Category: International

MUMBAI: Claiming that they owe him at least $ 2.7 million in profits from his 2004 hit Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore has filed a lawsuit against Weinstein brothers.

In the papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Moore‘s lawyer, Larry Stein, claimed that the producers used “bogus accounting methods to hide the true amounts” that they owe Moore.

The director claimed that the Weinsteins and an affiliated entity called the Fellowship Adventure Group had a prior agreement to split the film‘s profits 50/50, but after conducting an audit on the film in 2008, he discovered “substantial irregularities in the accounting” and “a gross underpayment to him [Moore]

MUMBAI: Kicking off the 10-day cinema showcase, the 2011 Berlin film festival is opening on Thursday with Coen Brothers‘ True Grit.

The Western remake has already been released in North America and hence is not eligible for prizes at the closing ceremony on 19 February 19. The film, a story of a young girl‘s quest to track down her father‘s killer, stars Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin. 

The film has garnered 10 Academy Award nominations, second only to The King‘s Speech.

However, the spotlight on the opening day is likely to fall on absentee Iranian director Jafar Panahi who was invited to be on the jury.

This year, the festival aims to promote 3D, with the premieres of Wim Wender‘s 3D dance film Cave of Forgotten Dreams about choreographer Pina Bausch and Werner Herzog‘s prehistoric paintings in France.

In competition would be French director Michel Ocelot‘s 3D film Tales of the Night. Also in competition would be British actor Ralph Fiennes‘ directorial debut Coriolanus.

Besides hosting world premieres and show business parties, the Berlin Festival runs a major film market where buyers and sellers meet on the sidelines of the festival in search of distribution and production deals.

MUMBAI: James Franco was recently honoured at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. He picked up an award in the ‘Outstanding Performance of the year‘ category.

It may be noted that Franco is an accomplished director, actor, screenwriter, film producer, author, and painter. Beginning his acting career in the late 1990‘s in a short lived TV series called ‘Freaks and Geeks‘, his career was officially launched in 2001 when he played James Dean in Mark Rydell‘s television film, James Dean that earned him a Golden Globe award.

The actor achieved his international fame by playing Harry Osborn in the Spiderman franchise and went on to do films like The Great Raid (2005), Tristan and Isolde and Annapolis (2006).

His best year was 2008 when he acted with Academy Award winner Sean Penn in Milk and Pineapple Express. All this led to 2010 when he played the role of Aron Ralston in Danny Boyle‘s film 127 Hours.

Franco, nominated for an Academy Award for 127 Hours, is going to co-host the 2011 Oscars this month with Anne Hathaway.
 

MUMBAI: An Italian survey has voted the Leonardo DiCaprio-Kate Winslet front of ship scene in Titanic as the most romantic movie moment of all time. The scene has the lead characters Jack and Rose pretend to fly after climbing the bow of the doomed ship.

Andrew Lincoln declaring his love for Keira Knightley through signs in Love Actually has taken the second position in the list while Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze‘s sexy clay turning in Ghost came third. 

The writing scene from The Notebook took the fourth place while the final ladder climbing scene of Pretty Woman landed in the fifth place.

Patrick Swayze again found a place in the list with his famous line, “Nobody puts Baby in the corner” from Dirty Dancing with the scene taking the sixth position. Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks getting cosy on top of the Empire State Building in Sleepless in Seattle got seventh position.

The final whisper scene in Lost in Translation, final factory floor scene in An Officer and a Gentleman and the kissing scene in Casablanca got the eighth, ninth and tenth position respectively.

MUMBAI: The Los Angeles Court has allowed the trial of Michael Jackson`s doctor Dr. Conrad Murray next month as long as they do not interfere with proceedings.

The Superior Court judge Michael Pastor also postponed the date of Dr. Murray`s trial by four days to 24 March when jury selection is expected to start. It is said that the trial is expected to last about six weeks.

Pastor said that he wanted the “absolute least intrusive placement” of a TV camera in the courtroom and sought detailed proposals from local news crews. He also blocked cameras from broadcasting jury selection.

If convicted, the doctor faces up to fours in prison. Involuntary manslaughter is defined as unintentional killing without malice and is a lesser charge than murder.

