Industry News Feb 08
Posted in News on February 26th, 2008Mel Gibson buys Dendy cinema chain
BECKER Group has sold its Dendy Cinema and film distribution businesses to Hollywood actor Mel Gibson’s company Icon Film Distribution for $21 million cash.
Becker Group was recently bought by regional broadcaster Prime Media for just over $30 million.
Becker’s cinema assets were originally planned to be sold to the Becker family as part of the Prime deal.
But the sale was scrapped after another company associated with Mr Gibson, Dolphete, prompted the Takeovers Panel to intervene on the grounds the transaction had too many related parties.
Dolphete was also understood to be behind a failed counter-bid for the entire Becker business, which was eventually trumped by Prime.
Becker said today that sale of the cinema business marked the conclusion of a competitive bid process.
"Icon was selected based on various parameters, including value, timing and transaction certainty,’’ Becker said.
Becker Group managing director Warwick Syphers, who is also head of Prime, said Becker would now focus on growing its on site broadcasting and television production assets.
At 12.40pm (AEDT), Prime shares were steady at $3.50 after rising as high as $3.60.
Foreign cast crashes Oscars party
AN English-born Irishman, an unknown French woman, a handsome Spaniard and the eclectic English daughter of an Australian and her Scottish nobleman husband were feted as the best actors of the year as Hollywood truly went international on Oscar’s 80th birthday.
As had been expected, Joel and Ethan Coen took out the top prizes — director and best picture — for their disturbing psychological thriller No Country For Old Men as Hollywood returned to its celebratory instincts after three dire strike-filled months.
Double nominee Cate Blanchett was overlooked in both acting races, only the third time from 11 that an actor nominated in both leading and supporting categories failed to win at least one. The Australian flag was flown, however, by documentary producer Eva Orner. Orner, who is from Melbourne, produced Taxi to the Dark Side, which is a searing look at the US war on terrorism.
For only the second time in history — and the first in 44 years — no American won any of the four prestigious acting races.
Daniel Day-Lewis won his second best actor prize for There Will Be Blood, and Spaniard Javier Bardem surprised no one by claiming the best supporting actor award for his turn as a crazed killer in No Country For Old Men.
The other two wins were upsets. Marion Cotillard triumphed as best actress for a memorable portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose. It was the first time Hollywood gave its highest honour to an actress in a French film, which was the reason many believed Cotillard would lose to long-standing front-runner Julie Christie.
The other surprise winner was 47-year-old Tilda Swinton in the best supporting actress category. Swinton spent part of her youth in Australia. Her mother, Judith, was born into the wealthy Killen farming dynasty of NSW and met her husband, Major General John Swinton, while he was aide-de-camp to former governor-general William Slim.
"I kind of thought Ruby Dee would win — frankly, anybody but myself," Swinton said later.
"I had a reverse Zoolander moment, when I think I heard someone else’s name, then suddenly slowly heard my own. … I have absolutely no idea what happened after that."
Orner’s Taxi to the Dark Side was a shock winner in the documentary race, beating favourite No End in Sight and Michael Moore’s indictment of the US health system, Sicko. "We’re so pleased and so surprised and so impressed," an ecstatic Orner said backstage.
There was another, sadder, Australian moment during the ceremony when Hollywood paid tribute to those who had died in the past year. The final acknowledgement was for Heath Ledger, with a scene of him in the film Brokeback Mountain briefly lighting up the darkened Kodak Theatre.
Coke in London 2012 talks over sponsorship clash
London 2012 has been drawn into negotiations with global Olympic sponsor Coca-Cola over its plans to sign up an exclusive grocery partner.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is working to agree a deal worth millions of pounds with a UK grocer, tipped to be Tesco, to become a tier-one sponsor of London 2012 (Marketing, 10 October).
However, industry sources claim Coca-Cola is concerned that the tie will lessen the impact of its own promotional exclusivity, under the terms of its global top-tier partnership agreement with the International Olympic Committee.
In order for LOCOG to go ahead with its plans to secure a supermarket as its 10th tier-one domestic Olympic partner, Coca-Cola may have to be persuaded to relinquish some of its exclusive retail channel rights.Coca-Cola is a long-standing partner of the Olympics and agreed a 12-year extension to its current deal in 2005, securing it as a global sponsor for both the 2016 and 2020 events. Calls to Coca-Cola were not returned and LOCOG was unavailable for comment as Marketing went to press.
