Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: In a victory for the major Hollywood studios, a federal judge in Los Angeles terminated an ongoing lawsuit against the operators of TorrentSpy.com in favour of all six of the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) member companies.

The MPAA maintained that the site TorrentSpy blatantly contributes to, profits from and induces massive infringement of copyrighted content including movies, music and games. The court imposed the harshest sanction against the TorrentSpy defendants because of their destruction of evidence and subversion of the judicial process. The ruling means that TorrentSpy operators are liable for copyright infringement.

MPAA executive VP and director worldwide anti-piracy operations John Malcolm says, “The court’s decision is a significant victory for MPAA member companies and sends a potent message to future defendants that this egregious behavior will not be tolerated by the judicial system.”

“TorrentSpy is a one-stop shop for copyright infringement and we will continue to aggressively enforce our members’ rights to stop such infringement,” Malcolm adds.

In its decision, the court ruled that “although termination of a case is a harsh sanction appropriate only in extraordinary circumstance, the circumstances of this case are sufficiently extraordinary to merit such a sanction.” The court found that the evidence was “not deleted or modified negligently, but intentionally in direct response to the institution of this lawsuit.”

Observing that the defendants “already had been subjected to lesser sanctions in this case,” including a fine of $30,000 for violation of a court order, the court concluded that the “harsh sanction” of terminating the defendants’ case was the only appropriate remedy.

The evidence defendants destroyed included forum postings with references to copyright infringement and other incriminating statements; site directories referencing copyrighted works and subcategories clearly referring to pirated content; and user IP addresses.

The worldwide motion picture industry, including foreign and domestic producers, distributors, theatres, video stores and pay-per-view operators lose more than $18 billion annually as a result of movie theft. More than $7 billion in losses are attributed to illegal Internet distributions, while $11 billion is the result of illegal copying and bootlegging.

MUMBAI: Percept Picture Company (PPC), a part of Percept Holdings, is pumping in Rs 300-350 million for Hanuman 3, a 3-dimensional movie.

Hanuman 3 is slated for release in 2010. Kerala-based Toonz Animation will be doing the post production work for the movie.

PPC will shortly start on the pre-production of Hanuman 3. The name of the sequel movie is yet to be decided.

Released in 2005, Hanuman Jai Bajarangbali was a block buster. The Return of Hanuman has released this Friday.

“We are investing Rs 300-350 million for Hanuman 3. The story, director and title of the film is yet to be decided. Our aim is to make Hanuman a universal animation entertainment property in terms of value and appeal,” PPC CEO Preet Bedi tells Indiantelevision.com.

Hanuman offers merchandising opportunities for multiple products like key-chains, sharpners, face masks and maze. For Return of Hanuman‘s branded merchandise, Percept has already tied up with Future Group, Jump Games, Baskin Robbins, D‘damas and Camlin.

Regarding expanding the footprint of Return of Hanuman, PPC and Toonz Animation have decided to release it in four Indian regional languages. It will also be made available in foreign languages.

“We will dub Return of Hanuman in at least four Indian languages including Tamil and Telugu. We will also release it in English, German, Italian and Spanish languages, probably with sub-titles,” says Bedi.

Besides Hanuman and Return of Hanuman, PPC has also produced or distributed Mera Pahla Pahla Pyar (MP3), Traffic Signal, Deadline, Jai Santoshi Maa, Malamaal Weekly, Corporate, Pyaar mein twist, Makdee, Dor Home Delivery and Phir milenge.

Toonz Animation India is part of the international business conglomerate, Comcraft Group, which is based in Geneva and a major provider of animation to the top US and European producers.

MUMBAI: Welcome, which is being distributed worldwide by The Indian Film Company (IFC), has grossed Rs 571.8 million in its opening week.

MUMBAI: Hollywood major Warner Bros tops international box office in 2007, with a revenue of $2.15 billion.

The $2-billion figure this year represents the company‘s second-highest gross, trailing only the $2.2 billion achieved in 2004, the highest in the industry.

Internationally, this year Warner Bros‘ bouquet of films includes Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 300, Ocean‘s Thirteen, Blood Diamond and Beowulf. The five films alone grossed $1.3 billion, while Beowulf is still running in the theaters.

Disney has raked in about $1.66 billion, followed by 20th Century Fox at $1.64 billion, Paramount Pictures at $1.60 billion, Sony Pictures at $1.27 billion and Universal Pictures at a touch above $1 billion.

While Warner Bros won the international box office numbers, Paramount won the battle domestically, with $1.47 billion. Warner Bros was second with $1.34 billion of its worldwide $2.15 billion coming in the US.

Disney‘s 2007 release Pirates of the Caribbean: At World‘s End emerged as the biggest-grossing film in 2007 with $653 million internationally. Disney and Pixar‘s Ratatouille grossed $411 million as well.

