Category: International

MUMBAI: Warner Bros. Entertainment has entered into a deal with Chinese firm You On Demand Media that will make its new releases and catalogue films available on China‘s first national pay-per-view and VoD platform, expected to be accessible to 3 million homes by the end of this summer.

The agreement makes Warner the first Hollywood studio to offer films on such a platform in China where foreign media conglomerates have not been granted broadcast TV licences.

 
“The opportunity of China is just too irresistible to most companies and particularly Warner Bros.,” said Warner Bros international home video president Jim Wuthrich.
 
“We‘ve been trying to crack this nut for a while.The service will release films like the 2010 hit Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and the recent Russell Brand comedy Arthur. Most of the 600 films that Warner Bros. has sold by way of DVDs in China would be offered through the service,” he added.

In addition to films from the Warner Bros. library that include Batman and the Harry Potter series, the service would include recently released films that would appear on Chinese pay-per-view services about the same time they are released on DVD.
 
Last week, Legendary Pictures, a Burbank company that helped finance and produce films like The Hangover and The Dark Knight, entered into a joint venture with a Chinese entertainment conglomerate to make big-budget English-language films in China for export around the world.

MUMBAI: With the Finance Ministry in Indonesia set to scrap proposals for royalty tax on repatriated revenues and replace it with a new tax that is defined by the length of the imported film, return of Hollywood films to Indonesian screens in time for the summer blockbuster season seems like a given conclusion.

Although details are still being hammered out, the solution was agreed in principle last week at a series of meetings between the finance, tax and tourism ministries, local distributors and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) that represents major Hollywood studios.
 
The dispute between the government and the film industry in Indonesia had seen a stop in the release of all Hollywood studio movies since last February.

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the US rights of David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method from UK-based Hanway Films.
 
“David Cronenberg and Jeremy Thomas have made a film that not only has an impeccable cast and crew working at the height of their talents but also tells one of the most fascinating love triangles of the twentieth century. The American public will enthusiastically embrace this picture. We are delighted to be in business again with Jeremy and David,” stated Sony Pictures Classics in a statement.
 
Seduced by the challenge of an impossible case, Dr. Jung (Michael Fassbender) takes the unbalanced yet beautiful Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) as his patient. Jung’s weapon is the method of his master, the renowned Sigmund Freud. Both men fall under Sabina’s spell.
 
The film has been produced by Jeremy Thomas, who made films like The Last Emperor, and Sexy Beast, stars Viggo Mortenson, Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, and Vincent Cassel.
 
Earlier, Sony Pictures Classics had released Cronenberg’s Spider as well as several films produced by Thomas like Brother, Don’t Come Knocking and Young Adam.

MUMBAI: The Chinese Censors has cleared French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung‘s film Norwegian Wood.

Producer Fortissimo‘s spokeswoman Esther Yeung said that she‘d closed a sale of his successful 2010 film with Shanghai Huayu Film Co. which plans to release it later this year in cooperation with the state importer the China Film Group.

Tran said that the censors in China had asked for few changes, “small things, something really unimportant.”

The film that grossed about $17 million worldwide since its September premiere, follows Japanese university student Watanabe‘s romances with classmate Midori and Naoko, his late friend‘s mentally ill girlfriend.

Tran‘s debut feature The Scent of the Green Papaya won the Camera d‘Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993 and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. His second film Cyclo, starring popular Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu Wai won the Golden Lion Award for the Best Film at Venice Film Festival.
 

MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has added a new twist to its best picture category. In the next year‘s 84th Academy Awards, there may not be 10 movies nominated for best picture. Instead, new voting rules could result in nominations in the category ranging anywhere from five to 10 nominees.

Though two years ago, the best picture Oscar race was expanded from five to ten films, the board of governors of the Academy voted Tuesday night to introduce a new procedure which according to them would add a new element of surprise, because the number of films that make the cut won‘t be revealed until the best picture nominees are revealed at the nominations announcement on 24 January. 

In order to ensure a nomination, a picture will have to collect enough first-place votes on the nomination ballots to amount to five per cent of the ballots cast.

The move is sure to throw a further complication into the awards process, since studios and awards consultants will now have to decide how hard to push for movies the chances of which may look more marginal if the field doesn‘t expand to ten.

This move could wreck a certain amount of havoc in the years to come when Oscar historians try to compare races from different years.

The Academy also adopted several other rule changes affecting the animation category and the visual effects “bake-off” and confirmed previous changes in the eligibility period in the documentary categories.

“With the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we‘ve been looking not just at what happened over the past two years, but at what would have happened if we had been selecting 10 nominees for the past 10 years,” said Academy president Tom Sherak.

The 84th Academy Awards will take place on 26 February next year at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland.
 

MUMBAI: The US distribution rights of Madonna‘s directorial debut feature film, “W.E.”, have been acquired by The Weinstein Company (TWC).

A romantic drama, the movie is co-written by Madonna and Alek Keshishian. It is produced by Madonna and Kris Thykier and executive produced by Scott Franklin (Black Swan).

Spanning six decades, W.E. juxtaposes a contemporary love story with that of King Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

The movie stars Abbie Cornish, Oscar Isaac, James D‘Arcy and Andrea Riseborough.

Technically, the singer made her directorial debut in 2008 with Filth and Wisdom; TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein believes that W.E. is her first feature-length debut.

Although the official date of release hasn‘t been announced, the film is slated to release by the end of 2011.
 

