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Cinema Expo execs salute best efforts
'Quantum of Solace,' 'Red Cliff' among honorees
By Carl DiOrio
June 24, 2009, 06:17 PM ET

AMSTERDAM -- Superior feats in the film biz were feted Wednesday at Cinema Expo, including honors bestowed on studios releasing 37 top-grossing films representing more than $10 billion in combined international boxoffice.

Distribution execs from 10 companies accepted Nielsen EDI International Gold Reel Awards for pics from the past 12 months with international boxoffice surpassing $100 million.

"We have been presenting these for eight years, and tonight we have a record number of films to honor," Nielsen Entertainment president Eric Weinberg said. "These films have generated more than $2 billion more outside the U.S. than within."

Gold Reels were awarded to all six major studios plus Summit International, New Line International, Pathe and Toho. Fox copped six awards; Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. grabbed five each; Summit International and Disney drew four apiece; and New Line, Pathe and Toho received one each.

The films honored ranged from such studio tentpoles as Sony's "Quantum of Solace" and Fox's "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" to more finely targeted genre fare like the Summit-distributed Hilary Swank-Gerard Butler dramedy "P.S. I Love You" and John Woo's Chinese-language actioner "Red Cliff."

Elsewhere among the evening's kudos, "Taken" helmer Pierre Morel was honored as international director of the year. The Fox action thriller has rung up $222 million in worldwide boxoffice to date, including $77 million internationally.

Disney exec vp Daniel Frigo was toasted as international distributor of the year, and Odeon/UCI chief Rupert Gavin accepted the laurels for exhibitor of the year. Chas Evans, Paramount's senior vp international creative affairs, drew a special award of appreciation.

Cinema Expo concludes its four-day run at the RAI convention center today. The annual exhibition confab is a unit of Nielsen Business Media, parent company of Nielsen EDI and The Hollywood Reporter.

A complete list of this year's Nielsen EDI International Gold Reel Awards follows:

"Journey to the Center of the Earth," New Line International
"Kung Fu Panda," Paramount Pictures International
"Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," Paramount Pictures International
"Monsters vs. Aliens," Paramount Pictures International
"Star Trek," Paramount Pictures International
"Tropic Thunder," Paramount Pictures International
"Slumdog Millionaire," Pathe
"Angels & Demons," Sony Pictures Releasing International
"Hancock," Sony Pictures Releasing International
"Quantum of Solace," Sony Pictures Releasing International
"Terminator Salvation," Sony Pictures Releasing International
"You Don't Mess With the Zohan," Sony Pictures Releasing International
"P.S. I Love You," Summit International
"Red Cliff," Summit International
"Red Cliff II," Summit International
"Twilight," Summit International
"Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea," Toho Co.
"Australia," 20th Century Fox International
"Marley & Me," 20th Century Fox International
"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," 20th Century Fox International
"The Day the Earth Stood Still," 20th Century Fox International
"Valkyrie," 20th Century Fox International
"X-Men Origins: Wolverine," 20th Century Fox International
"Fast & Furious," Universal Pictures International
"Mamma Mia!" Universal Pictures International
"The Incredible Hulk," Universal Pictures International
"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," Universal Pictures International
"Wanted," Universal Pictures International
"Bedtime Stories," Walt Disney Studios International
"Bolt," Walt Disney Studios International
"High School Musical 3: Senior Year," Walt Disney Studios International
"WALL-E," Walt Disney Studios International
"Get Smart," Warner Bros. International
"Gran Torino," Warner Bros. International
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Warner Bros. International
"The Dark Knight," Warner Bros. International
"Yes Man," Warner Bros. International

Outback track to go back to public

IT'S where Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman first locked lips and where poor Jack Thompson got crushed in a cliff-plunging cattle stampede. It's where the Aboriginal boy turned his back on white ways and wandered off with old King George to do his tribal manhood thing.

Key scenes in the film Australia were shot in the vicinity of the Karunjie Track, an old stock route that weaves through El Questro and Digger's Rest cattle stations in Western Australia's far north Kimberley.

Though the Karunjie Track is a gazetted public road, it hasn't always been easy in recent times for tourists to get to the Gulabidgi Swamp, where the Drover and Lady Sarah Ashley got drunk and intimate.

Likewise, locals from Kununurra and Wyndham have had their own difficulties accessing the same series of billabongs near the King River, where they have fished for decades.

The issues have arisen on El Questro, run by the Voyages resort group, which holds the station lease and offers everything from cheap tent accommodation to gorge-view suites at $6350 per night.

Because El Questro is a pastoral lease, Voyages are legally required to run cattle but, with no interest in hooves, they sub-leased the grazing responsibility to Kununurra man Lindsay Ward, who runs 5000 head.

Voyages has put El Questro on the market and the WA Government's Regional Lands and Development Department wants any sale to ensure that the Karunjie Track is fully accessible to all who want to explore the mighty mud plains, flat-top mountains, gorges and swamps which Australia's makers chose for their outback scenes.

Acting director general of WA's Regional Development and Lands, Paul Rosair, said negotiations were under way with Voyages and Mr Ward to provide an "agreed access arrangement that will continue to ensure public access across the Karunjie Track and minimise the impact on the pastoral operations of El Questro".

A section of the Karunjie Track on El Questro that gave access to billabongs had been the problem area and Mr Rosair said where "the track crosses the pastoral lease, the pastoralist can prevent access".

But he said the department wanted full public access to the track.

Mr Ward's lawyer, Emma Salerno, said her client had strong concerns about access issues, particularly passers-through who started fires or left gates open.

"He's faced with lots of challenges having a pastoral lease so close to townships," Ms Salerno said.

"I don't think tourists are a problem from the pastoralist's perspective. Most of the problems come from the locals. The issue isn't whether people access the track, it's what they do on it."