Amelie Pursues Oscar Destiny
Le Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain, the hit film with more than 5 million French tickets sold during the past two months, will be released in the US before the end of the year so that it is eligible for an Oscar nomination. Amelie From Montmartre, as it will be called in English, will be distributed stateside by Miramax. The success of the film, which is in competition at Karlovy Vary before moving on to open this year's Edinburgh Festival, follows last year's international hit Le Gout Des Autres, that was nominated for a foreign-language Oscar.

Shrek Gobbles Up Box Office Records
DreamWorks' green ogre, Shrek, has passed the $200 million domestic box office mark, making it the studio's second most successful film ever after Saving Private Ryan. Ryan's record of $218 million could be surpassed since Shrek, as the studio's largest opening, has been such a hit in its first month. Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and John Lithgow have all provided voices for the movie that DreamWorks distribution head Jim Tharp says "plays to audiences across every geographic and demographic divide." The success has inspired DreamWorks to plan making a sequel.

Serreau To Get a New Baby
Coline Serreau, the director of the French movie Three Men and a Baby, has been tipped to become the new director of the powerful French filmmakers' society, ARP. The association, which is made up of filmmakers who must be both producers and directors, is a lobbying organization that also distributes royalties from the $1.4 million it brings in every year from a copyright tax. If Serreau is inducted as the new president at the official announcement on June 28, she will join a cast of past presidents including Jean-Jacques Beineix, Claude Berri and Claude Lelouche. Serreau will also start shooting a sequel to her popular original movie, 18 Years Later, on July 2.

Lieberman Lobbies for Bush Support Against Hollywood
Senator Joe Lieberman, the Democrat who has led a campaign to hold Hollywood accountable for pushing violence on its young audiences, is seeking support from President Bush. The president has not yet given his opinion about the entertainment industry, but Senator Hillary Clinton is co-sponsoring Lieberman's bill. The legislation has launched a backlash from Hollywood, where MPAA president Jack Valenti has said he would recommend that studios release movies without ratings. A similar bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives.

Filmart Reflects Asian Expectation
Riding the waves of interest ignited in Asian cinema, Filmart, the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market, is expecting a 30% rise in buyer attendance at this year's event this week. The director of a local film association says that western filmmakers are particularly interested in martial arts and special effects movies that have put Asian films in the center of movie trends. The market runs June 27 to July 1.

EuroPalaces Gets Stamp of Approval
The planned merger between the exhibition divisions of French cinema competitors Gaumont and Pathe passed a hurdle this week when Gaumont shareholders approved the plan. The new merger, EuroPalaces, will allow the two distributors to focus on the production side and to better compete with the French leader UGC. With 700 screens, EuroPalaces will take the rank of biggest exhibitor and will open about twenty new complexes. Pathe and Gaumont, though rivals, are owned by brothers Jerome and Nicholas Seydoux.

SAG Still in Blackout
As the end of the week draws near, so does the Screen Actors Guild contract - June 30. The SAG has been holding day long discussions in a media blackout so as to keep the negotiations "focused," which began May 15. The same strategy was applied to the Writers Guild of America negotiations, which settled without a strike on May 4. The only SAG news divulged to the press recently was the appointment of John F. Cooke to the expanded position of Chief Executive Officer/National Executive Director at SAG, who in the past held the position of executive vice president at J. Paul Getty Trust (external affairs) and The Walt Disney Company (corporate affairs) and president of The Disney Channel from 1985 - 95.