Notícias

‘Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.’

Quentin Tarantino’s ninth movie Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood posted the biggest debut of his career in Australia last weekend, emulating its Us success.

The 1969-set drama/thriller starring Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie and Damon Herriman opened 68 per cent bigger than his previous best effort Django Unchained in 2012.

The downside: The Sony Pictures release sucked a lot of air from the second weekends of Universal’s Palm Beach and Transmission Films’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.

The top 20 titles raked in $14.4 million, 3 per cent up on the previous frame, according to Numero. Mind Blowing Films’ Bollywood film Mission Mangal and Magnum Films’ Hong Kong thriller Line Walker 2 had buoyant launches while Universal’s A Dog’s Journey opened with neither bark nor bite, mirroring its Us fate.

The lurid tale of a TV actor (DiCaprio) who wants...

Director Alister Grierson acknowledges ABC1 has given his film Parer.s War a tough time-slot next Sunday night, programmed against the finale of Downton Abbey on Seven and the Logie Awards on Nine.

So he.s keen to bang the promotional drum for the dramatised saga of WWII cameraman Damien Parer, whose work almost cost him the woman he loved.

.It.s a very romantic movie, a nice change from my movies which usually show people getting blown up,. said Grierson, whose first feature was Kokoda, the story of Australian soldiers stranded in the Papua New Guinea jungle in 1942, which screens on SBS1 on Saturday night.

The director credits the ABC with giving him, producer Andrew Wiseman, screenwriter Alison Nisselle and DoP Mark Wareham a lot of creative freedom on the $4.5 million production, a generous budget for a telemovie. Matt Le Nevez plays Parer with Adelaide Clemens as the woman he loved,...

Kodi Smit-McPhee, Harry Greenwood, Tom Budge, Lincoln Lewis, Matt Nable, Anthony Hayes, Lachy Hulme and Ashleigh Cummings are among the big ensemble cast announced today for the Endemol Australia/Nine Network miniseries Gallipoli.

A three-month shoot starts in and around Melbourne on March 17 with Glendyn Ivin (Beaconsfield, Puberty Blues) directing. The screenplay by Christopher Lee (Howzat! Kerry Packer.s War, Paper Giants, Rush, Police Rescue) is adapted from the best-selling book by Les Carlyon.

The producers are John Edwards (Howzat! Kerry Packer.s War, Beaconsfield, Paper Giants, and Offspring), Imogen Banks (Puberty Blues, Offspring) and Robert Connolly (producer of Balibo and The Boys, director of Underground: The Julian Assange Story, The Slap). Nine.s co-Heads of Drama Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan and Endemol Australia CEO Janeen Faithfull are executive producers. .Smit-McPhee plays 17-year-old Thomas .Tolly. Johnson, who lies about his age to enlist with his brother Bevan in the...

An Australian director is to helm a new project about the mother of Jesus, with a Texan pastor as executive producer and a marketing campaign targeting Christians.

Announced at Cannes Film Festival, Mary Mother of Christ will be directed by Sanctum and Kokoda’s Alister Grierson.

The film marks Grierson’s first non-Australian story, working from a script by Barbara Nicolosi and Benedict Fitzgerald who co-wrote the screenplay to Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.

The film will have a faith-based marketing campaign in the Us, according to Deadline, lead by Motive Entertainment who specialise in the faith market.

Motive were behind the marketing campaign of The Passion of the Christ which earned $125m in its opening five days and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe which grossed $1bn worldwide.

That marketing will also make use of Ep and pastor of the Lakewood Church in Houston Texas,...

Australian director Alister Grierson has signed a deal to direct "Mary Mother of Christ," a Biblical story to be distributed in the United States by Lionsgate. The deal was announced at the Cannes Film Festival, where Hyde Park Entertainment is currently handling international sales. Grierson's previous films include the 3D underwater thriller "Sanctum," which was released last year, and 2006's World War II action film "Kokoda." Benedict Fitzgerald, who co-wrote the screenplay for Mel Gibson's blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ," co-wrote "Mary Mother of Christ" with Barbara Nicolosi. Israeli actress Odeya Rush has...

Director Leovic

Producer Prime

Micro budget psychological thriller Roadman is to have its premiere in Adelaide next month after a 16 year journey from script.

Written and directed by Peter Leovic and produced by Stephen Prime, the 25 day shoot was mainly crewed by past and present students of Adelaide’s Maps – Media Arts Production Skills – Film School along with local collective Urtext.

It features Travis McMahon, who co-starred in Kokoda, as a serial killer who finds the love of a good woman.