Murray, who was with Jackson at his home on 25 June, 2009, has admitted giving the 50-year-old singer the powerful anesthetic tablet as a sleep aid while he was rehearsing for a series of planned comeback concerts in London. Coroners ruled that Jacko‘s death was caused by an overdose of anesthetic tablet and a mix of sedatives.

MUMBAI: MGM is nearing a deal with Sony Pictures to release its 23rd James Bond film after its talks with Paramount broke down, it is understood.

Paramount declined to go below a 8 per cent distribution fee for the Bond film and also rebuffed MGM‘s request to partner on one of its summer films like the instalment of Transformers that is due to release on 1 July and J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg‘s Super 8.

MGM was hoping to convince Fox to renew its video deal with Fox Home Entertainment, that expires later this year. But it looks like Fox is disinterested in extending that agreement without the Bond film.

While it looks like that Sony has met MGM‘s terms, it is unclear which of its upcoming films, it will share with the lion.

The next Bond film starring Daniel Craig will be directed by Sam Mendes with a targeted 9 November, 2012 release.
 

MUMBAI: Sylvester Stallone will play a New Orleans hitman who teams with a New York City cop in Headshot, being jointly produced by IM Global and EMJAG Prods.

IM Global will launch Headshot to foreign buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin this week.

The film will be directed by Wayne Kramer from a script by Alessandro Camon. The shooting of the film is likely to begin in May simultaneously in Louisiana and New York.

The film will have Stallone‘s character teaming up with a young NYPD detective in a high-stakes investigation that leads from the dingy back alleys of New Orleans all the way to the power corridors of Washington, D.C. The unlikely duo, brought together by two vicious murders, take on all who stand in their way, willing to sacrifice everything to exact revenge.

IM Global has a busy slate at Berlin. In addition to Headshot, IM Global‘s genre arm Octane will launch Kevin Smith‘s Red State and Rob Zombie‘s The Lords of Zombie to foreign buyers. The production company will show footage of Barry Levinson‘s The Bay, while Madonna will be in Berlin to share footage from her period drama W.E., which IM Global‘s specialty division Acclaim is selling.
 

MUMBAI: Disney Animation‘s Tangled claimed the No. 1 box-office position for the third time this year in its 11th week of overseas screenings, edging out Sony‘s The Green Hornetecond position.

The film, in its last weekend drew $23.7 million from 5,159 locations in 50 territories taking its overseas gross total so far of $285.1 million, with the worldwide total at $477.2 million. That makes Tangled the 23rd largest-grossing animation title ever released. 

Tangled opened at No. 1 in Spain, grossing $5.6 million from 472 venues, while maintaining its first-place rank in its second week in the UK with $7.2 million from 434 sites, down just 11 per cent from its opening weekend for a market share of $17.1 million. The film also logged strong weekend openings in Sweden and Norway.
 

MUMBAI: Harry Potter will receive the outstanding British contribution to cinema award at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) this year. It is said that the creator of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling and David Heyman will accept the award on behalf of the franchise at the ceremony at London‘s Royal Opera House on 13 February.

Commented chair of the film committee Finola Dwyer, “As this great British film success story draws to a close with this year‘s eagerly anticipated final instalment, it‘s fitting that BAFTA honors the Harry Potter films and their contribution to the British film industry.” 

The journey of Harry Potter films, based on the novels, started in 2001 with the release of Harry Potter and The Philosopher‘s Stone, the Warner Bros. Pictures‘ franchise ends with the release of the latest movie, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 on July 15, say media reports.

The franchise has made a profit of nearly USD 5.4 billion worldwide in the seven films that have hit the silver screen so far, media reports said.
 

MUMBAI: Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin who scripted 127 Hours and Ben Mezrich who wrote True Grit have topped the the 23rd annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards.

The Scripters award that recognizes the author and scribes of a produced literary work-to-film adaptation was held on Friday night.
 
The Social Network team (Sorkin wrote the script based on Mezrich’s book titled The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal) edged out the writers of 127 Hours, (director-writers Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy as well as author Aron Ralston), The Ghost Writer (filmmaker Roman Polanski and Robert Harris), True Grit (Joel and Ethan Coen and Charles Portis) and Winter’s Bone (director-writers Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini and its author Daniel Woodrell).