 |
 |
|
 |
Mamma Mia!is the highest grossing British film at the UK box-office ever, Universal's highest grossing film in history in the U.K. and 2008's highest grossing movie in the U.K., Austria, Greece, Hungary, Norway and Sweden. It continues to smash box-office records internationally and recently crossed the $550 million mark worldwide becoming one of Universal's top grossing and most profitable movies ever. It is and continues to be a phenomenon around the world and we’re looking forward to opening the film in Japan next year.
As I'm sure you've read, Universal has also just signed a major new distribution deal with DreamWorks, which filmmaker Steven Spielberg described as 'a lovely homecoming'. This is incredibly exciting and will give us some fantastic new movies to work on over the next seven years as we're expecting our release slates to add in four to six new movies a year.
Meanwhile, in the next two months, we'll be opening:
Burn After Reading in Spain, Australia, UK, & Mexico
Mamma Mia! in Italy
Wanted in China
Changeling in France, Italy, & UK
Hamlet 2 in France
Hellboy II: The Golden Army in Germany & France
Death Race in Spain, France, Korea, Australia, Mexico & Germany
I'd also like to mention to you all some news regarding international distribution in a number of our key territories.
We've agreed a deal with Paramount that we'll continue to release their product via UP's op co's in Benelux, Austria, Switzerland and Italy for the next two years.
The extension to the original arrangement is to give Paramount time to set up their own op co's in these key markets, which is taking a while longer than originally anticipated.
In terms of our upcoming slate, look out for advance reviews and buzz on Joe Wright's third film The Soloist, starring Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr and Catherine Keener which will now open in the first quarter of 2009 and keep your eyes open for the award campaigns for Frost/Nixon and Changeling which we hope will receive some significant attention this awards season.
That's it for now. I hope this is helpful and informative. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Best
David Kosse
Welcome to the first of the new monthly newsletters. We've revamped this to make it a bit more exciting and also, hopefully, more informative. These newsletters are intended to be for you and about you so we'd welcome your feedback on what you like in this month's issue and what you'd like to see in coming issues.
As winter and awards season is upon us, I thought it was an opportune time to recap some of our great accomplishments over the last few months and give you a sense of the many exciting things ahead of us for the rest of 2008 and 2009.
As you know, UPI has had a record-breaking year in 2008, our most successful year in history.
Having crossed the $1 billion mark this summer sooner than we’ve ever done before we’re now on track to hit in the region of $1.6 billion internationally by the end of 2008.
This has been propelled by a great slate with the jewel in our international crown being Mamma Mia!....
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
We're also in production on Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's new movie starring Brad Pitt, Mike Myers and Til Schweiger and an impressive ensemble of actors. The film promises to deliver what fans expect of a Tarantino film except this one is set against a backdrop of World War II France and Germany
And on October 27th, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu begins production on Biutiful starring Javier Bardem.
Production has begun in Los Angeles on he next comedy directed by Judd Apatow, Funny People.
Production also begins late October in Los Angeles, Bora Bora and Chicago on Couples Retreat, starring Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau and Jason Bateman.
You may also have read about a number of deals our colleagues at the international studio have been working on.
Firstly, Focus Features will release award-winning director Park Chan-wook's upcoming vampire thriller Thirst.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
Promotion:
Vadim Ivanov has now been promoted to our managing director in Russia. Vadim has been with us since August 2007 and in the ever-changing market in Russia he's a great asset to the company and we wish him success in this new role
Emin Soysaler has been promoted to MD of UPI's Swiss operation.
New Joiners:
Jan Jacob Lousberg (or JJ as you probably all know him) who has joined the international studio as a creative executive working in London with Claire Wise and Christian Grass.
Retirement:
Max Van Praag, our General Manager in the Netherlands is leaving after 23 years with the company and after 40 years in the film business, and Max Dietiker is leaving as MD of UPI's Swiss operation after 26 years with the company and 41 years in the industry to take early retirement.
I'd like to say an enormous thanks to both of them for their enormous contributions to the company over the many years they've worked for us. We wish them both all the best for the future.
|
|
 |
| Steve Martin will join Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin in the untitled romantic comedy that Nancy Meyers wrote and will direct in February. Meyers is producing with Scott Rudin. |
|
 |
 |
José Luis Hervais
MD of Spain |
 |
|
|
 |
| A clerk at a Video Store. That was the sign. |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
Universal has acquired the rights to The Devil Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger's novel Chasing Harry Winston and attached Andy Tennant (Hitch) to direct
Following on from our collaboration on Sid and Marty Krofft's 1970s kidshow creation Land of the Lost, Universal is also now adapting Sigmund and the Sea Monsters into a live-action film
Wes Anderson (The Darjeeling Ltd) is teaming up with Universal and Imagine to write My Best Friend, a remake of the 2006 Patrice Leconte directed French comedy Mon Meilleur Ami.
We are moving ahead with our fourth installment of "The Bourne Identity" series, setting George Nolfi to write the script.
|
 |
|
|
