Category: International

MUMBAI: In a move that would affect about 1 per cent of the company’s domestic workforce, Warner Bros. has laid off 50 employees in its home entertainment and consumer products divisions.

“As part of the continual review of our business operations, Warner Bros. Entertainment will be undertaking limited staff reductions in our home entertainment and consumer products divisions. The total number of employees and positions impacted by these reductions is a relatively small percentage of our domestic workforce,” the studio said in a statement. 

The Warners cutbacks are part of a larger industry pattern that has seen a number of studios reducing jobs mostly in their home entertainment divisions, because of falling DVD sales, off late.

Earlier this week, Disney effected sweeping cuts by announcing that 250 jobs would be eliminated primarily in its distribution operation. On the other hand, Lionsgate cut 10 jobs in its home entertainment division while Fox cut 12 positions in its home entertainment division and ten in its IT department.

MUMBAI: The American Film Institute (AFI) has conferred honorary degrees on producer Richard Frank, director Spike Lee and actress Helen Mirren at its conservatory‘s commencement ceremonies for its 2011 graduating class last Wednesday.

Frank, an AFI trustee since 1991, was presented with a Doctorate of Communication Arts by USA Network co-president Jeff Wachtel. Lee was honoured with a Doctorate of Fine Arts by AFI trustee Tom Pollock.

Mirren also received a Doctorate of Fine Arts that was presented to her by Sony Corp. chairman and CEO Howard Stringer, who also chairs the AFI board of trustees.
 

MUMBAI:Film stars of China recently launched a blockbuster film The Beginning of the Great Revival that celebrates the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. The film is part of a series of events in China marking the anniversary.

The film traces developments between the 1911 revolution that overthrew imperial rule and the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party on 13 July, 1921. It features many of the Chinese film industry‘s biggest names such as Andy Lau and Chow Yun-fat, who attended Wednesday‘s event. 

Director Han Sanping has said that the film was better than 2009‘s The Founding of a Republic which related the story of the Communist Party winning power in 1949. Its success was helped by politically correct theatre operators who flooded their properties with screenings. The Beginning of the Great Revival is likely to receive similar treatment.

China Film Group is hoping for a repeat of the success it had with The Founding of a Republic which made 415 million yuan ($61 million) at the box-office, a large amount for China.

Communist China‘s founding father, Mao Zedong, is played by Chinese actor Liu Ye, best known to Western audiences for his roles in the Zhang Yimou imperial drama Curse of the Golden Flower and the drama Dark Matter, which costarred Meryl Streep.
 

MUMBAI: Legendary Pictures has formed a joint venture company in China with local entertainment conglomerate, Huayi Brothers Media.

The new company called Legendary East will be headquartered in Hong Kong and aims to produce one or two English-language films per year beginning 2013. The movies will target to impress not just Chinese, but moviegoers around the globe.

By producing movies in China, Legendary will now be able to avoid one of the most serious issues faced by American entertainment companies: the government-imposed threshold of 20 foreign films per year.

While Huayi Brothers will co-produce and distribute movies in China, Legendary‘s American partner, Warner Bros., will release them worldwide.
 

MUMBAI: The reconstituted MGM, under its new management, that has emerged from bankruptcy, is developing an animated movie based on Punk Farm, a children‘s book by Jarrett J. Krosoczka, as one of its first new projects.

David Silverman, who helmed The Simpsons for Fox in 2007, will direct the film that has a script by David Stern and Jim Hecht. 

The story of the film involves five ordinary barnyard animals who, by night, form a punk rock band. The CG-animated film is being produced by Kevin Messick and Anita Camarata for Prana Studios, which is based in Los Angeles and Mumbai. Incidentally, the studio has worked on projects like Disney‘s Tinkerbell and is currently doing the effects for Tron: Legacy.
 

MUMBAI: The casting process for Summit‘s magic heist film Now You See Me has gained steam with Jesse Eisenberg of Social Network fame in initial talks to star in the film being produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

The film to be directed by Louis Leterrier will also have Jake Gyllenhaal who recently starred in The Source Code.

Now You See Me is the story of a crack FBI squad in a game of cat and mouse against a super-team of the world‘s greatest illusionists, who pull off a series of bank heists during their performances, showering the profits on their audiences while staying one step ahead of the law.
 

MUMBAI:Despite average collections made by Tron:Legacy last year in December, Disney, which controls the franchise, has decided to proceed with the third installment of the series.

Tron: Legacy‘s last year‘s box office collection did not live up to the expectation of Disney. The film that made $400mn had audience wondering whether they would get to see more of the series. But the studio has decided to keep it going and has already hired David DiGilio, who earlier wrote the script for Disney‘s Eight Below in 2006. DiGilio is known for the creation of Television series ‘Traveler‘. 

