Category: International

MUMBAI: ‘Twilight: Eclipse’ dominated US music broadcaster MTV’s ‘2011 Movie Awards’, winning five awards including Best Film.

The show kept its tradition as Hollywood‘s most atypical and irreverent awards show with surprise appearances, raunchy roasts, exclusive sneak peeks and even a few laserboners.

The telecast kicked off with host Jason Sudeikis spoofing ‘The Hangover Part II’.

The show celebrated cinema‘s next generation of talent with first-time winners Justin Bieber, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ellen Page, Alexys Nycole Sanchez and Emma Stone, as well as returning favorites Tom Felton, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, among others.

The set featured lush green landscapes, a glowing hillside and cascading crystals that turned the night into a psychedelic summer night‘s dream. MTV used this backdrop for MTV to give viewers “first looks” at some of the year‘s most highly-anticipated movies, including ‘Super 8’ presented by J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney; never-before-seen footage from ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1’; and a sneak peek clip from the concluding chapter of the most successful film franchise in movie history, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 2’, introduced by the film‘s leading actress Emma Stone.

Fan favourite actress Reese Witherspoon was honored with this year‘s “MTV Generation Award.” Following toasts by former co-stars Robert Pattinson and Patrick Dempsey, and upcoming co-star Chelsea Handler, Witherspoon poked fun at her presenters but also gave a message of empowerment to young women.

Stone became the second woman ever, after Reese Witherspoon, to win in the ‘Best Comedic Performance’ category. Stone then took her humour from the silver screen to the stage when she joined Sudeikis for a laugh-out-loud musical send-up that featured movie themed songs written by this year‘s host and featuring Foo Fighter‘s Dave Grohl on the gong.

Twilight’s star Stewart took home ‘Best Female Performance and Best Kiss for the third year straight. Chloe Grace Moretz took home awards for Best Breakout Star and Biggest Badass Star and child actor Alexys Nycole Sanchez won the first-ever Golden Popcorn in the Best Line From A Movie category.

There were many funny moments which included Jim Carrey – the star who has won the most “Movie Awards” ever – introducing the Foo Fighters while wearing a business suit made of green screen that projected images of landscapes, cities, explosions… and even a couple of humping dogs. The Foo Fighters brought down the house as they took the stage to perform ‘Walk’, the second single off their album ‘Wasting Light’.

Bieber made a surprise appearance and was awarded “Best Jawdropping Moment’. Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively from “Green Lantern” took the stage as “Jackass-3D” stars Steve-O, Chris Pontius and David England, along with “Twilight Saga” heartthrob Kellan Lutz, sported green laserboners in the audience.

MUMBAI: A slump in DVD sales in the United States has put pressure on film producers to depend on theatrical revenues.

DVD, which was one of the main contributors to the success of a film some time back, is now finding a tough competitor in the video-on-demand (VoD) service.

The wholesale value of 415 films released on DVD in 2010 fell to $4.47 billion from $7.97 billion in 2009. Apart from VoD, the decline is also because of new media technologies.

Netflix Streaming and Redbox are being blamed for the slouch of DVD sales. Consumers are spending less on DVD because they have switched to advance technologies like Blu-ray, Netflix and VoD.

Despite Fox‘s strong sale of Avatar, the DVD sales dropped 44 per cent. Blu-ray continues to grow and generated $2.3 billion last year, representing a growth of 53 per cent. Digital downloads have also grown.

Even though Internet and VOD have the potential to become the next big thing, they are unable to level the contribution DVD made once upon a time. Walt Disney Studios has reported a 14 per cent drop in home-entertainment revenue in 2010, while Universal Pictures fell by 24 per cent.

At the Produced By conference at Disney Studios, Harvey Weinstein said, “It‘s become much more of a theatrical business because the movie has to work in theaters. There‘s no second chance. Because of the DVD decline, producers have realised the importance of theatre release and that being the deciding factor with audience.”
 

MUMBAI: The makers of Pirates of Caribbean, a popular film franchise, have already started working on the next two sequels of the series.

Both the fantasy-adventure genre films will be shot back-to-back and will see the return of Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz.

It is believed that four months before the release, Terry Rossio washired to write the script and Rob Marshall, who brought the last oneto the screen, was offered the chance to direct again. But if hedoesn’t take it up, there is a list of potential directors that Disneyhas in mind.

