Category: International

MUMBAI: Universal Pictures International (UPI) has named Christian Grass as president of international production and acquisitions. The announcement was made on 11 February.
Grass, who is currently the joint CEO of Focus Features International (FFI), will report to David Kosse, president of international for Universal Pictures.

Grass‘ team will include executive vice-president of international production Clare Wise. The international acquisitions team led by Dylan Wilcox will continue to acquire films for UPI and Focus Features.

Focus Features CEO James Schamus and President Andrew Karpen will continue to run Focus Features and Focus Features International (FFI) with president of international sales and distribution Alison Thompson and will maintain close collaboration with Grass‘ team on projects.

Grass has led the international production group for Universal since October 2007. The international production group has also overseen the acquisition and production of major international projects including Inglourious Basterds with the Weinstein Company, the Step Up franchise from Summit Entertainment International.
 

MUMBAI: Penelope Cruz is set to join the pirates‘ deck as she will join the battalion to star opposite Johnny Depp in the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Christened Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the film revolves around the story of the Fountain of Youth and will hit theatres in May 2011. 

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the script for the film has been written by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot.

Also, Gore Verbinski, who directed the original hit film and subsequent sequels, will not direct the new installment and neither Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, Depp‘s former co-stars, star in the new sequel.

MUMBAI: Universal Pictures is set to remake the 1982 feature film, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

To be produced under the Temple Hill banner, the film will have Legally Blonde duo Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten ‘Kiwi‘ Smith to adapt a modern take, reports Variety. 

The original film, which was based on the 1978 Broadway play of the same name, featured many of the same songs as the stage version as well as two songs penned by Parton, the duet “Sneakin‘ Around” and “I Will Always Love You”.
 

MUMBAI: The 82nd Academy Awards co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin have landed on the shoulders of the Oscar in the official poster of the 8 March telecast on Star Movies.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that the poster is now available for purchase.

The 27×40-inch colour poster is printed on premium quality, Forest Stewardship Certified paper. LA-based creative shop Omelet is responsible for the concept and execution of the design, which features tuxedo-clad Martin and Baldwin on the shoulders of a giant Oscar statuette. “You’ve Never Seen Oscar Like This” is the year’s campaign slogan.

Meanwhile For the first time, Academy Award winners will be able to have their Oscar statuettes personalised with engraved nameplates on Oscar Night® at the Governors Ball, the official celebration immediately following the 82nd Academy Awards.

In preparation for the night, the Academy will create 197 nameplates, one for each 2009 nominee in every category. The engraving will include the nominee’s name, category, film title and year. After the winners have been announced, the unused nameplates will be recycled.

Academy president Tom Sherak says, “An Oscar statuette just isn’t complete until a nameplate is attached. The Governors Ball is the perfect place for Oscar winners to add that final touch as they celebrate their accomplishment and the year’s movies.”

Previously, Academy Award winners were asked to bring their Oscars® to the Academy in the weeks following the ceremony, at which time the nameplates – engraved only after the winners were announced – were affixed to the statuettes.

At the Governors Ball, which will be take place at the Grand Ballroom on the top level of the Hollywood & Highland Center, Academy Award winners will be invited to enter a specially designed area where Academy technicians will affix the personalized nameplates to each Oscar.

R.S. Owens, the company which manufactures the Oscar statuettes, will produce and engrave the nameplates for the Academy.
 

MUMBAI: Pacificor LLC, the California-based hedge fund, has won the rights to the science-fiction action movie franchise “Terminator” from Halcyon Holding Group in a bankruptcy auction.

In the auction, according to Reuters, Pacificor LLC presented Halcyon Holding Group with $29.5 million for the rights and an additional $5 million for every new Terminator movie made. The deal currently requires court approval.

Pacificor, based in Santa Barbara, won the auction against a joint offer made by the movie studios Lionsgate and Sony Pictures.

Meanwhile, as per industry experts, Pacificor may now sell the movie to Sony and Lions Gate.
 

MUMBAI: The third Gulf Film Festival, the annual event celebrating Gulf cinema, will be held from 8 -14 April.

Entries to the festival will be open for all films that depict life in the Arabian Gulf region.

GFF Festival Director Masoud Amralla Al Ali said that opening submissions for the Gulf Film Festival to directors across the world provides a larger window for showcasing Arab creativity. “This is an era of global collaboration and Gulf Film Festival aims to celebrate the solidarity that is expressed through the medium of films.”

“The Gulf region opens a goldmine of opportunities for cinematic expression. Filmmakers from around the world are inspired by the region, and make films that are centred on life in the Arab world. The Gulf Film Festival wants to showcase all such artistic expressions that further contribute to strengthening the local film industry,” Masoud added.

