Category: International

MUMBAI: Chatsworth-based home entertainment distributor Image Entertainment has licensed the 30-plus-title Handmade Films library that includes films like Time Bandits, The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa.

The Handmade Films library contains some of the greatest and most influential films of the past thirty years. We look forward to making these classics available for the first time on Blu-ray and digital download for a new generation of fans.

Handmade was launched in 1978 by former Beatle George Harrison and producer Denis O‘Brien and the label‘s first theatrical release was Terry Gilliam‘s Time Bandits in 1981. Other titles include Withnail and I, How To Get Ahead In Advertising, A Private Function and Water.
 

MUMBAI: The CBS Television City will have a Sony 3D Experience center in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in the next two weeks.

It may be noted that CBS originally opened Television City-a consumer research venture-to test pilots, internet content and new technology.

Sony will be the sponsor for a 3,000 sq. foot addition in the city that is dedicated to 3D research and will open its 3D elements there. 

Said Sony Electronics senior vp strategy and alliances Randy Waynick, “3D is making its way into the living room. We are trying to move forward in the space.”

A small theatre environment has also been built where Sony and CBS are constructing models of various rooms in a home and bringing in Sony 3D TVs to test viewing of stereo games, Blu-ray titles and 3D-converted television.

Visitors will have the opportunity to see the technology, ask questions and participate in focus groups, surveys, one-on-one interviews and other types of research, some of which will be used exclusively by Sony and CBS and some that will be made available to the public.

MUMBAI: After doing a wide search for its search of a young actor to play Hugh Jackman‘s son in Real Steel, DreamWorks and director Shawn Levy have zeroed in on 11-year-old Canadian Dakota Goyo for the part.

The story, set in a future world where robot-boxing has replaced human mano-a-mano, follows a former boxer (Jackman) who gets a shot at redemption when he teams up with his long lost son to train an unusual robot for a shot at the championships. 

DreamWorks, that is making its first film under its deal with Disney, had issued a public casting search in early February and also conducted open auditions in Chicago and New York looking for someone to essay a “street-smart, tough, charming kid with a hard, untrusting outer shell that hides a warm enthusiastic spirit beneath.”

Goyo, who has worked mainly in Canadian television, may be best known Stateside for his work with Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Hartnett in 2007‘s Resurrecting the Champ.

Production of Steel is set to begin in June with Disney releasing the film on 8 November, 2011.
 

MUMBAI: More than the year-end boost James Cameron’s Avatar gave to the exhibition sector, its effect on the embrace of 3D was even more dramatic.

That was a clear sentiment among a group of exhibitors talking of exhibition trends and challenges at ShoWest’s opening-day offerings.

Said Dallas-based Rave circuit’s CEO Tom Stephenson, “For each new technology, there is a transforming event and for 3D it was Avatar.” 

The panelists said a 3D footprint in many foreign territories that‘s even smaller than in the US has them dreaming of times when the fledgling format can throw off truly extra-dimensional revenue.

With just 10 per cent or less of the screens in markets such as Latin America, Russia and even the U.K. equipped for digital projection, exhibitors there have added 3D capabilities in virtually all existing digital auditoriums.

” Avatar is still doing superb business for us, but we‘re going to have to let those screens go to dragon-lovers,” said Paul Heth, chief of the Rising Star circuit in Russia that‘s to open 3D animated feature How to Train Your Dragon.

Treading into the controversial topic of tighter theatrical windows for select films, some of the panelists talked about the inevitability of the shortening windows.
 

MUMBAI: The fifth Women‘s International Film & Arts Festival (WIFF), that will be held at Miami from 26 March to 3 April, will celebrate India with exhibition of India-focused films on 29 March, according to reports.

Concerned films will include The Shadow Effect, Can She Be Saved, Goddess Menstrual Show, Astronaut Pam: Countdown to Commander, Sindoor and Land Gold Women. 

The event that brings together women from all over the world, is an annual cultural event featuring films, visual and performance arts and other artistic expressions by women to celebrate women and help them realise their dreams, visions and voices.

Founded by Yvonne McCormack-Lyons, WIFF 2010 will include nine days of film viewings in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties of Florida (USA) as well as workshops, panel discussions, and symposia conducted by industry professionals.

