ITV

Category: International

  • Oprah gets DVF Awards honour

    Oprah gets DVF Awards honour

    MUMBAI: Oprah Winfrey has been honoured with a “Lifetime Leadership” award at the third annual DVF Awards.
     
    Winfrey, 58, was hugged by long-time friend, designer and humanitarian Diane von Furstenberg, as she took the stage to accept the accolade on Friday night, Channel 24 reported.

    Von Furstenberg called Winfrey the “most formidable person I have ever met in my life”. The famous chat show host spent much of her speech honouring another of the night‘s award winners, Jaycee Dugard, who was abducted when she was 11 and held against her will for 18 years.
     
    Dugard took the stage soon after and got emotional as she thanked her mother for never giving up hope of finding her. She also spoke about her JAYC Foundation, which supports families dealing with abduction and other tragedies.

  • Controversy in salary of Max Mueller at Rome fest

    Controversy in salary of Max Mueller at Rome fest

    MUMBAI: Amid a new controversy, Paolo Ferrari, appointed as the Rome festival‘s president on 5 March, has denied that the incumbent next artistic director of the festival, Max Mueller would be paid $1.95 million as salary for a three-year term.

    Reports circulated in the Italian press said that Mueller would be paid a sum equal to the festival‘s $1.76 million deficit from last year‘s event. That reportedly has angered shareholders. Monday‘s reports returned the twisting and turning ten-week story over the future of the seven-year-old Rome event to Italian media headlines after a week hiatus.

    Ferrari‘s appointment was supposed to clear the way for Mueller, who had a successful eight-year in Venice before being ousted in favour of National Film Museum president Alberto Barbera in December. Though Mueller will almost be appointed as Rome Fest‘s artistic director, the process has so far been full of bumps.

    Once appointed, Ferrari and Mueller will have to work quickly to hammer out the details for their inaugural edition of the festival likely to be held in October next.

    The stakeholders‘ meeting that will officially appoint Mueller to the job will take place either on Thursday or Friday.

  • John Carter at top with $101.2 mn

    John Carter at top with $101.2 mn

    MUMBAI: Andrew Stanton‘s 3D science-fiction John Carter hit $30.6 million in its North American debut thanks to an uptick on Saturday, while the film opened internationally to $70.6 million for a total $101.2 million. In an otherwise bland box office weekend offshore, the film‘s robust performance provided a much-needed jolt.

    Although the Disney film‘s weekend overseas tally was easily the best so far, it does reflect the film‘s under-performance in key territories. Like for example, in Mexico that is usually far more receptive to adventure-fantasy vehicles, the film grossed less than $3 million ($2.9 million).

    The disparity between the Russian gross and the opening takes in key European territories has, however, been in double digits. The Australia figure appears undernourished given Carter‘s production budget and promotional push. 

    The $250-million-plus live action-computer animation fantasy claimed the No. 1 spots in at least nine territories mostly in Asia including ($3.4 million from some 250 locations) in Australia. However, the biggest single market by far was Russia where Carter took 25 per cent of the territory‘s weekend box office by grossing $17.5 million.

    In Germany, the film competing with Intouchables, generated $3 million. Carter is placed second in the UK ($2.9 million), France ($3.8 million) and in South Korea ($3.9 million).

    Placed in the second spot on the weekend overall was 20th Century Fox‘s This Means War that collected $9.4 million on the weekend from 3,662 situations in 52 territories. With this, the film lifted its overseas gross total to $57.5 million.

    At No. 3 was Journey 2: The Mysterious Island which was in the top spot in the previous four weekends grossed $9.2 million from 53 markets, thus lifting its overseas gross total to $200 million compared to $143 grossed overseas by its 2008 predecessor Journey To The Center Of The Earth.

  • Cruise set to show off his singing skills again

    Cruise set to show off his singing skills again

    MUMBAI: If all goes according to plans,Tom Cruise could again be showing off his singing skills in his next film opposite Beyonce Knowles. The actor is in talks to join the Clint Eastwood-directed film A Star Is Born that has Cruise play a musician who falls in love with Knowles‘ character and helps promote her career as a female artist.