The Gulf Film Festival aims to boost creativity in filmmaking through the film competition for professionals and students and the script competition for Emiratis, together with a total prize money of AED 485,000.

The festival features two main competitions, the film competition and the script competition.

The film competition has two categories: official and students and is open to filmmakers and students from the GCC (including Iraq & Yemen), or filmmakers from across the globe with a film that showcases the region and its landscape.

Entries in the official competition are invited in three categories: feature films, short films, and documentaries. Students compete in short films and documentaries only.

The script competition is open to Emirati short film entries from UAE nationals exclusively. All prize money goes towards producing the three winning scripts in the UAE.
 

MUMBAI: Peter Bogdanovich has been roped in as writer and director of an adaptation of Kurt Andersen‘s 1999 novel “Turn of the Century”.

Produced by Das Films, the film‘s screenplay will be co-written by Bogdanovich‘s writing partner Parish Rahbar.

The movie is scheduled to go on floor in spring next year.

Turn of the Century is about the MacTiers, a Manhattan power couple with three kids who are managing their troubled marriage in a world where BarbieWorld has opened in Vegas and Charles Manson‘s parole hearing is live on TV.
 

MUMBAI: Katherine Heigl of Grey‘s Anatomy fame has been roped in to play Stephanie Plum in the movie One for the Money.

The film is based on Janet Evanovich‘s novel of the same name.

The film will be produced by Columbia Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment.

MUMBAI: New Line Cinema is already planning a sequel of its yet to release comedy flick Valentine‘s Day with Garry Marshall.

The sequel New Year‘s Eve, will go on floor by the end of this year and is expected to release in late 2011. It is believed that Valentine‘s Day producers Mike Karz and Wayne Rice will return as well as screenwriter Katherine Fugate. Josie Rosen will executive produce and New Line executives Mike Disco and Sam Brown will oversee the project.

New Year’s Eve will see some of the same characters from Valentine‘s Day, and the story will be set in New York City on New Year‘s Eve.

Meanwhile, Valentine‘s Day will release on 12 February. The cast includes Jessica Alba, Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Ashton Kutcher, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Queen Latifah, Julia Roberts and Emma Roberts.

The Gray Marshall movie (Pretty Woman fame) is centered around Reed (Kutcher) and his best friend, Julia (Garner). Julia is very much in love with a doctor (Patrick Dempsey) and Reed, who is a florist by the way, has a girlfriend too (Jessica Alba).

Julia‘s boyfriend is two timing her. Reed finds about it and is in a dilemma whether to tell his best friend about it.

MUMBAI: Disney/ Pixar’s animated film Up won the top awards – best film and best director (Pete Docter) – at the 37th annual Annie Awards.

Up, which is a film about an old man, a young boy and a floating house, is also nominated for multiple Oscars, including best picture and best animated feature.

Meanwhile, Laika‘s Coraline and Disney‘s The Princess and the Frog begged three awards each, while Wes Anderson‘s stop-motion toon Fantastic Mr. Fox won for the best writing.

The complete awards list follows:

Best animated feature
“Up” — Pixar Animation Studios

Best home entertainment production
“Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder” — The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Best animated short subject
“Robot Chicken: Star Wars 2.5” — ShadowMachine

Best animated television commercial
Spanish Lottery “Deportees” — Acme Filmworks Inc.

Best animated television production
“Prep and Landing” — ABC Family/Walt Disney Animation Studios

Best animated television production for children
“The Penguins of Madagascar” — Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation

Animated effects
James DeValera Mansfield, “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Character animation in a television production
Phillip To, “Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space” — DreamWorks Animation

Character animation in a feature production
Eric Goldberg, “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Character design in a television production
Bill Schwab, “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Character design in a feature production
Shane Prigmore, “Coraline” — Laika

Directing in a television production
Bret Haaland, “The Penguins of Madagascar — Launchtime” — Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation

Directing in a feature production
Pete Docter, “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios

Music in a television production
Guy Moon, “The Fairly OddParents: “Wishology — The Big Beginning” — Nickelodeon

Music in a feature production
Bruno Coulais, “Coraline” — Laika

Production design in a television production
Andy Harkness, “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Production design in a feature production
Tadahiro Uesugi, “Coraline — Laika

Storyboarding in a television production
Robert Koo, “Merry Madagascar” — DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in a feature production
Tom Owens, “Monsters vs. Aliens” — DreamWorks Animation

Voice acting in a television production
Tom Kenny, voice of SpongeBob, “SpongeBob SquarePants — Truth or Square” — Nickelodeon

Voice acting in a feature production
Jen Cody, voice of Charlotte, “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Writing in a television production
Daniel Chun, “The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XX” — Gracie Films

Writing in a feature production
Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — 20th Century Fox