Roadman will premiere at the Palace Nova Cinema in Adelaide on October 21, with the DVD and digital downloads of the film going on sale on the same day.

According to Prime, who teaches part time at Maps, the main obstacle to overcome was the budget. He said: “The budget was incredibly tight. And very few experienced players were putting their hands up to go around the block with us.

Screen Development Australia in association with its state-based organisations is calling for entries for competition, The National Pitch 2011.

The winner of the competition will represent Australia at the Motion Picture Association (Mpa) Asia Pacific partners with the China International Copyright Expo (Cice) Film Workshop in Beijing to compete at an international level against 13 representatives from other territories in the Asia Pacific region.

However, entrants must first win their state rounds.

Metro Screen’s Network Coordinator Craig Boreham told Encore, “It’s not about pitching a production so much – it might be: a producer pitching themselves or their slate; they might be looking to move into the long form because they’re experience in shorts has led to success at various film festivals; It might be a director who has the project they want to make; a scriptwriter to discuss their various ideas. It’s for someone ready to sell themselves...

Chicago – If “Avatar” stood as a reminder of James Cameron’s undying popularity with audiences, “Sanctum” stands as proof that Cameron’s name alone can’t always sell a picture. Though the filmmaker merely served as executive producer of this murky thriller, the screen overflows with his signature tropes: underwater landscapes, 3D photography, hokey characters and pedestrian dialogue.

It nearly comes as a shock to discover that “Sanctum” was in fact not written and directed by the technologically ambitious, proudly commercial auteur. This sophomore directorial effort from Alister Grierson (“Kokoda”) is the sort of trash entertainment that undiscerning FEARnet subscribers may appreciate. The film prides itself on being devoid of the usual knee-jerk scares in cave-bound pictures, though it’s no less formulaic or artificial than any run-of-the-mill studio product.

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0

Viewers don’t have to be connoisseurs of clichés in order to predict every twist and turn after...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer – Jordana Beatty, Heather Graham, Parris Mosteller

Super 8 - Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka, Kyle Chandler

Movie of the Week

Super 8

The Stars: Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka, Kyle Chandler

The Plot: After witnessing a mysterious train crash, a group of friends in the summer of 1979 begin noticing strange happenings going around in their small town, and begin to investigate into the creepy phenomenon.

The Buzz: The trailer for Super 8 sent shivers down my spine — good shivers. This film looks to be a beautifully crafted Spielbergian throwback. I’m pleased with the lack of A-list actors too. There’s been an air of mystery around this whole production, as J.J.Abrams and company did their best at keeping everything about this film on the hush-hush. I’ll be checking it out as soon as humanly possible...

This review was originally posted February 4, 2011. It has been reprinted for the film's home video release. Let’s be honest. Any success had this weekend by "Sanctum" will depend in large part on the appeal of these few words: Executive Produced by James Cameron. He’s the biggest part of the poster, the loudest bit of the opening credit sequence, and perhaps the most compelling feature of the entire promotional campaign. The director, Alister Grierson, is a relative newcomer from Australia with a single feature film under his belt, 2006’s "Kokoda". Aside from Ioan Gruffudd of "Fantastic Four" and "King…...

Although James Cameron’s Avatar hasn’t yet made it out on Blu-ray 3D for wide purchase, available only in bundles with Panasonic hardware, the filmmaker who’s one of 3D’s biggest fans will see his next movie released on Blu-ray 3D the same date it hits the regular formats. Sanctum will arrive on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on June 7 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

The underwater adventure movie wasn’t a big hit in theaters, grossing only $23 million in wide release, but it bowed with mixed reviews and the knowledge that although Cameron’s name was on the poster, he was producing, not directing. Helming duties were done by Alister Grierson in only his second feature film after the action movie Kokoda in 2006.

Sanctum also didn’t have any big name stars to entice viewers, like The Tourist did with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. Not to...

Sanctum director Alister Grierson took the helm of the ambitious 3D action thriller after being recruited by James Cameron and producer Andrew Wight but was having James Cameron as his boss more intimidating than the underwater 3D shoot?  Find out in our interview with James Cameron, Alister Grierson and Andrew Wright.

Listen to James Cameron & Alister Grierson Interview

 

During CineMovie's interview with James Cameron, Alister Grierson, and Andrew Wright in Los Angeles the weekend before Sanctum'S big release, director Alister explains why his bosses were impressed with his first full-length film Kokoda (2006), a low-budget war drama which became a hit in his native Australia.  Kokoda

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The name James Cameron is one that anyone would want in the credits of their film, and it will certainly shine the spotlight on what is Australia’s first live action 3D feature, Sanctum. Georgina Person reports.