    However, it is still unclear whether Cruise would agree to star in the film since he has a pretty busy schedule. A Star Is Born promises an updated version of a romantic relationship between an alcoholic star on his way out and a young female artist on the rise. The project has actually been developed for sometime, but it fell apart before finally coming back together again earlier in 2011. Eastwood‘s movie, meanwhile, is expected to kick off shooting as soon as June.

    The actor has just begun filming for Joseph Kosinski‘s Horizons that he will follow up with Doug Liman‘s We Mortals Are. Before Cruise, several others like Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Will Smith were approached for the male lead part.

    It is still unclear whether Cruise would agree to star in the film since he has a pretty busy schedule.The actor has just begun filming for Joseph Kosinski‘s Horizons and he will follow it up with Doug Liman‘s We Mortals Are. Eastwood‘s movie, meanwhile, is expected to kick off shooting as soon as June.

  • Hollywood studios laud China’s willingness to treat US films more fairly

    Hollywood studios laud China’s willingness to treat US films more fairly

    MUMBAI: The recent move of the Chinese government to comply with a World Trade Organisation order to treat US films more fairly has been lauded by studio executives in Hollywood.

    But privately, they wonder how it will shake out and when because the Chinese government has yet to sign a WTO Memorandum of Understanding.

    Hollywood had agreed to live with the resulting agreement because it could be revisited in five years. A fine ticking point was revenue-sharing: The studios wanted 30 per cent but had to settle for 25 (previously, it was 13 to 17 per cent).

    Beijing-based DMG Entertainment’s CEO Dan Mintz said, “Obviously, from the top-line level, all of this is good. But it‘s important to remember that the quota is just one layer that is used by the powers that be to control things. They have censorship, they control all the screens and hold control over when a film comes on against which competition and how long it stays in theatres.”

    The Chinese market is too hot for Hollywood studios not to keep trying. In 2008, the local box-office intake was $630 million; in 2011, it reached a massive $2.1 billion. Theatre construction is also growing by bounds spurring a proliferation of state-of-the-art 3D screens. And this is where Hollywood has the upper hand as its proliferation of 3D films deliver much-needed content.

    It may be noted that five of China‘s 10 top-grossing films in 2011 were 3D studio releases, all of them from Hollywood. In 2011, Transformers: Dark of the Moon (3D) was China‘s top-grossing title, earning $172 million.

    Interestingly, had the new revenue-sharing deal been in effect then, Paramount would have seen a return of $43 million compared to $26 million.

    The first 3D release set to open in China this year is Titanic 3D, in early April. No one — not even the film‘s overseas distributor, Fox — knows whether the new rules will be in place by then, but most studios believe they will by summer.

    It is also uncertain as to which 3D titles China will accept this year from films like The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises, Brave, The Avengers, Men in Black III and Madagascar 3.

  • Post acquisition, Lionsgate sheds 80 staff

    Post acquisition, Lionsgate sheds 80 staff

    MUMBAI: Following Lionsgate’s purchase of Summit Entertainment last January, the former has begun laying off about 80 of its employees.

    Most of the layoffs came in the motion picture and home entertainment divisions, where the two companies had the most overlap and staff reductions were expected, it is said.

    The lay-offs represent 12 per cent of the combined company. Of a total staff of 675, Lionsgate has about 500 employees, while Summit has around 175. The company is aiming at bringing the number down to around 575.

    Last Friday the company announced that its COO Steve Beeks had signed a new long-term agreement and is also taking on the additional title of president of the Lionsgate motion picture group.

    “With the growth of our combined operations through the recent Summit acquisition and a combined feature film slate that is now capable of generating a billion dollars a year at the North American theatrical box office alone, Steve‘s ongoing focus on financial discipline, cost control and overhead management is more critical than ever,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said in a statement.

    Besides Feltheimer, Beeks will also report to Lionsgate motion picture group co-chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger in his new president role for that division.

