Category: International

MUMBAI: Rachel Weisz will star in the upcoming prequel to the 1939 classic Wizard of Oz. She will play the role of an evil witch in Oz: The Great and Powerful, reported Contactmusic.

The 40-year old actress will play Evanora, a powerful witch who intends to rule the land and attempts to get her sister on her side in order to get help. 

The Sam Raimi directed film has Weisz star opposite James Franco as the titular wizard whereas Mila Kunis plays her sister Theadora, the good witch. The project is Disney‘s take on a story about a girl from Kansas who is swept away to the magical Land of Oz.

Weisz was last seen in The Lovely Bones. She is currently working on Fernando Meirelles‘ 360 along with the likes of Jude Law, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Ben Foster.

MUMBAI: After earning $ 45 million as product placement revenue, Bond 23, the 23rd Bond film has set a new record. Both MGM and distributor Sony have shattered the previous record of $ 20 million set by Tom Cruise‘s Minority Report.

Referring to cars, the super cop raced around the worldwide in an Aston Martin for years before switching over to a BMW. Known for his fine taste in luxury, Bond‘s watches, clothing and other accessories have long been sponsored by those looking for good marketing by association.

In 2006, Forbes noted that Sony had cut back to six brand advertisers in Casino Royale, eschewing them for promotional partnerships and higher costs for those that do put their products in the film. In comparison, Die Another Day had nine partnerships.

Bond 23, starring Daniel Craig will be directed by Sam Mendes.

MUMBAI: The production of a film the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is being hastened.

Hollywood‘s Oscar-winning scriptwriter Mark Boal worked on his still untitled script about the US search for bin Laden since last year almost completing it. The production of the movie with another Oscar-winner, Kathryn Bigelow, as the director was scheduled for the summer. 

Boal had been following the mission for quite some time, thanks to his access to military intelligence and his background as an investigative journalist. For him, the timing of bin Laden‘s death could hardly be better but the news comes late enough in the project‘s evolution that it‘ll maximise the movie‘s timeliness.

The scriptwriter and the director will now wait how the Arab world would react to the news on bin Laden‘s death to start production. Reportedly, Boal has already cancelled his trip to Afghanistan that he scheduled for the coming week.

Boal and Bigelow worked together as the scriptwriter and director of Hurt Locker in 2008. Last year, the film was awarded six Oscars including the best picture, best director and best original screenplay.

MUMBAI: A prequel to Mario Puzo‘s Godfather, a novel written by Ed Falco, titled The Family Corleone is being readied and will be published in June 2012.

Based on an unproduced Puzo screenplay, The Family Corleone takes place before the Corleones‘ rise to power and tells the story of how young Vito Corleone fought his way through New York‘s criminal underworld to become the powerful Don introduced in The Godfather.

“Guided by Mario Puzo‘s own unproduced screenplay, Ed Falco thrillingly brings back Puzo‘s classic characters in a prequel that both honors the original, and stands on its own as a Godfather novel for a new generation of readers,” Grand Central Publishing exec vice president Jamie Raab has reportedly said.

Puzo shared adapted screenplay Oscars with Francis Ford Coppola in 1972 and 1974 for their work on The Godfather and The Godfather Part II respectively.

MUMBAI: Colin Farrell is all set to play an undead hero in the remake of the 1985 film Fright Night. The 34-year-old actor plays sweet-talking bloodsucker Jerry in a modern day remake of the cult classic.

It is said that Farrel was the ‘only man‘ for the role. Said director Craig Gillespie “Colin Farrell was the perfect choice to play a charming vampire in Fright Night because he has a dangerous quality about him. 

“We were so lucky to get Colin. It was perfect. He epitomises the character in Fright Night. There‘s a dangerous quality to him and he‘s very charismatic. He‘s a very dark version of what‘s been in the vampire realm these days,” he added.

Farrell is relishing the chance to play a blood sucking vampire but admitted he did struggle to keep his character believable.

“Twilight takes a lot of oxygen in a certain audience‘s requirement. It has its place which is great but this is different. I believe it‘s going to be fairly bloody. There‘s not a lot of sex but sex is certainly implied more than once. Hopefully it will work on a plethora of levels, averred Farrell.
 

MUMBAI: Paramount Pictures has elevated Dora Candelaria, who previously served as executive director, national publicity to vice president, international publicity.

She will report to Katherine Willing, executive vice president, international publicity.