Paramount‘s recent purchase of DreamWorks proved to be very profitable as Shrek the Third registered $475 million, while Transformers tallied $387 million. Both movies were under DreamWorks.

Spider Man 3 chalked up $555 million for Sony Pictures, making it the highest-grossing installment of the Spider Man franchise and kicking off the highest-grossing international summer blockbuster in movie history.

Sony also got a boost from The Pursuit of Happyness ($121 million) and Ghost Rider ($104 million).

Universal Pictures had just two films that grossed over $100 million – The Bourne Ultimatum ($215 million) and Mr Bean‘s Holiday ($192 million). However, it had a bevy of films that grossed between $50-75 million, such as Evan Almighty ($73 million), The Holiday ($73 million), Knocked Up ($70 million), I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry ($65 million), Hot Fuzz ($57 million) and American Gangster ($53 million).

MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment releases two Hollywood films Crime & Punishment and The Effects of Magic in home video format.

MUMBAI: Aamir Khan‘s directorial debut film Tare Zameen Par (TZP) is declared tax-free in Delhi in view of the message it conveys.

TZP is about children who are slow learners and has a protagonist who himself is dyslexic.

Produced by Aamir Khan and PVR Pictures, TZP follows Anurag Kashyap‘s Return of Hanuman which was also declared tax-free nation-wide before its release. The Rs 200 million budgeted film Return of Hanuman is releasing on 28 December.

“The expectation is that the tax-free status of TZP will extend to other states,” an industry observer said.

TZP which opened with 425 prints pan-India, has reportedly raked in Rs 150 million at the domestic box office in the first three days.

In recent past movies like Koi Mil Gaya, Rang De Basanti and Lage Raho Munnabhai have been declared tax-free in some states.

MUMBAI: HSBC Investments (Singapore) Ltd. has increased its stake to 9.10 per cent in The Indian Film Company (IFC), a specialist film investment firm where TV18 Group has substantial interest.

HSBC holds 5.01 million equity shares in IFC, following its recent purchase in the market. IFC is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.

“HSBC has recently bought in the market and increased its stake in our company,” confirms IFC CEO Sandeep Bhargava to Indiantelevision.com.

HSBC made a purchase of 1.08 million equity shares of IFC in the market for a consideration of ? 817,000 (Rs 65.36 million) in mid-December.

Network18 Fincap Ltd has 18.18 per cent stake in IFC and BK Media Mauritius Pvt Ltd 3.45 per cent. Raghav Bahl is a director of IFC and substantial shareholder of both Network 18 Fincap and BK Media Mauritius.

Viacom Brand Solutions holds 4.55 per cent while Halbis Capital Management has 11.05 per cent, Elara Capital 10.90 per cent and Dundee Leeds Management 9.09 per cent (as of 31 July, 2007).

The Indian Film Company raised ?55 million (Rs 4.4 billion) through an initial public offering (IPO) this year. The company seeks to invest in films where it retains full ownership of all Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), although ownership may be shared with co-producers, directors and actors if necessary.

IFC has taken worldwide distribution of Welcome and Jab We Met. The co-productions include Bhootnath, Little Zizou, Halla Bol, Golmaal Returns and Loot.

MUMBAI: Shyam Benegal is directing a film based on the life of Gautama Buddha. Mumbai-based Beyond Dreams Entertainment Ltd and Colombo-based Light of Asia Foundation are co-producing the film.

The film is expected to go on floors around mid-2008 and slated for a mid-2009 release.

Screenplay writer Atul Tiwari will pen the story, screenplay and dialogue of the film. It is also reported that talks are on to rope in Hrtithik Roshan.

Professor Nimal D‘Silva, Buddhist scholar in the South Asia region, has been appointed to head the research, along with scholars from China, Japan and Korea.

“This is a historic moment for South Asian Cinema. We are about to tell the story of a man who was born in the Indian subcontinent and redefined the way the world thinks. Gautama Buddha‘s philosophy is more contemporary today than ever before,” said Beyond Dreams Entertainment Limited CEO Yash Patnaik.

MUMBAI: Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision has raised $33 million (approximately Rs 1.32 billion) via foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), with an option to raise an additional $5 million.

“The proceeds of the issue shall be utilised for production of movies and purchase of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of movies outside India,” says a company statement.

The bonds have a maturity of five years due in 2012. The underlying equity shares on conversion will be listed on BSE and NSE. The FCCBs will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

In July, the company had decided to raise funds for expansion by issuing FCCBs to the extent of $50 million. The board had also decided to issue warrants on preferential basis to the extent of $20 million.

Shree Ashtavinayak has nearly 12 films already on the floors for release next year including Golmaal Returns, Superstar, Chala Murari Murder Karne and Mr Fraud.