  • ActionFest from 12 to 15 April

    MUMBAI: ActionFest, the one of its kind international film festival devoted exclusively to action cinema will be held at Asheville between 12 to 15 April.


    The festival’s opening night film on 12 April will be the regional premiere of Michael J. Bassett’s Solomon Kane, a swashbuckling, visceral medieval epic starring James Purefoy (John Carter, Rome) and Max von Sydow. It is based on legendary stories from the creator of of Conan The Barbarian, Robert E. Howard.


    The closing night film on 15 April will be the regional premiere of Wu Xia. The film stars internationally recognized martial arts actor and fight director Donnie Yen who plays a tortured martial arts expert who attempts to begin a life of peace, only to find himself hunted by an obsessed detective and his former master, a ruthless bandit played by old school kung fu cinema icon, Jimmy Wang Yu.
     
    Founded by Bill Banowsky (founder of Carolina Cinemas and co-founder of Magnolia Pictures), famed action director cum producer Aaron Norris and Radius-TWC Co-President Tom Quinn.


    This year’s ActionFest Fight Choreographer Award will go to J.J. Perry, who wowed audiences with spectacular fights in Warrior, Underworld: Awakening, and Haywire. One of the most prolific high-profile choreographers in Hollywood, Perry has projects with Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Quentin Tarantino slated for future release.
     
    ActionFest will also honour legendary stuntman Mickey Gilbert (of Ben Hur and The Wild Bunch fame) with the Lifetime Achievement Award and pioneer in women‘s MMA and Haywire star Gina Carano with the Chick Norris Award.
     
    ActionFest was founded by Bill Banowsky, Aaron Norris, Dennis Berman and Tom Quinn. Colin Geddes, International Programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival, is the Festival Director.

  • Halloween 3D not to release this year

    Halloween 3D not to release this year

    MUMBAI: Dimension Films has taken off its next Halloween 3D from the release calendar this year. The wing of Weinstein Co. has confirmed that the film won‘t be ready in time for a scheduled 26 October release.

    With this Paranormal 4, that is to open on 19 October will now be the only horror film to release in October.

    In 2007, Dimension rebooted the long-running Halloween franchise that consisted of eight previous films. The same version, titled Halloween and released stateside through MGM, grossed $80.3 million worldwide. Later in 2009, the company followed up with Halloween II that went on to gross $39.4 million worldwide.

    For Halloween 3D, Dimension Films has been working with writer-director Patrick Lussier and writer Todd Farmer, who had earlier collaborated on 2009‘s My Bloody Valentine and 2011‘s Drive Angry.

    The new date for Halloween 3D is still to be announced.

  • Sequel to Project X in offing

    MUMBAI: Co-screenplay writer Michael Bacall is currently working on a treatment for the sequel of Project X.


    Bacall started working on the sequel a few weeks before Project X premiered at cinemas across the US and would hand over the same on completion to producers Todd Phillips and Joel Silver to decide if they would like to develop it into a script, it is understood.
     
    Project X made a massive $20,775,000 (?13,206,000) in US cinemas this week. It also made the top 10 in the UK and topped the Australian box office in its first week of release.

  • Rescheduling of Rome Fest’s dates pushed back

    Rescheduling of Rome Fest’s dates pushed back

    MUMBAI: After problems with the plan arose in recent days, plans to delay the International Rome Film Festival to late November may be put on the back burner till next year.

    The plan to change Rome’s dates so that the festival could serve as a mid-way point between the end of the Toronto Film Festival in September and February’s Berlin Film Festival was the idea of former Venice Film Festival artistic director Marco Mueller, who is expected to take up position as Rome fest’s new artistic director soon.

    But the plan has run into road blocks including scheduling conflicts with the Parco della Musica venue that is the centerpiece of the festival and a plea from officials at the Turin Film Festival, where its 30th edition is set to take place from 25 November to 3 December.

    Italian newspapers reported that Turin mayor Piero Fassino asked Rome counterpart Gianni Alemanno to postpone the change in dates for the Rome festival until next year to which the latter agreed.