Alice in Wonderland director Tim Burton, who was the original choice for the fourth film, had turned it down. He is Disney’s dream choice for the next Pirates of Caribbean.

Burton is known to be close friends with Depp. Burton and Disney have given a number of successes together including The Nightmare Before Christmas and, most recently, Alice in Wonderland.

Other probable candidates on the list are: Shawn Levy, who has directed Just Married, Cheaper by the Dozen and Night at the Museum series; Sam Raini of Drag Me To Hell fame who is currently doing Oz: The Great and Powerful for Disney.

The list also has Chriz Weitz who directed The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Golden Compass and Alfonso Cuaron, who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

MUMBAI: Paramount has acquired the rights of New Kid, an online comic from Penny Arcade, and will be making an animation film based on that.

The script of New Kid will be written by Gary Whitta of Books of Eli.

The story revolves around a boy who has to constantly change schools because of his father’s job. The kid happens to be the lone Earthling in a school full of aliens.

Penny Arcade is one the few web-comic sites that has made its mark in video games, blogs, online TV shows and podcasts. It published New Kid last October.

Paramount’s deal with DreamWorks is almost over and it is already looking for a new animated fare, if at all its deal with DWA cannot be renewed. The studio is hoping to level the success of Rango, which generated more than $240 million worldwide.

MUMBAI: James Bond fans can finally rejoice. October 2012 will see the return of the most iconic agent with a license to kill. And Daniel Craig will be back with the next 007 instalment after staying away from the screen for around four years.

MGM and Sony Pictures have finally announced the release of the 23 James Bond film with Craig’s return for his third stint in the yet-untitled film. The audiences who have been eagerly awaiting this thriller will see the traditional London premiere on 26 October at the Odeon Leicester Square, before opening in the US on 9 November.

Craig, the 46-year-old British actor who won praises for his performance in Casino Royale that made $599 million and Quantum of Solace that generated $577 million worldwide, is in a contract to star in two more Bond films.

Quantum of Solace was directed by Marc Forster. But the new film will be directed by Sam Mendes, the director of Revolutionary Road and American Beauty for which he won an Oscar. Roger Deakins will take over cinematography.

As for the cast of the film, while Dame Judi Dench will reprise her role as M, Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem are learnt to be a part of the film.

It is also believed that Israeli model Esti Ginzburg is being considered as the next Bond girl.

The first James Bond Film starring Sean Connery was released on 5 October 1962 and the upcoming Bond film is also slated to release in October which will be the 50 anniversary of the franchise.
 

MUMBAI: James Bond fans can finally rejoice. October 2012 will see the return of the most iconic agent with a license to kill. And Daniel Craig will be back with the next 007 instalment after staying away from the screen for around four years.

MGM and Sony Pictures have finally announced the release of the 23 James Bond film with Craig’s return for his third stint in the yet-untitled film. The audiences who have been eagerly awaiting this thriller will see the traditional London premiere on 26 October at the Odeon Leicester Square, before opening in the US on 9 November.

Craig, the 46-year-old British actor who won praises for his
performance in Casino Royale that made $599 million and Quantum of Solace that generated $577 million worldwide, is in a contract to star in two more Bond films.

Quantum of Solace was directed by Marc Forster. But the new film will be directed by Sam Mendes, the director of Revolutionary Road and American Beauty for which he won an Oscar. Roger Deakins will take over cinematography.

As for the cast of the film, while Dame Judi Dench will reprise her role as M, Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem are learnt to be a part of the film.

It is also believed that Israeli model Esti Ginzburg is being
considered as the next Bond girl.

The first James Bond Film starring Sean Connery was released on 5 October 1962 and the upcoming Bond film is also slated to release in October which will be the 50 anniversary of the franchise.

MUMBAI: Relativity Media, the film and television production and distribution firm, and New York-based hedge fund Elliott Management have announced that they are spinning off the co-finance vehicle with Universal, Beverly 2, to funds managed by its long-time strategic partner Elliott Management Corporation.

Elliott Media Investments, a newly created affiliate of the funds, will manage Beverly 2. Also, the two companies said that Elliott has agreed to invest additional capital into Relativity to help further its 2012 home-grown production slate.

The spin-off of Beverly 2 will allow Relativity to avoid the inherent conflicts of interest that have arisen as a result of Relativity‘s move into distribution.

