Category: International

MUMBAI: George Clooney will star in The Monster of Florence, an adaptation of a best-selling nonfiction book about a serial killer who roamed the Italian city. The film will be produced by Clooney and business partner Grant Heslov along with Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen who had earlier made the American Beauty.

Usual Suspects scribe Christopher McQuarrie will adapt the book by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi‘s book.

At one point, Tom Cruise optioned the rights and set up the project at United Artists, which he was running at the time. It was Cruise who brought McQuarrie aboard.

MUMBAI: Matt Damon, Jennifer Lopez and Twilight star Robert Pattinson will present awards at the 68th Annual Golden Globes awards. Damon will present the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Robert De Niro at the ceremony in Los Angeles.

On Tuesday evening, Sony announced on Twitter that Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester — co-stars in Country Strong — will co-present at the Globes.

The Golden Globes would be broadcast nationwide on 16 January on NBC.
 

MUMBAI: Actress Anne Francis, better known for the 1950s science-fiction classic Forbidden Planet and later starred as a sexy private eye in Honey West on TV died at the age of 80.

Francis, who had surgery and chemotherapy after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2007, died of complications of pancreatic cancer, it is understood.

Forbidden Planet was hailed in Leonard Maltin‘s 2006 Movie Guide as one of the most ambitious and intelligent films of its genre.”

In Honey West, Francis‘ private detective character was that of a female James Bond.

Francis was nominated for an Emmy for the role, which lasted 30 episodes.
 

MUMBAI: For the third year in succession, Warner Bros. has topped the Hollywood studios by market share despite drop in ticket sales even as overall industry revenues were flat.

The studio led the pack in North America with a $1.89 billion gross, giving it 18.3 per cent of the total revenue pie. Its top-grossing films were Inception ($292.5 million) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 ($283 million). In 2009, the studio claimed a 19.8 per cent share and a total take of $2.1 billion.

Overall domestic revenue for last year came in just below $10.57 billion down less than 1 per cent from the record $10.6 billion earned in 2009. It was only the second time in history that domestic revenue has jumped $10 billion. However, attendance dropped more than 5.2 percent in 2010 from the previous year, the second biggest dip in a decade.

The discrepancy was attributed to a stiff 3D-fueled increase in the average ticket price, from $7.46 in 2009 to $7.85 in 2010 (midyear, the average price jumped to $7.95, then went back down in the fall to $7.85).

Paramount held at No. 2 in 2010 with roughly 16.1 per cent, as its films collected more than $1.67 billion. Its top performers were a pair it distributed for other studios, Marvel‘s Iron Man 2 ($312 million) and DreamWorks Animation‘s Shrek Forever After ($238 million).

Thanks to Avatar, 20th Century Fox jumped one place to No. 3 with roughly $1.45 billion and a 14 per cent share. Besides, Fox had a lacklustre year domestically.

Disney rose one place to No. 4, with $1.4 billion and a 13.6 percent share, up from $1.2 billion and 11.6% in 2009.

Sony fell two places to No. 5 with $1.26 billion and a 12.3 per cent market share, down from $1.46 billion and a 13.7 per cent share in 2009.

Universal bottomed the chart at No. 6 with 8.2 per cent and a $842.2 million haul.

MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has mailed Oscar nomination ballots to the group‘s 5,755 voting members. Completed ballots must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers by 5 pm on 14 January.

Ballots received after the deadline will not be counted. 

AMPAS said that PricewaterhouseCoopers has already taken steps to ensure that no duplicate ballots were mailed out and that none was missing. Additionally, the ballots are numbers to guarantee that each one is sent to the correct voter.

The 83rd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on 25 Januarywhile the awards show will air live on 27 February.

MUMBAI: Amid reports that Sony Corp. and Walt Disney Co. were eyeing to acquire Imax Corp., the giant-screen exhibitor expressed surprise of its stocks drifting north wards.

Upon asked by the Toronto Stock Exchange to explain recent heavy trading in its stock, including one last Friday when it recorded a high of $32.30, Imax said it “is not aware of any corporate developments to account for this activity.”It added that it does not comment on rumors or speculation, and so would not comment further. 

It is reported that Sony may offer $40 per share for the large-format theatre chain, while the Walt Disney Co. was also ready to pay more.In 2009, Imax had denied that it was in acquisition talks with Walt Disney after it became the subject of faux press release issued online.

The most recent takeover speculation swirling round Imax comes on the heels of the exhibitor‘s reaching a number of milestones following a long 70 mm film-to-digital transition and an impressive expansion in 3D exhibition.

Imax, in recent quarters, has pointed to sustained earnings growth from joint revenue-share theatres and re-mastering and releasing Hollywood films in its extra-big format.

MUMBAI: Richard Gere is coming back to India to shoot for Goutam Ghosh‘s film Lala, a film about Buddhism. The film will have Gere portray a writer from the West who comes to India to find inspiration for his books.

Besides, shooting for the film, Gere will also visit Dharamshala. He intends to work with his organization, The Gere Foundation that provides medical aid to people living in Dharamshala.

It may be recollected that Gere caused quite a stir back in 2007 by kissing Shilpa Shetty at an event. He simply stayed away for a while to avoid getting involved in more controversies and even getting arrested.

MUMBAI: John Favreau, who directed the first two films of Iron Man will not direct the third instalment of the Marvel superhero series, it is understood.

Before getting into Iron Man 2, Favreau negotiated for an astronomical rise and got $10 million for the assignment along with a share of profits, while in the summer 2011 sci-fi epic Cowboys And Aliens, his price went up. Marvel, known for keeping its costs as low as possible, wasn‘t likely to pay him more.

He also recently signed on to develop and direct Magic Kingdom, a big Disney film based on its theme parks. Said Favreau, “It‘s true, I‘m directing Magic Kingdom and not Iron Man 3. I‘ve had a great run with Marvel and wish them the best.”

The first two Iron Man films grossed more than $1.2 billion at the worldwide box-office and turned Robert Downey Jr. into an action hero. The third film is set to release in 2013.
 

MUMBAI: Former IFC Entertainment executive Courtney Ott has been appointed as director of marketing and PR for the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Ott will head the team that will work on behalf of the Film Society of Lincoln Center‘s programmes, film festivals, theatres, educational outreach and community involvement. Immediately, the Ott will focus on the transition from a single-screen to a multi screen programming strategy with the opening of the Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center next summer.

Ott worked as vp publicity at IFC Entertainment, where she oversaw publicity of the company‘s theatrical and VOD releases that include Summer Hours, In the Loop, Gomorrah and Joan Rivers — A Piece of Work.

MUMBAI: 67-year old Grant McCune, the visual-effects designer of Star Wars expired of pancreatic cancer on Monday.

Incidentally. McCune had shared the honour of winning his Oscar for Star Wars, the original of George Lucas‘ six-film sci-fi franchise with John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund and Robert Blalack.

He was also nominated for an Oscar in 1980 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Armed with a bachelor‘s degree in biology, McCune got his break with Jaws, when he and Bill Shourt were hired to make a giant white shark model which neither was credited with.

He later went on to become a partner at Apogee Prods., where he worked on three dozen films including Die Hardi, Never Say Never Again, Big, Space Balls and Caddyshack amongst others. Striking out on his own, the VFX director did films such as Speed, Batman Forever, U.S. Marshals, Red Planet, U-571, Spider-Man and Serenity.

He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.