Although Tron:Legacy faced a lot of criticism for the story and script, writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis were probables to write the script for Tron 3, but they are currently busy working on ABC fairytale series. Due to which, DiGilio will be taking over the project. Although what is still unclear is whether director Joseph Kosinski will call the shots again.

Even though the marketing costs last year went over the board, it is believed that the R&D costs will be smaller for Tron 3. Also, executives at Disney are hoping that the animated series coming to Disney XD called ‘Tron: Uprising‘ does well.

Although the process is still in the scripting stage, the ultimate decision of whether the third part will be made or not will depend on the success of ‘Tron: Uprising‘ because it is very important for Disney to know whether the brand still connects with the fan base or not.

MUMBAI: 20th Century Fox has decided to bring the most popular ape back in an animated avatar. King Kong is returning in a modern-day setting.

The tale, which was screened last by director Peter Jackson and Universal Pictures in 2005 starring Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrien Brody, generated $550mn at the box office. It was the fourth highest grossing film in Universal Pictures history. It also won Academy awards for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing. 

Going by the popularity, Fox decided to bring an animated version of the film for which Christian Magalhaes and Bob Snow will write the script. This time, the story will be from the ape‘s point of view. King Kong, the true villain who dies trying to protect his love will be seen verbally expressing his heartbreak in the animated version.

At present, when sequels and prequels are making news, restructuring a classic film from the original villain‘s point of view qualifies as unconventional thinking. The 1993 original was remade in 1976 and 1986.

The animation remake will be produced by Shawn Levy‘s 21 Laps and Ted Field‘s Radar Pictures.
 

MUMBAI: Walt Disney Studios has decided to retrench 5 per cent of its employees even as its revenue from the home entertainment business has dipped.

DVD was one of the major revenue drivers for Hollywood, so much so that even if the movie didn‘t do well in theatres home entertainment business made up for the losses. Ever since the downfall of DVD sales, studios are becoming cautious about spending and are trimming their overheads. The reason for the decline is the emergence of other digital alternatives like Netflix and Amazon.com which are more convenient and less expensive. 

The DVD slump has forced Hollywood studios to re-evaluate budgets. Although majority of the layoffs are a result of Disney combining its global and domestic distribution operations, a few cuts have also come from marketing and production.

It is not just Disney that has been affected by the home entertainment business; other studios like Paramount are soon going to follow Disney‘s lead.

The increase in the number of films made by DreamWorks, Marvel and Pixar and Disney‘s dependence on these studios have also led to Disney‘s decision to shed off 250 people. Disney‘s decrease in original production means fewer employees are needed.

MUMBAI: The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, which takes place from 21 July to 7 August.

Over its 60 years, MIFF has showcased some of cinema history’s most beloved films and has grown from screening 120 films from 21 countries in 1958, to more than 350 films from 50 countries in 2010.

The Festival has moved from its original location in the Dandenong Ranges, to the inner city suburbs of Camberwell and St Kilda, finally resting in Melbourne’s city centre.

MIFF has screened films from Russia, Equador, China, Japan, Jamaica and Bangladesh, to name a few countries. Bollywood movies have been featured in the MIFF across the years with the more recent titles being Madhur Bhandarkar’s Chandni Bar (2001), Deepa Mehta’s Earth (1998), Abhishek Chaubey’s Ishqiya (2010) and Dibakar Bannerjee’s LSD (2010).

The 2011 programme will showcase 60 years of MIFF with a retrospective looking at the most impactful films screened at the Festival over the years – films that changed federal laws on censorship, created heated debate and controversy, and some that changed the way we think.

MIFF remains committed to its support of short films and to this end, organisers will be programming a series of short films looking at the city of Melbourne and how it has changed over 60 years, featuring first films by MIFF Ambassador Fred Schepisi, plus Tim Burstall and many others.

To celebrate 60 years, MIFF invited all filmmakers – professional, amateur, semi-professional or other – to submit a short film, which will go into the running to be screened at MIFF 2011. The winner of the Miff Take/60 Short Film Competition will also enjoy the ultimate festival experience. Films must be six minutes or under and feature or reference Miff in some way.

Miff Tales, another initiative of the 60th celebrations, is the
commission of series of small vignettes to be screened at Miff and online and which will document important Miff moments, stories, tall tales and true tales that have given MIFF its character, profile and presence.

Finally, MIFF’s ‘60 films in 17 days blogathon’ challenge will
encourage bloggers to post their reviews on the go.

Australia’s biggest film festival has also received a AUD$17,500 boost from Tourism Victoria’s Events Program for 2011.

The AUD$17,500 grant is in addition to the AUD$310,000 of support provided annually through Film Victoria, and will help boost the number of visitors coming to Victoria for this event.