Category: International

MUMBAI: Sony‘s sci-fi action film Battle: Los Angeles took the top spot at the domestic box-office with a strong $36 million opening. Battle also made a major play overseas, grossing $16.7 million from 33 territories for a worldwide bow of $52.7 million.

Battle, that cost $70 million to produce after tax incentives, is Sony‘s fourth film in a row to open at No. 1 domestically after Green Hornet, The Roommate and Just Go With It.

On the contrary, I wasn‘t a good week for Warner Bros. Red Riding Hood and Disney‘s Mars Needs Moms. Paramount Pictures‘ Rango trounced both Mars and Red Riding Hood in its second weekend, falling only 39 per cent to an estimated $23.1 million.

Between Battle and Rango, the domestic box-office showed some signs of recovery. Revenues came down only by 10 per cent from a year ago period.

The news was particularly bad for Disney financially, since Mars managed to gross $6.8 million on its debut. On the other hand, Red Riding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried opened to an estimated $14.1 million, well behind expectations.

Red Riding Hood came in No. 3, followed by Universal holdover The Adjustment Bureau, which fell a respectable 46% in its second weekend to an estimated $11.5 million for a cume of $38.5 million, according to Rentrak.

MUMBAI: Steven Soderbergh, known for his films like Sex, Lies & Videotape and Erin Brockovich among others has signaled that he would quit doing films after his next two.

“When you reach the point where you‘re like, ‘If I have to get into a van to do another scout, I‘m just going to shoot myself,‘ it‘s time to let somebody else who‘s still excited about getting in the van, get in the van,” Soderbergh is quoted to have said.

“And so it‘s just time. For the last three years, I‘ve been turning down everything that comes my way, so you‘re not going to have Steven Soderbergh to kick around anymore. … When you see those athletes hang on one or two seasons too long, it‘s kind of sad,” he added.

Other films of Soderbergh include Out of Sight, Traffic, The Good German, Che, The Informant! and both the sequels of Ocean‘s Eleven.

According to the noted directed his last two films will be Liberace and Man From U.N.C.L.E.

MUMBAI: The earthquake and tsunami in Japan is definitely going to restrict theatrical box-office collections in the world‘s second-biggest territory this weekend.

The first to be affected is that of Academy Award winner The King‘s Speech and several other Hollywood imports.

The King‘s Speech, being distributed by Gaga Communications, opened in Japan on Feb. 26 and has grossed more than $5.5 million there so far. Last weekend, the best picture Oscar winner nabbed $1.6 million from 124 venues for a per-screen average of $12,915.
Taking a bigger hit will also be Fox‘s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is concluding its successful foreign release grossing more than $294 million internationally with a triumphant Japan run.

Also affected would be the box-office collections of Treader that also opened in the market 25 February raking in about $15.5 million in the last weekend at an impressive $4.1 million from 910 venues.

With the disruption of train service in many locations, it was not immediately clear how many movie theaters will be in operation this weekend in Tokyo — which sustained a smaller quake after the initial 8.9-magnitude earthquake in northern Japan — much less in the nation‘s nine key markets and in the territory overall.

Scheduled Japan openings for a couple of animation titles like Disney‘s Tangled and DreamWorks Animation‘s Megamind in 3D from Paramount — were in suspense. Both were anticipating lucrative payoffs in Japan‘s animation-crazed market.

Japan was the largest foreign market last year for films distributed by the American majors like Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Sony and Universal and was second only to the US and Canada as the world‘s largest box-office territory for films of all origination.
 

MUMBAI: In a move, Columbia Pictures has elevated Sam Dickerman to executive vice president production from his previous post of senior vice president.

Joining the studio in 2005, Dickerman made his mark overseeing comedies, particularly the films of Adam Sandler ranging from Click to the recent Just Go With It. He oversaw Battle Los Angeles and is working on I Hate You Dad that stars Sandler; the Total Recall remake and the Kevin James comedy Here Comes the Boom.

Before joining Columbia, Dickerman was the president of Radiant Productions, the production unit of Wolfgang Petersen.

MUMBAI: Sci-fi war film Battle: Los Angeles starring Aaron Eckhart is eyeing a roughly $30 million bow, while the Amanda Seyfried film Red Riding Hood is expecting to make up to $20 million. There‘s also a new family offering in Disney‘s 3D toon Mars Needs Moms.

Hollywood is hoping that the first two films will lure in young moviegoers, who have been conspicuously absent from the multiplex. But lack of interest has made Disney brace for a poor opening. 

Battle: L.A. doesn‘t have A-list stars but has an ethnically diverse cast that includes Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan and Michael Pena.

On the other hand Red Riding Hood, directed by Catherine Hardwicke that has made Warner‘s rely heavily on his name in promoting the film. Red Riding Hood is based on the well-known fairy tale but only in this version, the wolf is a werewolf.

