Category: International

MUMBAI: Warner Bros is set to convert Clash of the Titans and the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to stereoscopic 3D (S3D).

The other movies that the studio is expected to convert into 3D are Cats and Dogs : The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Guardians of Ga‘Hoole.

Said Warner Bros Pictures president – domestic distribution Dan Fellman, “Warner Bros is experienced and have been successful in the conversion of 2D to 3D going back to such hits as The Polar Express, select scenes in Superman Returns and the last two Harry Potter films.”

“So films like Clash of the Titans 3D will ‘be presented onscreen with the highest-quality images available today,” Fellman added.

MUMBAI: James Cameron‘s box-office success Avatar and the Kathryn Bigelow directed American war thriller The Hurt Locker has bagged nine nominations each for the 82nd Academy Awards.

While Cameron‘s Avatar has been nominated for best picture, best director and a slew of technical categories, The Hurt Locker has bagged nine in categories including best actor for Jeremy Renner.

Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino‘s Inglourious Basterds bagged eight nominations. Also, Jason Reitman‘s Up In The Air, Sandra Bullock starrer The Blind Side and Lee Daniels‘ Precious won six nominations each.

A peep into the detailed list:

BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up In the Air

BEST DIRECTOR
James Cameron, Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up In The Air

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up In The Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up In the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up In the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Mo‘nique, Precious

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Matt Damon, Invictus
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell, District 9
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci,
Tony Roche, In The Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Mark Boal, The Hurt locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Joel and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Up

ART DIRECTION
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
China‘s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of A GM Plant
Music By Prudence
Rabbit A La Berlin

FILM EDITING
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ajami
El Secreto
Desus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

MAKE-UP
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

MUSIC: ORIGINAL SCORE
Avatar
Fantastic Mr Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

MUSIC: ORIGINAL SONG
The Princess and The Frog – Almost There
The Princess and The Frog – Down In New Orleans
Paris 36 – Loin de Panane
Nine – Take It All
Crazy Heart – The Weary Kind

SHORT FILM: ANIMATED
French Roast
Granny O‘Grimm‘s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady And The Reaper
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

SHORT FILM: LIVE ACTION
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

SOUND EDITING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

BEST ANIMATED PICTURE
Coraline
Fantastic Mr Fox
The Princess And The Frog
The Secret Of Kells
Up
 

MUMBAI: Hammer Films, the production arm of Exclusive Media Group, has acquired the feature film rights to Susan Hill‘s bestseller, The Woman in Black.

To be directed by James Watkins of Eden Lake fame, the screenplay of the film has been written by Jane Goldman. The film will be co-produced by Talisman Films.

The worldwide sales and distribution of the film will be handled by Exclusive Film Distribution.

The Woman in Black centres on a young solicitor, Arthur Kipps, who is summoned to Crythin Gifford, a small market town on the east coast of the United Kingdom to attend to the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, an elderly widow who lived alone in the desolate and secluded Eel Marsh House.

The house is situated on Nine Lives Causeway, and at high tide is completely cut off from the mainland with only the surrounding marshes and sea frets for company. Kipps soon realises there is more to Alice Drablow than he originally thought. At the funeral he spots a woman dressed in black and with a pale, wasted face, who is watched in silence by a group of children.

Over the course of several days, while sorting through Mrs Drablow‘s papers at Eel Marsh House, he endures an increasingly terrifying sequence of unexplained noises, chilling events and hauntings by the Woman in Black. The hauntings included the sound of a horse and cart in difficulty which was closely followed by the screams of a young child.

MUMBAI: Orlando Bloom has been roped in as the lead protagonist in The Good Doctor, an indie drama to be directed by Lance Daly.

The other actors in the movie include Michael Pena, Oscar nominee Taraji P Henson and Juno actor JK Simmons.

The Good Doctor revolves around the story of a frustrated physician who attempts to impress his peers and bosses.

He finds a chance to improve his lot after tampering with the treatment of an 18-year-old girl suffering from a kidney complaint, so as to ensure her stay at the hospital.
 

MUMBAI: Acclaimed movie producer and executive David Brown died today at his home in Manhattan after a long illness. He was 93.

A public funeral will be held on 4 February at 3.30 pm in New York city.

Brown‘s career spanned for six decades that includes four academy award nominations and box office hits like The Sting and Jaws, Cocoon and Driving Miss Daisy.