Cameron is making international headlines during the worldwide promotion of Sanctum - due to his role as executive producer. However, director Alister Grierson and writer/producer Andrew Wight have little objection to the interest the project is attracting because of his involvement.Sanctum tells the story of a group of divers (including Richard Roxburgh, Rhys Wakefield and Ioan Gruffud) who become trapped in a series of underwater caves. It is based on Wight’s own near death experience whilst filming a documentary in Australia’s remote Nullabar cave systems. It was shot using the same 3D cameras and techniques developed from Avatar… with only a portion of the budget.

A Bar Set Very...

James Cameron's name may be on the marquee for Sanctum (due in theaters this Friday, February 4), but Cameron is the first person to admit the lion's share of work on the new underwater cave thriller went to Australian director Alister Grierson. Grierson's debut film, the World War II movie Kokoda, caught Cameron's attention and convinced the genre legend Grierson would be the right man to tackle the new survivalist thriller, based on the real-life experiences of writer, producer and cave diver Andrew Wight. I recently spoke with Grierson about the task of crafting the first 3D feature to bear Cameron's name since Avatar. Check out our chat after the jump. How did you first get...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

The Roommate – Minka Kelly, Leighton Meester, Cam Gigandet

Sanctum – Richard Roxburgh, Ioan Gruffudd, Allison Cratchley

Movie of the Week

Sanctum

The Stars: Richard Roxburgh, Ioan Gruffudd, Allison Cratchley

The Plot: An underwater cave diving team experiences a life-threatening crisis during an expedition to the unexplored and least accessible cave system in the world.

The Buzz: This film looks stunning. I’m excited to see it in IMAX 3D. With a cast of relative unknowns (save Richard Roxburgh of Moulin Rouge) the star of this one looks to be cinematographer Jules O’Loughlin.

This is S.O.P. as far as Hollywood marketing is concerned, but I’ve always been annoyed when production credits are used to dupe the cinematically challenged populace. This film is produced by James Cameron, not directed. Direction credits go to Alister Grierson, a relatively untested director; Sanctum being only his second feature,...

The cast has been announced for "Priscilla" and "Easy Virtue" director Stephan Elliott’s upcoming feature "A Few Best Men" which begins shooting next week in Sydney and the nearby Blue Mountains region.

When English lad David announces he is getting married to an Australian, his hapless mates give a whole new meaning to the phrase 'for better or worse'! The chaos-filled wedding day tests their new marriage, challenges David’s relationships with his three best men, and risks turning what should be the best day of their lives into the worst.

Olivia Newton-John and political satirist Jonathan Biggins will star as the parents of the bride. Also starring are Xavier Samuel ("Twilight: Eclipse," "Newcastle"), Kris Marshall ("Death At A Funeral," "Easy Virtue"), Kevin Bishop ("Spanish Apartment," "Food of Love"), Tim Draxl ("Traveling Light," "Swimming Upstream"), Laura Brent (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), Steve Le Marquand ("Beneath Hill 60,...

Sanctum is the latest film to have James Cameron’s name attached to it, in the form of executive producer. The film is a Us/Australian production and it was filmed in Queensland. It stars Ioan Gruffudd, Richard Roxburgh, Alice Parkinson and Rhys Wakefield. It was directed by Alister Grierson who previously directed the Australian war film Kokoda. It is set for an Australian release on February 3rd, and a Us/UK release on February 4th. This is yet another 3D film, it will be showing in Digital 3D as well as IMAX 3D.

Official Synopsis: The 3-D action-thriller Sanctum follows a team of underwater cave divers on a treacherous expedition to the largest, most beautiful and least accessible cave system on Earth. When a tropical storm forces them deep into the caverns, they must fight raging water, deadly terrain and creeping panic as they search for an unknown escape route to the sea.

If you don’t remember Sanctum, it’s the 3D movie set underwater that is being executive produced by James Cameron, and directed by Alister Grierson (Kokoda). Today we have the Sanctum trailer and new images from the film to share.

The movie is based on events that happened to one of the film’s co-writers, Andrew Wight, who went deep-sea diving and ended up trapped with a group of other divers in an underwater cave system.