Box office observers are suggesting an opening gross of $18 million to $20 million for Red Riding Hood. That would be great start since the film opening in roughly 3,000 theaters did cost $40 million to produce.
 

MUMBAI: Founder of Original Films and producer of some forthcoming films like Battle: Los Angeles and Fast Five, Neal H. Moritz has extended his first-look development and production pact with Columbia Pictures for a further period of three more years.

The extension of the deal comes 18 months before his current deal was set to expire and continues a successful partnership and collaboration with Sony, the studio that has been his home since he produced I Know What You Did Last Summer way back in 1997.

Said Moritz, “Sony has been my home almost since I first started producing and I couldn‘t ask for a better or more supportive studio partner. Amy, Michael, Doug and the entire production team is first rate. They are truly the best as creative collaborators and problem solvers, and they are backed by Jeff Blake‘s marketing and distribution team.

There is a reason that I continue to call Sony my home and it has everything to do with the pleasure I get from being part of such a great, winning team. Years from now, when I have produced the last film of my career, it will probably be made with my friends at Sony.”

Among the fifteen films that Moritz has made, the most recent one was The Green Hornet for Columbia Pictures. As founder of Original Films, Moritz has been producing feature films and television series for over three decades.

MUMBAI: With a few months left for the release of the last film in the Harry Potter series, the first instalment Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 has earned a $657.24 million and above for Warner Bros Pictures. The announcement was made by Warner Bros. Pictures president of International distribution Veronika Kwan-Rubinek.

The earning has soared past previous record-holder, 2001‘s Harry Potter and the Philosopher‘s Stone that grossed $657 million.

With the success of its first six of seven titles, the Harry Potter series has already achieved the distinction of being the top-grossing film franchise of all time, with a combined worldwide gross of $6.37 billion.

This benchmark for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 that has earned $951.8 million worldwide should ensure its place in film history for years to come.

Part two of Harry Potter and the Deathly opens globally on 15 July this year.
 

MUMBAI: The RiverRun International Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 13th edition scheduled from 8 to 17 April.

Cannes Palme d‘Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, from Apichatpong Weerasethakul is one highlight of the Narrative Competition. Berlin Golden Bear winner Bal (Honey), Cannes Critics Prize winner On Tour and Berlin Critics Prize winner Crab Trap are also in the Narrative Competition section.

The competition is rounded out with Berlin International Film Festival competition titles like The Future,The Robber, Toronto International Film Festival films Curling and Home for Christmas, Locarno Film Festival‘s Morgen and finally Cannes competition film A Screaming Man.

The RiverRun Film festival will screen 57 features and 61 shorts from 32 countries, including the world premiere of the documentary The Day Carl Sandburg Died.

MUMBAI: British director Charles Jarrott, who got a Golden Globe award for the 1969 costume drama Anne of the Thousand Days nominated for 10 Oscars including best picture and an Emmy for 1995‘s A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story has expired. Suffering from prostate cancer, he was 83.

Other credits of Jarrott include the Oscar-nominated Mary, Queen of Scots; Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story starring Farrah Fawcett; the TV film The Other Side of Midnight; and numerous episodes of televisions series such as Armchair Theatre and The Wednesday Play.
 

MUMBAI: The Johnny Depp-voiced Rango scored a No. 1 opening at the overseas box-office with an approximate gross of $16.5 million drawn from 3,815 screens in 33 markets.

A droll animation western directed by Gore Verbinski boasted of No. 1 openings in the UK and Ireland ($3.1 million from 472 locations), Mexico ($2.7 million from 511 venues), Spain ($1.9 million from 369 spots) and Argentina ($450,000 from 106 situations). Rango, also the No. 1 domestic opener, bows this week in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Italy.

On the whole, the Rango openings was the best in many markets those of Megamind, a DreamWorks Animation title that Paramount opened overseas last 28 October and accumulated a foreign gross total of $171.1 million so far.

The Adjustment Bureau, took the No. 2 spot in the UK took in $2.4 million from 438 spots while its No. 2 Australia opener yielded $1.9 million from 219 locations. The film also opened No. 2 in the US and Canada. Universal‘s drama-romance starring Matt Damon, which took in $10.5 million from 1,957 locations in 21 markets.

Universal said that the opening weekend figure was the biggest for a Damon vehicle since the $30 million bow 2007‘s The Bourne Ultimatum, and was bigger than the $9 million opening of 2002‘s Bourne Identity.

Hall Pass, the New Line/Warner Bros.‘ comedy from the Farrelly brothers (Bobby and Peter) starring Owen Wilson, premiered in five overseas markets for $2.3 million from 443 screens. Almost all the action came from the film‘s No. 1 Australia opening ($2 million from 305 screens).

DreamWorks‘ sci-fi thriller I Am Number Four finished at the No. 3 spot with a haul of $12 million drawn from 4,184 screens in 26 territories.