Molaioli takes on the Simpsons
The films released contemporaneously with the Venice Film Festival (Vincenzo Marra’s L’ora di punta [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Andrea Porporati’s Il dolce e l’amaro and Sympathy for the Lobster by Sabina Guzzanti) could do little against Shrek the Third, the dominating box office force of this new season. However, released today by 20th Century Fox on over 700 screens, The Simpsons will now try to claim the number one spot.
By way of response, Medusa is releasing La ragazza del lago [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Andrea Molaioli’s crime film lauded at Venice in Critics’ Week, on 126 prints. This is an impressive figure given that the film is a feature debut, and will attempt to invert the trend of the past few weeks, which have not been very favourable to Italian cinema.
The result of an extraordinary production effort, Doug Lefler’s The Last Legion is the most recent dream of producer Dino De Laurentiis, who has always been comfortable with blockbusters. Here, he reunites an international group (with the UK’s Zephyr Films and France’s Quinta Communications) to recount the last moments of the Western Roman Empire. It is being distributed by 01 Distribution on 254 screens.
Financed in France (Wild Bunch), the latest film by Iranian master filmmaker Moshen Makhmalbaf, Scream of the Ants, is finally being distributed in 16 cinemas by BIM after a number of postponements.
European cinema is furthermore the inspiration behind Scott Hicks’ No Reservations, the remake of Sandra Nettelbeck’s Mostly Martha [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which replaces Sergio Castellitto and Martina Gedeck with glam couple Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart. Warner Bros Italia is distributing it on 231 screens.
(Translated from Italian)
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