Relativity will remain a production company on each Universal-selected film and Ryan Kavanaugh will remain an executive producer. Relativity will now receive a producer fee on each Beverly 2 film for its production services. Relativity will solely be a production partner with Universal.

“As our core business of developing, producing and distributing our own product has grown to be competitive in size and scope with the majors, this move allows us to focus our energy on that business,” said Relativity Media CEO and majority shareholder Ryan Kavanaugh.

“This move allows Relativity to focus on producing and distributing its own home-grown product,” said Elliott Media Investments president Michael Joe.

Joe was recently installed in his new position pursuant to a joint decision by Elliott and Relativity.

Meanwhile, the dissolution has come as a surprise to Universal which had no clue about the developments. Relativity, which is based in West Hollywood, California, is trying to build its own movie production and distribution business.

Now, Relativity has got into a deal with Sony Pictures to finance their films. Sony remains unaffected by the dissolution between Relativity and Elliot.

MUMBAI: In just less than a week, Warner Bros’ Hangover II is making record breaking collections. An opening weekend collection of $200 million has encouraged the makers to start working on Hangover III. Apparently, work has begun on the third installment of the movie, with everything still at the idea level.

Yet again, Todd Phillips will direct part III and Craig Mazinare will write the story. The final cast, however, has still not been locked in.

The structure of the film will be very different; it won’t be about a forgotten night or wedding. There will be a lot of changes in the storyline and the location too.

Although there are hurdles that have to be dealt with, this comedy which resulted in immediate success and super box office collection has a lot more to offer to its audience.

Even though Hangover II is still fresh in the minds of the audience, there will be a lot of hope, anticipation and expectations from the third part because of the record its ancestors have held in the past.

MUMBAI: It‘s raining sequels in Hollywood. For the period from May to September, 27 sequels, prequels and close relatives will be released.

The month of May saw one of the most famous sequels which made a very impressive box office collection. Hangover Part II and Pirates of the Caribbean smashed all records.

While there are many second or third sequels, upcoming ones are Cars 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the eighth and final installment of the “Harry Potter” series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol, Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World.

Makers at Hollywood do not like to take many risks; so, if there are sequels, it is not because of their lack of ideas, it is just being cautious to keep the fan base consistent. The well established characters have made a place for themselves in the minds of the audience, this works in the favour of filmmakers.

Hollywood has always been known for chasing trends. Although there are some sequels that don‘t do well, sequels are easy target; sometimes, they turn out to be really good. Most of the times, sequels are not made to maintain continuity but because the original one did well.

It takes a lot of time to captivate the minds of the audience. So, if a particular story has established itself, a sequel to it makes the job less risky.

In Hollywood, summers and sequels go hand-in-Hand. Next year, there is more to look forward to. The Third sequels of ‘Men in Black‘, ‘Madagascar‘, ‘Superman‘ and ‘Spider-man‘ are slated to release.

As they say, the season of sequels refuses to take a break in Hollywood.

MUMBAI: Hollywood is beginning to gain hearts in China. DreamWorks Animation‘s Kung Fu Panda 2, which hit the theatres on 26 May, is faring well at the box office amid protests from a section of the Chinese.

Kung Fu Panda 2 has opened in 11 markets and drawn $57 million from 8,023 locations. Even in China, the movie has performed well despite a cultural backlash against it.

No independent box office figure from China is available but a strong part of the population has found the film highly entertaining.

That, however, has not prevented a small section of the population in launching protests and even considering boycott. They are of the opinion that this American Movie has ‘Chinese Elements‘, which has twisted the Chinese culture and tried to fool the next generation with American Fast food.

The makers of Kung Fu Panda 2 have used elements of Chinese culture for advertising to the Americans. They have called it a “cultural invasion”.

The production designer admitted to being inspired by the architecture, scenery and weather of Chengdu, which is the capital of Sichuan province, of Southwest China. The Sichuan-style noodles and the Taoist culture are popular elements of Chengdu which have been shown in the movie.

The Chinese market is extremely important to Hollywood because, as per the quota system of China, only 20 foreign films are allowed in China. Controversy doesn‘t seem to let the makers of the movie rest. Even when the original Kung Fu Panda released in 2008, there was a protest in China for similar reasons.