The film adaptation of that harrowing story is said to focus on “the unique relationship between father and son, and the fragility of that bond when faced with the onslaught of nature.” You can check out the official Sanctum synopsis and trailer below:

Synopsis:

The 3-D action-thriller Sanctum, from executive producer James Cameron, follows a team of underwater cave divers on a…

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Here's the first trailer for the James Cameron produced film Sanctum, which looks like a fun and intense film. It kind of reminds me of the horror film The Decent, but without the monsters. I enjoy watching these kinds of films, so I'm looking forward to it. I've always been interested in deep dark exploration. I tried sperlunking (cave diving) once, had fun, almost died, and I haven't done it since. I feel much safer experiencing it on the big screen these days. 

Sanctum was directed by Alister Grierson (Kokoda), and shot in 3D. The film stars Richard Roxburgh, Rhys Wakefield, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Parkinson and Dan Wyllie.

Synopsis:

The 3-D action-thriller Sanctum, from executive producer James Cameron, follows a team of underwater cave divers on a treacherous expedition to the largest, most beautiful and least accessible cave system on Earth. When a tropical storm forces them deep into the caverns,...

A few new posters have hit the net today and we’ve decided to post them all together. Up first is a new international poster for Ben Affleck’s The Town which is much better than the domestic version released a few days ago. While Affleck is a decent actor, so far he’s a great director as I loved Gone Baby Gone and The Town looks fantastic. The film starts to play Festivals in the next few weeks, so look for reviews very soon.

The other new posters are for The Thing prequel and Sanctum 3D - which James Cameron is “presenting.” Hit the jump for more info and the posters:

Thanks to encoremagazine.com (which scored a few photos at Jupiters Hotel and Casino on the Gold Coast, during the 65th Australian International Movie Convention) we have our first look at The Thing prequel poster and Sanctum. Since...

Forget marauding rubber tyres, world's greatest dads, machete maidens and 3D cane toads, the hottest ticket at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival is Richard Gray's debut Summer Coda. 

The romantic drama was the first film to sell out at the festival -- one of the large Acmi theatres no less -- and not even sweet talking or who-you-knows will get you one of the last minute reserve seats; they're gone too! I've tried. 

Summer Coda was the runner up in the Australian version of Project Greenlight back in 2005, narrowly missing out on the $1 million first prize. However Gray stuck to his guns and shot the film with a stellar Aussie cast back in November last year, up in the orchard and vineyard country around Mildura in northern Victoria, and later in California. 

"Stellar cast" may sound like the usual film hyperbole, but seriously when you've got Rachael Taylor (Transformers,...

From last night we have a slew of recently changed and freshly announced released dates to pass on. Leading with the most telling move, Sony thinks their recent MGM acquisition, the Kevin James comedy The Zookeeper, has earned summer tentpole status [THR]. The studio pushed the release date for this talking-animal comedy from October 8th of this year to July 8, 2011, with Sony distribution president Rory Bruer remarking, “It’s got tremendous heart and soul. And talking animals? Gimme a break, it’s so funny.” The animals who collectively function as Cyrano to James’s zookeeper are voiced by Sylvester Stallone, Adam Sandler, Jon Favreau, Judd Apatow, and Cher among others.

After the break, you’ll find dates for Charlie St. Cloud, The Adjustment Bureau, Catfish, Cheaters, The Night Chronicles: Devil, James Cameron Presents Sanctum 3D, Your Highness, and something called Ballers.

Here are the details on the updated schedule for...

Avatar may have taken writer/director James Cameron years to make (and even longer to conceive), but that doesn’t mean the famed director is taking a long vacation to recharge his batteries. Along with Battle Angel (which Cameron is writing and directing), the famed director is producing a new underwater 3D thriller called Sanctum.

Sanctum is based on real events that happened to one of the film’s co-writers, Andrew Wight. He had… an experience (to say the least) when he went deep-sea diving and ended up trapped with 14 other people in a cave system for a full two days after a freak storm blocked their entrance and they were forced to look for another way out. Supposedly the film speaks volumes about “the unique relationship between father and son, and the fragility of that bond when faced with the onslaught of nature,” or so Cameron says.

Cameron has...

James Cameron's Avatar may be imprinting on box office history and entertaining the hordes of movie-goers with its 3-D spectacle, but the director's got another project dogging the footsteps of his cinematic masterpiece. And it's right on our shores.   The production of Sanctum, an underwater adventure, executive produced by Cameron and his long time associate, Aussie Andrew Wight, is underway in Queensland. Incorporating the Cameron-Pace 3-D camera technology that brought Avatar to life, and boasting a $30 million budget, Sanctum promises to mark Australia on the 3-D filmmaking map. And at the helm of the action is Alister Grierson, directing his first feature film since the acclaimed 2006 flick Kokoda, which he made soon after graduating from the Australian, Film, Television and Radio School (Aftrs).

