ITV

Category: International

  • MJ doctor gets four years in prison

    MJ doctor gets four years in prison

    MUMBAI: Dr Conrad Hunt, who was convicted in the overdose death of Michael Jackson, has been sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison.

    The doctor was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a six-week trial that presented the most detailed account yet of Jackson‘s final hours but left many questions about the doctor‘s treatment of the superstar with an operating-room anesthetic as he battled chronic insomnia.

    It may be noted that Hunt told detectives he had been giving the singer nightly doses of propofol to help him sleep as he prepared for a series of comeback concerts. Propofol is supposed to be used in hospital settings and has never been approved for sleep treatments, yet Hunt acknowledged giving it to Jackson then leaving the room on the day the singer died.

    The doctor declined to testify during his trial but did opt to participate in a documentary in which he said he didn‘t consider himself guilty of any crime and blamed Jackson for entrapping him into administering the propofol doses.

    In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors cited Hunt‘s statements to advocate that he receive the maximum term. They also want him to pay restitution to the singer‘s three children Prince, Paris and Blanket.

    However, it‘s unlikely that Hunt would be able to pay any sizable sum including the $1.8 million cost of Jackson‘s funeral.

  • Radcliffe tops list of rich under 30 celebrities

    Radcliffe tops list of rich under 30 celebrities

    MUMBAI: The Heat Magazine recently declared its list of the top five richest, young Britishers under 30-years-old entertainers.

    Topping the chart is Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe who has retained his No. 1 position. Radcliffe, 22, who played the boy wizard in the movie adaptations of J.K. Rowling‘s bestselling novels, earned 51.8 million pounds ($80 million) over his career, according to Heat estimates. The actor‘s earnings for 2011 were 6.1 million pounds higher than in 2010.

    Actress Keira Knightley, who starred in several of the Pirates of the Caribbean films remained second on the chart, while singer Adele was the highest new entry at 16. Knightley‘s earnings totaled 30.9 million pounds while Adele, whose second album ‘21‘ is set to be the biggest selling album in the world this year, entered the list at No. 16 with a fortune of 7.7 million pounds.

    Robert Pattinson, lead actor of the Twilight franchise moved up to third from fifth position left behind two of Potter stars, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, according to the celebrity magazine.

    Three stars dropped out of this year‘s list – opera star Katherine Jenkins and model Kelly Brook both exceeded the 30-year-old limit while singer Amy Winehouse, ranked 15th last year, expired in July last. 

  • Unseen footage of MJ’s Dangerous remains unsold

    Unseen footage of MJ’s Dangerous remains unsold

    MUMBAI: Unseen footage of Michael Jackson‘s 1993 Dangerous tour that was expected to fetch 4-5 million pounds failed to sell at an auction last Saturday in Britain.

    Around two hours long, the footage was shot by Jackson‘s own production crew and meant to be an intimate portrait of Jackson on tour. But the singer was unhappy with the quality and gave the only copy to his driver who was now trying to sell the footage, auction house The Fame Bureau said.

    Said a spokesman of the auctioneer who specialises in pop memorabilia, “We are still talking to people, but online it did not sell.”

    He was however confident that a buyer would be found, although nothing is a certainty. The auction house said that it had been forced to remove a brief clip of the video from its website before the online auction after Jackson‘s record label made a copyright claim.

    The fact that a successful buyer may not be able to use the film for commercial purposes may have dampened demand given the hefty asking price, but the spokesman played down the copyright dispute. “I don‘t think that was a problem at all,” he said, adding that any serious potential buyer would be fully aware of the issue.

    Items related to Jackson have skyrocketed in value since his death in 2009. The red and black leather jacket he wore for the Thriller video sold for $1.8 million in Los Angeles in June.

  • Summit, Lionsgate resume merger talks

    Summit, Lionsgate resume merger talks

    MUMBAI: Two of Hollywood‘s biggest independent producer/distributors Summit Entertainment and Summit Entertainment have resumed talks about a merger.

    The two film distributors have had several merger talks in the past but things didn‘t proceed as issues of how much each was worth and who would end up in charge of the combined company could not be worked out.

    While both of them are among the strongest independent film distributors who compete with major studios like NBC Universal, Warner Bros. and Disney, the two companies differ on many issues.

    Summit, which is privately held, has been in the domestic distribution business since 2007, when former Warner Bros. and Paramount executive Rob Friedman joined the company.

    Summit has had a mixed record with its movies except for the Twilight franchise, which produced more than $1 billion in box office sales even before the current release. Part 2 of Breaking Dawn is scheduled for release in November 2012.

    Lionsgate is a publicly traded company based in Vancouver with offices in Santa Monica, California. While it is active in movies, including The Expendables and a series of Tyler Perry films, it has also had considerable success in television.

    Lionsgate also has a much larger film library than Summit, with about 13,000 film and TV titles that have helped it achieve about 8 per cent of the domestic home entertainment market.

  • Planet of Snail is best doc at Amsterdam fest

    Planet of Snail is best doc at Amsterdam fest

    MUMBAI: Seung-Jun Yi‘s Planet of Snail has won the best feature length documentary award the 24th International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).

    The film, that traces the man‘s interactions with the world and his loving wife, had been an early favorite of audiences and industry-attendees alike.

    A special jury award and the audience award went to Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi for 5 Broken Cameras. Mid-length Argentinian documentary Montenegro by Jorge Gaggero and Chinese-Canadian co-production The Vanishing Spring Light picked up other international honours. The top Dutch award was bagged by Jessica Gorter for 900 Days.

