Category: International

MUMBAI: Portsmouth Miniatures Studio, a studio that also houses an effects business was damaged by a major fire in Wellington on Friday.

The studio that was used by Weta Workshop to film the miniatures scenes in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong caught fire but no one was hurt in the fire and there were no films currently in production at the studios. 

Portsmouth is affiliated with NZ digital effects group, Weta but is not directly owned by Weta. However other reports say that it is owned by Rings and The Hobbit producer and director Peter Jackson.

It is said that the studio was to have been used for filming The Hobbit. The NZ press said the land and building are worth NZ$3.2 million ($2.2 million).
 

MUMBAI: David Fincher‘s The Social Network earned $23 million in its opening weekend and rightly took the number one spot. It edged out last week’s number one film, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, to second place. 

With the excellent word-of-mouth and Oscar buzz, Sony expects to eventually earn $100 million in the domestic circuit in US and Canada.

The eagerly awaited film, featuring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake, tells the story of the ascent of Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg.

The film’s budget is said to be in range of $45 million to $52 million.

Meanwhile, the other two new releases, Let Me In and Case 39, fared dismally collecting $5.3 million and $5.35 million respectively.
 

MUMBAI: Andy Albeck, who as head of United Artists (UA) acquired Raging Bull and Heaven‘s Gate died of heart failure on 29 September four days after he celebrated his 89th birthday.

Spending more than 30 years at UA, Albeck worked with such renowned filmmakers as Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

After stints as president of UA broadcasting and senior vp operations, he was named studio president and CEO in 1978 after the previous studio leadership left and formed Orion Pictures. His three-year stint at the top was well-documented in former UA executive Steven Bach‘s best-selling book Final Cut that focused on the making of the Michael Cimino‘s Heaven‘s Gate.

Born in Russia and raised and schooled in Japan, Albeck began his career in the film industry in 1939 as a sales representative for Columbia Pictures in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). In 1950, he joined Eagle Lion in New York as its assistant foreign sales manager, and a year later Eagle Lion was acquired by UA.
 

MUMBAI: James Cameron‘s Titanic, will be released in 3D in 2012. The year will also see a 3D re-release of Star Wars.

It is reported that Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment were planning to re-release “Titanic” in April 2012. The exercise could put it out in theatres around the same time George Lucas‘s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace releases in 3D.

Though the studio in charge of converting Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet‘s tragic love story into 3D has not yet been chosen, the cost is estimated to cost anywhere between10 to 15 million dollars, it is understood.

Plans to convert 2D films to 3D have come under heavy criticism in Hollywood after the release of “Clash of the Titans” in 3D ended in the flopping of the film.

MUMBAI: Christopher Nolan, who gave us films like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and the recent widely acclaimed Inception will direct the third edition of the Batman series.

“I think you can at this point say, yes I am,” the filmmaker answered when asked if people can assume that he is directing the next Batman film.

Actor Michael Caine has confirmed that filming will start in May next year.

Meanwhile the director‘‘s brother, Jonathan Nolan is working on the script of ‘Batman 3. “We came up with a story that we are very excited about. We particularly like where we are taking the characters and what the ending is,” Jonathan has said.

The film will be released by Pictures Eyes on 20 July 20, 2012 in the US.

MUMBAI: Tony Curtis, who entertained us in his films like Some Like It Hot and The Sweet Smell of Success expired Wednesday night in Nevada of cardiac arrest. He was 85.

Cutis, leading man of more than 140 films including Spartacus had received an Academy Award nomination for The Defiant Ones released in 1958.

Born Bernard Schwartz in New York, Curtis got off to a rocky professional start. In one of his first major roles, playing an Arabian in Son of Ali Baba released in 1952.

Two of his most enduring performances came in Some Like It Hot in which he teamed up with Jack Lemmon, playing cross-dressers opposite Marilyn Monroe and The Sweet Smell of Success in which which he played a fawning press agent.

In his Oscar nomination film The Defiant Ones Curtis played a racist prison escapee chained to a black man played by Sidney Poitier.Some of his other notable films include Houdini, Trapeze, Operation Petticoat, The Boston Strangler, The Vikings and The Great Imposter.

When leading roles in film dried up, Curtis struggled with cocaine and alcohol abuse. He eventually overcame those problems and transformed from leading man to character actor, taking roles on TV.
 

MUMBAI: Unions representing directors, actors and technical crews have come out in support for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy and senior Republican member Sen. Orrin Hatch, who introduced a bill that would give the Justice Department more arm space to track and shut down websites that provide access to unauthorized downloads, streaming or sale of copyright content.

The unions find themselves in the unusual position of siding with management on the bill. “We represent 300,000 creators, film talent and crafts people who create a multitude of diverse films, television programs and sound recordings that are sought by consumers around the world,‘‘ the unions said in a statement.

The Motion Picture Assn. of America also is backing the legislation, called the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act. But the measure is facing stiff opposition from a number of consumer and interest groups, such as the Electronic Foundation, which contend that it would curb freedom of speech, hence is unnecessary.

MUMBAI: Chinese entertainment company Chengtian Entertainment, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Orange Sky Golden Harvest Entertainment has bought a 3.3 per cent share of Inception producers Legendary Pictures of Los Angeles.

Chengtian and Legendary will produce and distribute films in China and around the world and also produce and distribute games. The purchase of Legendary shares for HK$194 million ($25 million) comes at a time when Hollywood‘s box-office growth has been minimised by China‘s, where ticket sales jumped an astonishing 80 per cent in the first half of this year.

Having a way to say a film was made with a Chinese partner could help Legendary get its products into the booming market around a Chinese government-imposed import cap that limits to 20 the number of foreign films allowed to share in their box office receipts here each year.

Founded in 2005, Chengtian invested in John Woo‘s pan-Asian co-production and box office hit Red Cliff (2008) and also made the commercially underwhelming 2009 sequel Storm Warriors II directed by Hong Kong-based fraternal duo Danny and Oxide Pang.
 

MUMBAI: Annette Bening and Robert Duvall will be handed over acting awards at the upcoming Hollywood Film Festival‘s Hollywood Awards on 25 October in Beverly Hills.

Three-time Oscar nominee Bening, who would receive the Hollywood Actress Award appears on screen as a lesbian mom in Focus‘ The Kids Are All Right.

Duvall, already an Oscar winner for Tender Mercies will be bestowed with the Hollywood Actor Award stars in Sony Pictures Classics‘ Get Low in which he plays a backwoods recluse who stages his own funeral.
 

MUMBAI: The fourth sequel of Mission Impossible starring Tom Cruise will be filmed partly in Dubai, it is understood. The film will be directed by Brad Bird, who had earlier directed The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

“Preparations for filming in Dubai have been agreed with the production company, Paramount, following two months of meetings and location scouting,” the media office said in a statement.

“Actual filming of the project, that will attract more than 400 industry professionals, is expected to commence within a few weeks,” it added.

Dubai, a regional tourism and trading center, is slowly emerging from a debt crisis following a crash of its property market after a global financial downturn. The slowdown led to billions of dollars in project cancellations and thousands of job losses.

Government-run Dubai Media Incorporated will provide technical and staff support for the production of the movie, while DSC will assist with technical and logistic support.