will meet<br />
five times before submitting its policy recommendations in September<br />
to the European Commission.. ."BEOWULF'S" BACK:<br />
Literature students perhaps too familiar with the Old English classic<br />
take heed: A Threshold production, to be distributed by Capitol<br />
Films and Kushner-Locke, just filmed in Romania and at a Transylvanian<br />
castle. The futuristic version stars Christopher Lambert;<br />
Larry Kassanoff produces...A STAR IS BORN: The award statue<br />
of the European Film Academy has been redesigned as a woman<br />
in a dress decorated with the stars of Europe. Formerly called the<br />
Felix and depicting a man holding a bird, the remake was unveiled<br />
at the Berlin-based group's 10th annual ceremony in December.
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