Candelaria, who joined Paramount in 2007, has had a role in the publicity campaigns for such films as Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, True Grit and the Iron Man movies.
 

MUMBAI: Italian actress Sophia Loren will be honoured by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday for her half-dozen decades in cinema.

“It means a lot to an actress who has been working … such a long time in this field,” she says. “Even though I have an Oscar … when they called me from this building to invite me to another big honour, it is really very moving,” Loren has reportedly said. 

Loren got her break in films as an extra in the 1951 MGM epic Quo Vadis and her breakthrough came in the Italian feature The Gold of Naples in 1954.

She got Hollywood recognition with Naples director Vittorio De Sica. In his Two Women, Loren played a mother who is raped while protecting her daughter in wartime. The performance earned her the first major Oscar for a non-English-language performance.

The Academy once again honoured her in 1991, with an award for her contributions to world cinema. Of her work, Loren is most fond of Two Women and A Special Day.

MUMBAI: Former James Bond Daniel Craig is all set to don the role as a narrator of a documentary. He will narrate a BBC Natural History documentary One Life directed by Michael Gunton and Martha Holmes.

The documentary shows the Darwinian struggle for survival and reproduction and highlights the interconnection between humans and animals. 

Said Craig said in a statement, “The BBC Natural History Unit has proven, year after year, that its documentary skills are second to none.”

“For the filmmakers who spend their entire lives recording beautiful images of planet Earth`s dwindling wildlife, I have only a sense of awe and deep-rooted respect. I am incredibly fortunate to have been given the chance to play a very small part in that process,” he added.

Commented BBC Earth managing director of and exec producer of the documentary Amanda Hill, “One Life is the first of three major motion pictures from BBC Earth Films, with Walking With Dinosaurs 3D and Africa 3D set to follow, so it`s fitting that a heavyweight star such as Daniel is involved.”

MUMBAI: Charles Ferguson, who directed the Academy award-winning documentary Inside Job, will direct a film on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The film that would be presented by HBO presented will be produced by Ferguson along with Audrey Marrs.

Assange was in the headlines last November when he put the US government in a fix by publishing secret diplomatic cables. He was also accused of rape and sexual assault. Though currently on bail, Assange faces extradition to Sweden for questioning.

It is said that two feature films on Assange also are in the works; one at DreamWorks and the other at Universal.

The film in mention would mark Ferguson`s first non-documentary project. His other credits include the Oscar-nominated No End in Sight. Inside Job, that examined what led to the global financial crisis of 2008, won the best feature documentary award at this year`s Oscar awards.
 

MUMBAI: Paramount‘s Thor has claimed the weekend‘s No. 1 box-office spot on the international circuit with a gross of $83 million from about 7,250 locations in 56 overseas markets. This the year’s biggest opening weekend tally.

Director Kenneth Branagh‘s interpretation of a Stan Lee comic book opened at top spot in the UK and Ireland ($9 million from 500 situations over five days), in France ($8.1 million from 579 locales), South Korea ($5.7 million from 513 theatres), Italy ($5.5 million from 455 locations) and Spain ($5 million from 377 situations).

The film also recorded first-place openings in several smaller markets, including Taiwan ($2.1 million from 58 sites for a per-screen average of $36,206), Singapore and the Philippines. In Vietnam, the opener yielded $308,000 from 19 sites, which Paramount said was a three-day debut record for the market.

Universal‘s Fast Five, which also opened overseas last weekend (in the UK, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand) drew $45.3 million from 3,211 theatres in 14 territories taking its early foreign gross total to $81.4 million.

The film ranked No. 2 on the weekend overseas; in the U.S. and Canada opened at No. 1 on the weekend. Worldwide, the fifth sequel in the turbocharged car action franchise grossed $128.9 million.

The action film grabbed No. 1 slots in each of its 10 new overseas markets with Russia topping the pack with $11.5 million drawn from 712 sites. Other No. 1 debuts included Germany ($10.2 million from 633 spots), Austria ($1.4 million from 82 situations) and Turkey ($900,000 from 175 venues and Australia where it was on top with $4.7 million from 230 sites.

Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox‘s Rio slid to the fourth position in the weekend‘s No. 3 spot with $31.7 million 10,560 locations in 67 markets. And Fox‘s Water for Elephants picked up its box-office pace offshore with a $4.7 million weekend at 1,851 screens in 23 markets.