MUMBAI: Very soon, Fandango, the online movie tickets service, will allow consumers in places to buy tickets online and send them to their cell phones via a text or picture message.

The service will launch in New York, San Diego, Bakersfield, Calif., Sacramento, Calif., Dallas, Houston, New Jersey‘s Somerset County and Hawaii. Among participating theatres are Angelika Film Centers in New York, Dallas and Houston.

On arrival to the theatre, the bar code on the cell phone will be scanned by theatre ticket-checkers thus saving moviegoers the pain to print tickets at home.

Most mobile services will dish out the service, with a modest fee, it is understood.

Said Fandango COO Rick Butler, “Mobile ticket will be one more Fandango convenience that moviegoers will enjoy. Our cell phones are with us all the time, so what better way to ensure you have your movie ticket?”
 

MUMBAI: Jaden Smith, the young lad whose performance in The Karate Kid captivated the audience has been named ‘ShoWest Breakthrough Male Star of the Year‘.

He will be presented with the award next Wednesday at the exhibitors‘ convention to be held in Las Vegas‘ Bally‘s and Paris Las Vegas hotels. ShoWest also will screen Kid the same day.

Said managing director of the event, Robert Sunshine, “Jaden Smith is an exceptional young actor who has delivered a true breakout performance with his portrayal of Dre Parker in The Karate Kid.”

The son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Jaden made his feature film debut opposite his father in The Pursuit of Happyness and went on to star in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.
 

MUMBAI: The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival will honour Alan Arkin on 20 March where he is slated to receive the King Vidor Career Achievement Award, which honors excellence in filmmaking.

Past recipients include Malcolm McDowell, Peter Fonda and Morgan Freeman.

The 75 year-old actor won the Academy Award gold for his performance as an irascible grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine.

Arkin‘s path from unknown to industry mainstay has been a circuitous one. Over the years, Arkin has branched out into directing, producing and screenwriting. He‘s also written several books including the likes of The Lemming Condition and Halfway Through the Door: An Actor‘s Journey Toward Self.

Best known for his roles in films like Catch 22, Edward Scissorhands and Glengarry Glen Ross, Arkin, more recently starred in Get Smart Marley and Me and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.

Arkin made his film debut in 1966‘s The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming that earned him his first Academy Award nomination. He received his second Oscar two years later for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

MUMBAI: Not only are films jumping the 3D bandwagon, theaters are gearing up to attract moviegoers and lure advertisers with a unique method to promote brands.

National CineMedia will premiere its first 3D spot on 2 April made by Starcom MediaVest Group for Samsung Electronics to promote a 3D LED TV. The ad that will run till July will play in select AMC, Cinemark and Regal theatres. 

The 30-second Samsung 3D spot, titled Wonder-full was created by Leo Burnett asks the viewer, “Ever wonder how amazing it would be to experience life in another dimension?”

Said NCM Media Networks president of sales and marketing Cliff Marks, “3D is just the latest arrow in the quiver for marketers to use to engage movie audiences; it will be exciting to see how exceptional brands like Samsung continue to evolve creatively in our larger-than-life medium.”

MUMBAI: Alice in Wonderland is bound to make hay in its second week ay the weekend box-office despite four new releases hitting theaters today.

The latest collaboration between director Tim Burton and Johnny Depp opened with a gross of $116 million last weekend. Industry insiders are of the opinion that the intake of Alice will fall by half or less in its second weekend. As a result, the the Disney 3D film might total around $200 million in its first 10 days.

Meanwhile among the new releases, Matt Damon‘s Iraq War thriller Green Zone looks the strongestand could open with an intake of $14 million-$16 million.

The other release Fox Searchlight’s Forest Whitaker vehicle Our Family Wedding targeting urban demos could rope in $11 million or more.

Summit Entertainment is releasing Remember Me starring Robert Pattinson with prospects of fetching a similar sum.

Paramount is also releasing She‘s Out of My League that has a youthful cast. It is likely to register a mere $8 million or something nearby till Sunday.

I may be interesting to note that Summit and Canadian partner Maple have increased the number of screens of the Oscar winner The Hurt Locker to 348 screens up from 275 last weekend.