    Other notable documentaries that eclipsed awards were The Ambassador, They Call it Myanmar – Lifting the Curtain and Cape Spin.

  • Breaking Dawn tops foreign box-office position

    Breaking Dawn tops foreign box-office position

    MUMBAI: Unwilling to leave its supremacy at the box office, Summit International‘s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -Part I didn‘t budge from its No. 1 box office position for the second consecutive weekend on the foreign theatrical circuit having grossed $7l.5 million from around 11,000 locations in 68 markets.

    The fourth installment of the Twilight saga that has already generated $268 million offshore, yielded $11.4 million from some 790 sites in Germany while in the UK, the film drew another No. 1 ranking with a weekend tally of $7.5 million. Cumes in Spain ($18.6 million), Italy ($18.1 million), Australia ($21.3 million) and France ($21.9 million) remain robust.

    Following Breaking Dawn is Intouchables the highest grossing French title in the market this year. Sony Animation‘s co-production of seasonal family title Arthur Christmas drew $11.9 million from some 4,000 screens in 24 markets.

    The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn, flew past the $200-million foreign gross total mark over the weekend ($207 million). The stop-motion animation film in 3D opened offshore on October 26. The joint Sony-Paramount release generated $11.5 million from 11,800 venues in 51 markets. 

  • Rachel Weisz in talks for The Railway Man role

    MUMBAI: Rachel Weisz is in talks to star opposite Colin Firth in The Railway Man directed by Jonathan Teplitzky.


    The 41-year-old will play the role of Patricia ‘Patti‘ Wallace, the second wife of Firth‘s character Eric Lomax, a second lieutenant in the Royal Corp of Signals who is captured by the Japanese army in Singapore during World War II.


    The real life story is based on former army officer Eric‘s book which details his experiences as a prisoner of war, and how he set out decades later to track down his tormentors and exact some revenge. Patti was responsible for helping him to confront his fears and she also wrote to the man Eric held responsible for his torture.


    Jeremy Irvine, known for his film War Horse will play a younger version of Firth‘s character during his time in captivity.

  • Ben Whishaw to play gadget maestro Q in Skyfall

    Ben Whishaw to play gadget maestro Q in Skyfall

    MUMBAI: Now that the casting of the James Bond film Skyfall is nearing finalization, Ben Whishaw has been cast to play gadget maestro Q in the film. Whishaw‘s role would be that of the MI6 boffin who traditionally dishes out the gadgetry to 007 for his missions.

    The actor joins the cast led by Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney among others, is reported to have been assigned the role for the Sam Mendes directed actioner.

    It is very heartening to note that Whishaw will be the first Q in the franchise‘s history to be younger than 007. While he is 31, Craig is 43.

    Q is a James Bond staple for older 007 fans as he hasn‘t appeared in a Bond adventure since 2002‘s Die Another Day when John Cleese essayed the role.

    For the previous 36 years, the gadget whizz and inventor had been played by Desmond Llewelyn.

    Skyfall is scheduled to release in the UK and Ireland in October 2012 and later in November the same year in November.

  • Sundance Institute renews Film Forward program

    Sundance Institute renews Film Forward program

    MUMBAI: Sundance Institute has renewed its program-Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue initiative that was introduced last year.


    Film Forward connects contemporary US and international films and filmmakers with diverse global audiences and features documentary and narrative films.


    The films selected for the second year of the Film Forward program are: Another Earth, by Mike Cahill; Beginners, by Mike Mills; Bran Nue Dae, by Rachel Perkins; Buck, by Cindy Meehl;Grbavica, by Jasmila Zbanic; The Green Wave, by Ali Samadi Ahadi; On The Ice, by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean; Senna, by Asif Kapadia; Somewhere Between, by Linda Goldstein Knowlton; and Unfinished Spaces, by Benjamin Murray and Alysa Nahmias.


    The program with travel to India apart from China, Morocco, Columbia and France this year. Film Forward filmmakers will travel with the initiative to present their work and participate in master classes, discussion panels among other engagements with audiences.


    Last year, more than 1,18,000 people attended 116 presentations while more than 30 workshops and panels worldwide were conducted by Film Forward‘s filmmakers and other film professionals. 

  • Buddha Mountain is best film at Toronto fest

    Buddha Mountain is best film at Toronto fest

    MUMBAI: The recently concluded 15th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival saw the Fasken Martineau Best Feature Film Award lapped up by Chinese director Li Yu‘s Buddha Mountain.


    The other highlights of the awards ceremony include the opening night gala presentation of the Hong Kong film Lover‘s Discourse, the Canadian shorts program Trailblazers, the world premiere of Vietnamese-Canadian feature film Pearls of the Far East and the new media exhibition Lost Secrets of the Royal.


    Other winners include: National Ban Best First Feature Film Award to South Korean film The Journals of Musan, Jury Honourable mention to Chinese film Piercing 1,
    Animasian Award to Japan‘s In a Pig‘s Eye, Jury honourable mention to Canadian film Sketchi, Movieola Best Short Film or Video Award to Canadian film Une Chanson d‘Hiver,
    NFB Best Canadian Film or Video Award to Les Cordes de Muybridge, WIFT – T Award to The Canadian film The Sugard Bowl by Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson.


    The curtains of the festival which spotlighted 60 films from 12 countries was wrung down earlier this week, wrapping its event,.