MUMBAI: Paramount‘s efforts to whip up a hype on the eve of the film‘s release seems to have paid off. After an aggressive eleventh hour marketing blitz by the production house, Steven Spielberg‘s Super 8 went on to gross $37 million at the domestic box office.

Overseas, the film grossed $6.7 million worldwide of which the biggest territory Australia helped the film gross $2.7 million.

Set in 1979, Super 8 tells the story of a group of kids who are filming a home movie when there‘s a violent train crash. When unexplained events start to threaten their town, they begin to suspect something inhuman escaped from the train.

Super 8, directed by J Abrams, had been the focus of intense speculation because of soft tracking and a marketing campaign that left the film‘s plot shrouded in mystery.

Ultimately, the film performed on par with sleeper-hit District 9 that opened to $37.3 million at the domestic box office in August 2009. Comparing the $12.2 million gross on Friday, the film grossed $14 million on Saturday.

“I think we accomplished what we set out to do. It was never positioned as a big blockbuster, but as a smaller movie,” Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore has been quoted to have said. “We used the sneaks to infuse the marketplace with great word-of-mouth, and it certainly looks like it paid off,” he added.

According to Paramount, Super 8 didn‘t need a big opening, since its production cost was $50 million, far less than other summer studio films. The movie played in 3,379 theatres, including 239 Imax locations. Grosses from Imax recorded $4.4 million, a strong start and representing 12 per cent of total earnings.

Super 8 held a comfortable lead over 20th Century Fox‘s X-Men: First Class, which grossed $25 million in its second weekend for a total of $98.9 million.

Overseas, First Class grossed $42.2 million with a worldwide total of $222.5 million.

Two films jumped the $200 million mark over the weekend at the domestic box office-Warner Bros.‘ The Hangover Part II and Disney‘s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Hangover II grossed an estimated $18.5 million for a domestic total of $216.6 million while the film‘s international total stood at $432.1 million.

On the other hand, On Stranger Tides grossed $10.4 million domestically to jointly tota $208.8 million. Overseas, the 3D film grossed $41.1 milion, bringing the film‘s international total to a massive $678 million and worldwide tally to $886.8 million.

DreamWorks Animation and Paramount‘s Kung Fu Panda 2 grossed $16.6 million in a total of $126.9 million. Overseas, the 3D toon grossed $56.5 million to jump the $200 million mark and end the weekend with a total of $205 million that brought the worldwide total to $331.9 million.

MUMBAI: Producer Laura Ziskin, known to have produced the Spider-Man franchise, has expired. The 61-year old, who had been battling breast cancer for seven years, continued to undertake major productions in Hollywood in spite of her illness.

Though Ziskin struggled with cancer since receiving a Stage 3 diagnosis in 2004, she remained indefatigable, overseeing one of Sony‘s highest-grossing franchises and the broadcast of the industry‘s top awards shows.

The Spider-Man franchise, incidentally, roped in over $1.5 billion worldwide making her one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood.

Ziskin also produced the Academy Awards telecast two times, becoming the first woman to produce the awards show solo in 2002. She also produced critically acclaimed films like Fight Club and To Die For.

She also became active in the movement to combat the disease, drawing on her contacts in the entertainment industry to help found Stand Up To Cancer in 2008.

Ziskin rose from the trenches of the entertainment industry to become one of a handful of women who were an integral part of the power elite. After graduating from the University of Southern California‘s School for Cinematic Arts, Ziskin worked as a game show writer and personal assistant to producer Jon Peters. From there, she moved on to become a development executive, eventually forming Fogwood Films with partner Sally Field.

At Fogwood, the noted producer made the Oscar nominated Murphy‘s Romance as a vehicle for Field and the Cold War thriller No Way Out that provided a crucial early role to a young Kevin Costner.

As president of Fox 2000, Ziskin oversaw hits like Pretty Woman and Courage Under Fire among others. After leaving Fox 2000 in 1999, Ziskin landed an independent production deal at Columbia Pictures, where she produced Spider-Man.
 

MUMBAI: Queen Elizabeth II will soon honour Colin Firth who won this year’s Academy awards for his performance as the stuttering King George VI in The King‘s Speech.

The 50-year-old Firth will be appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), it is understood. Besides Firth, singer and songwriter Bryan Ferry will also receive a CBE. Others like golfer Lee Westwood, cricket captain Andrew Strauss, artist Sam Taylor-Wood and jazz singer Claire Martin will also receive an OBE each. 

The recipients of the honours are selected by committees of civil servants from nominations made by the government and the public but the Queen must give her formal approval before they are awarded.

The Queen of England bestows honours twice a year, at New Year‘s Eve and her official birthday.
 

MUMBAI: The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has refrained from granting certification to Dutch director Tom Six’s horror sequel The Human Centipede 2. The film is a Netherlands-UK co-production.

On account of the BBFC’s rejection, the film will not be allowed to be legally supplied in any form in the UK, (theatrical, home video or download). with a Doctorate of Fine Arts by AFI trustee Tom Pollock.

The first film, The Human Centipede, released last year had a scientist stitching together kidnap victims while the sequel has a protagonist who replicates the horror.

“Unlike the first film, the sequel presents graphic images of sexual violence, forced defecation, and mutilation, and the viewer is invited to witness events from the perspective of the protagonist,” the BBFC commented of the film.

The BBFC has been in existence for 99 years and so far only 11 films have suffered an outright ban of which eight were later passed uncut.