Before heading to Hollywood to join the film industry in 1951, Brown enjoyed a career as a journalist, including a stint as managing editor of Cosmopolitan. Brown also authored a number of books with the most recent being in 2006 – Brown‘s Guide to the Good Life Without Tears, Fears or Boredom.

Brown was married for more than 50 years to Cosmopolitan magazine editor and author Helen Gurley Brown. He is survived by his wife.
 

MUMBAI: Roy Orbison has been posthumously honoured with the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The star was accepted by Orbison‘s widow Barbara at a ceremony attended by Eric Idle, Chris Isaak and Dan Aykroyd.

Orbison drew fans worldwide with his five-octave range and a songwriting style that connected with teenagers who knew how unrequited love and loneliness felt. Orbison is also credited with bringing rock ‘n‘ roll to Nashville and helping inspire the British Invasion.

Orbison was an American singer-songwriter and musician, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads.

Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly / country and western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis. His greatest success was with Monument Records in the early 1960s where 22 of his songs placed on the Top Forty, including “Only the Lonely”, “Crying”, “In Dreams”, and “Oh, Pretty Woman”. His career stagnated through the 1970s, but several covers of his songs and the use of one in a film by David Lynch revived his career in the 1980s.

He joined the supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys, with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne and released an album in 1988. He died of a heart attack at the age of 52, at the zenith of his resurgence.
 

MUMBAI: Avatar, the James Cameron‘s 3-D blockbuster, has garnered another $30 million over the weekend in the US and Canada as it continues to rule the worldwide box-office charts.

Industry experts estimate that the movie is expected to grab $2 billion worldwide by later this week.

Meanwhile, occupying the second position is the thriller flick, Edge of Darkness starring Mel Gibson. The film has collected $17.1 million.

Standing in the third spot is the Disney comedy, When in Rome earned $12.1 million, which made $12.1 million at the box-office.

Tooth Fairy, meanwhile, has made $10 million in the week.
 

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Classics has bought the all-US rights of the Dutch film, Winter In Wartime, from High Point Films.

High Point Films is the theatrical division of Carey Fitzgerald‘s London-based High Point Media Group.

The deal was negotiated by Dylan Leiner, currently EVP acquisitions and production at Sony Pictures Classics, along with High Point director theatrical sales and marketing Elisar Cabrera.

Directed by Martin Koolhoven, Winter In Wartime revolves around the story of a 13-year-old boy who get involved in the resistance after he helps a wounded British soldier during World War II.

The screenplay has been written by Mieke de Jong, Paul Jan Nelissen and Martin Koolhoven and was based on the novel of the same name by Jan Terlouw.

The film was hugely successful in the Netherlands, out-grossing competing films like Twilight and The Dark Knight. It was the highest grossing film in The Netherlands during Christmas 2008 and the first weeks of 2009.

It was also chosen by the Dutch Critics as the best Dutch film of 2008, it won the PZC Audience Award (best movie based on a novel), three Rembrandt Awards and three Golden Calf awards. It is the Dutch entry (Best Foreign Language Film) for the Academy Awards of 2010.
 

MUMBAI: Mandate Pictures, the Los Angeles-based film distribution and production company, has roped in Lawrence Grey in a senior creative post.

Joining from 8 February, Grey‘s new mandate will be to play a key role in building Mandate‘s slate, reports Variety.
 

Prior to this appointrment, Grey was SVP production at Universal Pictures.

For 2010, Mandate Pictures production slate includes The Baster, starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman and another untitled project, starring James McAvoy and Seth Rogen.
 

MUMBAI: Despite a few offices of Miramax closed down this week, owner Walt Disney Co. said that the brand will continue to exist.

A Miramax employee sent out an e-mail in the week saying Miramax offices will be closed as of Friday. The e-mail directed all inquiries for upcoming Miramax projects to a Disney employee.

The offices‘ closure was in line with plans announced in October to slash Miramax‘s movie production to three per year, down from six to eight, and eliminate 50 jobs in New York and Los Angeles.

Some 20 employees who were still aboard, mostly at the New York headquarters were asked to move to Disney‘s headquarters in Burbank.

Disney confirmed that it has six Miramax films to be distributed till 2011 that includes The Baster and The Debt set to release soon.