World Briefs
UNITED KINGDOM
Andie MacDowell will star in John McKay's "Sad Fuckers Club" for FilmFour, a comedy about a fortysomething woman who causes a rift with her friends by falling for a much younger man.
Anna Chancellor ("Four Weddings and a Funeral") and Imelda Staunton ("Shakespeare in Love") will play the pals. The male lead has yet to be cast. Pic will start lensing in June.
FilmFour has also confirmed that it has greenlit "Charlotte Gray," with Gillian Armstrong directing and Cate Blanchett toplining as a Scottish woman who joins the French Resistance during WWII in order to rescue her pilot boyfriend. That pic will shoot early next year.
Finally, Tobey Maguire and Harvey Keitel are attached to play the lead roles in FilmFour's period caper "Jack Sheppard and Jonathan Wild," to be directed by Ben Ross.
FINLAND
Exhib company Sandrew Metronome Finland is opening a WAP-based box office.
WAP (wireless access protocol) is the latest word in cell phone technology, allowing for Internet access on a cell phone screen. Finland is the home of cell phone giant Nokia.
Sandrew Metronome Finland's WAP box office will allow customers to buy tickets and make movie reservations directly on their cell phones.
JAPAN
Pubcaster NHK began a nine-day Broadcasting Satellite Digital Fair at its Tokyo complex on Saturday to introduce sample digital content for high-definition satellite transmission in December.
Also participating in the fair are seven commercial satcasters, including satellite subsids of five commercial terrestrial networks, that are also set to begin satellite transmission in December.
Fair was organized to raise public awareness of the upcoming digital satellite operations. According to a survey, only one out of 10 consumers knows about the December launch.
LATIN AMERICA
Hallmark Entertainment Network has upped Eduardo Vera to the new position of vice president and general manager, Latam.
Vera has been with the channel since February 1998 as veep of marketing development. He oversees the Miami and Brazil sales offices and all sales and marketing for the channel throughout the region.