A Prophet

Opens: February 12th 2010

Cast: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Hichem Yacoubi, Reda Kateb

Director: Jacques Audiard

Summary: Sent to prison, Malik El Djebena falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins their confidence but uses his intelligence to discreetly develop his own network.

Analysis: Finally scoring a limited release in the Us in February, Jacques Audiard's violent and hard-edged prison drama won the Grand Prix at Cannes, scored Best Film at the London Film Festival, and is already the hotly tipped favourite to take the Oscar for Best Foreign Film late next month.

Reviews have been stellar around the world for the film which quickly became the most universally admired entry in the often hotly contentious first week of Cannes back in May. From a breakout performance by Tahar Rahim,...

While some don't believe wishes come true, they certainly are for writer and director J. Harkness (Shot Of Love) as his latest film, Birthday, has been Officially Selected In Competition for the Anchorage International Film Festival, and will be releasing in Australia in 2010.   J. Harkness' first wish was to adapt his stage play, Birthday, into an independent feature film. This wish came true when he found financial backing, a passionate and impressive cast, and the support of the sex industry, in which the film is set. All were inspired by Birthday's story of human intimacy and love within the conflicting and compelling world of sex workers, and the film was filmed in Harkness' home town of Adelaide in 2008, with a cast that includes Kestie Morassi (Wolf Creek), Richard Wilson (Clubland), Travis McMahon (Kokoda), Chantal Contouri and newcomer and co-producer Natalie Eleftheriadis in the lead role.

One of the biggest names in all of moviedom can’t seem to get enough of the water. James Cameron is producing Sanctum, an underwater thriller directed by Alister Grierson and penned by Andrew Wight and John Garvin.

According to our friends over at First Showing, Sanctum is based on Wight’s personal experience deep sea diving into a network of caves, only to have a freak storm manage to close the entryway, forcing the group to search (I suspect to frantic classical music) for another exit. The threat of drowning could provide more suspense than I’ve seen in a long time, especially since it’s based on a true story. Course, a Survivor wrote the piece… so…

Cameron’s been all over the news lately in connection with his widely-publicized upcoming film, Avatar, which is set to hit theaters December 18th. It’s his first feature since 1997’s über-popular Titantic.

According to Variety, Relativity and Universal will be teaming up to release Sanctum. The film is an underwater 3-D drama that is supported by James Cameron.

The companies have agreed to dole out an "$11.5 million minimum guarantee to distribute in North America, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand."

The film will be released under the Rogue label through its distribution arrangement with Universal. The film will have a 2,000-screen domestic rollout. Universal will also handle distribution and marketing.

Sanctum was initially worked on at Rogue before Relativity bought the genre imprint from Universal.

Sanctum has a budget of $30 million and will shoot later this year in Australia.

Directing Sanctum will be Alister Grierson (Kokoda). The script was written by Andrew Wight and John Garvin.

Sanctum is based on an almost fatal experience that Wight had while leading a diving expedition through underwater caves.

He may be heading to space with Avatar, but on some level, James Cameron is still mired under the sea. He directed two deep-sea documentaries after the sea adventures of Titanic, and now will produce Sanctum, a drama about a diving team trapped for two days in an underwater cave. Sanctum, which will be filmed in 3-D of course, is a fictionalized version of a true story about divers trapped in the cave off the coast of Australia when a freak storm collapsed the cave entrance. According to Variety, the movie version will follow a "hard-edged" father and son pair who lead the diving team. Alister Grierson, who made the UK World War Ii film Kokoda, will direct the screenplay by Andrew Wight and John Garvin. Wight was one of the divers who survived the real-life cave collapse. Unlike many movie moguls of his stature, Cameron hasn't lent his name...

Wayfare Entertainment has committed to finance the $30 million 3-D underwater survival drama Sanctum that will shoot with James Cameron's Avatar cameras and 3-D technology. Variety says the film is expected to begin shooting in Australia late this year. Alister Grierson ( Kokoda ) will direct from the script written by Andrew Wight and John Garvin. Wight, who has collaborated with Cameron on such documentaries as Aliens of the Deep and Ghosts of the Abyss , is the producer. Cameron is executive producer, along with Wayfare principals Ben Browning, Michael Maher and Peter Rawlinson. Sanctum is a fictional drama inspired by Wight's near-death experience when he led an expedition of 15 divers into a remote underwater cave system below Australia's Nullarbor Plain, and...