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FEATURE


FIP has not only signed up director Na Hong-jin for another film but also has begun to assemble a development slate in the territory. When Chinese co-production Hot Summer Days broke out at the box office, FIP was there to make Tony Chan and Wing Shya’s follow-up Love In Space, which took around $10m. The collaboration with German multi-hyphenate


Matthias Schweighöfer created the $17.6m hit What A Man in 2011, while the $13m smash You Are The Apple Of My Eye, which FIP did not produce, con- tributed to a 20% increase in local-language box office in Taiwan in 2011 and earned $25m in territo- ries where Fox distributed. Astral City grossed $20.9m in Brazil and Federal Bank Heist (Assalto Ao Banco Central) took $11.8m. Meanwhile August. Eighth has amassed $9.9m in Russia. “Between acquisitions, distributions and co-pro-


ductions, we have made more than 40 films in three years in 11 countries,” Panitch says. He declares himself pleased with FIP’s early progress, noting the performance of the nascent arthouse label Fox World Cinema, which provides a US DVD and dig- ital platform for fans of international or interna- tional-flavoured fare such as Miss Bala and the re-release of Slumdog Millionaire, and the in-house sales unit led by Shebnem Askin-Schreger. Askin-Schreger is at Cannes touting FIP’s Span-


ish-language Argentinian thriller Everybody Has A Plan, starring Viggo Mortensen, which is in post. There have been challenges. “As markets expand


there’s a frothiness that happens in terms of talent asks and appetite, so it’s balancing a bit of the growth potential with also being prudent about budgets and having realistic expectations at the box office,” he says. It has taken time to adapt to certain business cultures, one example being Japan, where the high cost of distribution has given rise to the consortium structure with partners sharing the risk. When a challenge becomes a “stumble”, as Pan-


itch calls it, he is quick to highlight the upside. So Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s adventure film Hayabusa “wasn’t a disaster but we had bigger expectations


FIP is selling Everybody Has A Plan at Cannes


‘We’ve acquired a handful of projects we are considering making as English- language European


co-productions’ Sanford Panitch, FIP


for it”. He continues: “But I don’t really look at it negatively because in adapting to the consortium process you see why they invented that system, so we got to share the benefits of being protected by many partners.” FIP strives to secure remake rights to its films


and the word on the street is that Panitch has been exploring English-language European co-produc- tions, to exploit ownership of potentially lucrative properties. When pressed, he reveals FIP is building a slate and wants to structure these remakes as European co-productions that accrue tax breaks and qualify for subsidies. The partners will be ven- tures like FIP Germany, FIP Russia “or wherever we set up local entities”. It seems the trick here is to reverse-engineer a local hit into a package that is palatable to audiences more familiar with the Hol- lywood format. “International production doesn’t only mean non-English,” Panitch says. “On the production side


for FIP, it’s a natural and new initiative to utilise the full machine of worldwide distribution. I view Eng- lish-language European productions as an addi- tional weapon in the arsenal. The European co-production entities we created for local films are well suited for overseeing films that would shoot in those territories — in any language. We’ve been acquiring a handful of projects, primarily in the action or thriller space that we are considering making as English-language European co-produc- tions this autumn.” Upcoming titles include Federal Bank Heist,


which as in the case of the Portuguese-language original will use real events as its source. FIP is also preparing a remake of The Yellow Sea. “One of its great merits is the film has so many qualities that would lend itself to something that could work in a Hollywood format.” A third project may be the first to go in the autumn, though Panitch prefers to keep mum for now. n


s


South Korea’s The Yellow Sea


Brazilian hit Federal Bank Heist May 17, 2012 Screen International at Cannes 43 n


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