FilmFour bosses throw in towel

The film company which produced Four Weddings And AFuneral, East Is East and Trainspotting has ditched its plans to take on Hollywood giants.

Channel 4 is finally closing its FilmFour sales and distribution arms after two years of losses - a move it says will lead to significant job cuts.

Executive Rob Woodward blamed the failure on difficulty in competing with US rivals. 'This has not proved possible, given the sheer scale of the major studios,' he said.

FilmFour spent £31million on production in 2001 but lost £5.4million following flops such as The Parole Officer and Charlotte Gray.

Instead, a £10million film commissioning fund will be included in Channel 4's programme budget. The FilmFour TV channel is unaffected.

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