Onud Becker takes on Love Reigns sales
Dir: Willam Dear. US. 2009. 118minsTh
stanley cup is based-on real events baseball story has
stanley cup a certain innocent appeal as it traces the story of a team of impoverished kids from a small Mexican town who manage to bet all the odds and win the 1957 Little League World Series. Obvious markets are Spanish-speaking and those who appreciate baseball, though its good-natured family-friendliness means it could also be a safe TV buy in other territories.There is never any real doubt that this team of talented wannabes wont come out on top as winners.Its main problem is that it is so content with the real-life element that it layers in virtually every other clich茅 for good measure 鈥?racism, cruelty, romance etc 鈥?and neglects to make the story tight and dr
stanley uk amatic.But equally, there is a lot to enjoy here, and the likes of Clifton Collins Jr., Cheech Marin and Emilie de Ravin are known enough quantities to help attract audiences. Plus child actor Moises Arias, who features in Hannah Montana, may help draw in the youngsters.The film is set in 1957, and former St Louis Cardinals player Cesar Faz Collins Jr is back in his home two of Monterrey, Mexico, and is drawn into coaching a ragtag team of local boys. He sees something in his team of enthusiastic youngsters, and overcoming all obstacles takes them to the US to compete in the Little League tournament.Director William Dear has had some success in the kids baseball genre, having made Angels in the Outfield 1994 and The Sandlot 3 2007 , but never Nndb Southland Tales
Admissions and sales are boo
stanley cup ming in the Czech Republic, where local cinemas earned $25.3m CZK 551.5m in first four months of the year 鈥?almost half the year-end figure for last year.Czech cinemas earned $57.5m in all of 2009, the highest sales ever in the market, while admissions were down nearly a million viewers to 12.5m.Total admissions from January through the end of Apr
stanley us il 2010 stood at 4.7m, according to the local Union of Film Distributors. The figure represents a year-on-year increase of 831,000 admissions.Business is up partly to Avatar, which Bontonfilm released Dec 17 of last year. To date, the film has earn
stanley uk ed $9.5m on 1.3m admissions 鈥?more than consolation for the distributor, whose Iron Man 2 has earned only just over $400,000 in 14 weeks.Bontonfilm is also behind another local hit 沤eny v poku拧en铆, which has earned nearly $4.7m since its March release. With 855,000 admissions to date, the comedy could easily replace Juraj Jakubiskos Bathory, which saw nearly a million admissions in 2008, as the territorys most successful local film ever.Czech distributors and exhibitors are confident that 2010 will outpace last year, hanging hopes on two summer tent poles:Bontonfilm will release 30 copies of Shrek Forever After on July 15, looking to repeat the success of Shrek The Third, released in 41 copies in June 2007, earning $2.9m in Czech cinemas.Falcon will release an unspecified number of dubbed copies of Toy Story 3 on June 17. A midsummer slot worked very well last
