Category: International

MUMBAI: The sixth edition of Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) that concluded recently recorded 50,113 admissions for the 168 films screened.

The significant trend of DIFF 2009 was the great interest by film lovers on the wide cross-section of movies than just the mainstream selection. From Avatar to Zindeeq, the Muhr Arab award winning feature, DIFF 2009 showcased most movies released this year.

The power of DIFF‘s programming has been reflected in the Golden Globe nominations in which several films screened in Dubai made it to the short-list. 

In all, DIFF films clinched 15 nominations at the prestigious awards. Both the opening and closing galas of the festival – Nine and Avatar – have won nominations as well as Fantastic Mr Fox, The Princess and the Frog and A Prophet along with The Hurt Locker.

DIFF Chairman Abdulhamid Juma claimed that the sixth edition of DIFF defined the festival as one that put a large spectrum of Arab talent in the global spotlight including the world premiere of a full-fledged UAE production, City of Life.

DIFF also welcomed celebrities including Omar Sharif, Amitabh Bachchan, Gerard Butler, Matt Dillon, Christopher Lambert, Mandy Moore, Lluis Homar, Natalie Dormer, Ranbir Kapoor, Mamooty, Hala Sarhan, Somayya Al Kashab, Mostafa Fahmy, Habib Gholoom, Samir Ghanim and Donia Ghanim, Hiam Abbas, Nelly Kareem, Elham Shaheen, Ragha Al Guedawi, Amr Waked, Rania Shawky, Sherine Adel, Khalid Al Sawi and Khalid Taja, among others, providing the glitz and glamour to the festival.
 

MUMBAI: Sherlock Holmes opened to a hectic and crowded weekend at the muliplex.
Attracting an estimated $24.9 million for its opening day, the film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, led the pack.

The PG-13 rated movie, directed by Guy Ritchie, opened in 3,626 locations.

Entering its eighth day of release Fox‘s Avatar was close behind. The 3D space tale logged in an additional $23.6 million as it crossed the $150 million mark.
The film benefitted from premium ticket prices although it also had to contend with playing on fewer screens — 3,456 locales – and has a running time that is more than one half longer that Sherlock.

By the weekend, the two films were seen battling it out for the top spot.

Meanwhile, Fox‘s Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel settled securely into the third spot. The PG-rated family fare took in $14.3 million in 3,700 locations.

In the process, it appeared to lure the kids away from Disney‘s The Princess and the Frog, as it began its third weekend of wide release, dropped to eighth place for the day as it took in $2 million.

Aiming to lure in older women, Universal‘s It‘s Complicated settled for the fourth place when it grossed $7.2 million in 2,886 locations.

That was in line with a recent Streep vehicle like August‘s “Julie & Julia,” which opened to a first-day gross of $6.5 million and bettered the first-day opening figure of Meyer‘s 2003 “Something‘s Gotta Give,” which opened to $5.3 million.

After three weekends, Paramount‘s Up in the Air collected $3.7 million for the day.

Warner‘s The Blind Side that began its sixth weekend, was following Up‘s heels, though. The Sandra Bullock-starrer, which is also demonstrating some awards potential, was in sixth place, picking up $3.4 million as it crossed the $175 million mark domestically.

The Weinstein Co.‘s musical Nine that didn‘t have quite as many moviegoers whistling its tunes found itself in seventh place collecting $2.1 million.

Sony‘s Did You Hear About the Morgans? ranked ninth as it began its second weekend with a daily total of $ 1.6 million.

And in the tenth spot was Warner‘s South African-set Invictus directed by Clint Eastwood that pulled in $1.3 million bringing its cumulative domestic gross to just over $20 million.
 

MUMBAI: Warner‘s The Hangover shot to the top spot of both the national home video sales and rental charts in its first week in stores beating two big theatrical competitors in Universal Studios‘ Inglourious Basterds and Walt Disney Studios‘ G-Force.

Inglourious Basterds finished second on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart for the week ending 20 December as well as on Home Media Magazine‘s rental chart for the same week.

But it was a way-distant second, Nielsen research shows the Quentin Tarantino actioner sold just 42.5 per cent as many copies as the Warner comedy, which uses flashbacks to retrace the escapades of four buddies who went to Las Vegas for a bachelor party.

In rental stores, the film didn‘t fare much better and generated just 50.5 per cent as many rentals as The Hangover.

The Hangover also was the No. 1 Blu-ray Disc seller for the week, according to Nielsen VideoScan research, with Inglourious Basterds taking the No. 2 spot. The Hangover generated 24 per cent of its first-week sales from Blu-ray Disc, another sign that the high-definition format is fast moving into the mainstream. Inglourious Basterds generated 33 per cent of its first-week sales from Blu-ray Disc.
 

MUMBAI: Filmmaker Michael Moore started a summer film festival five years ago. Now he has teamed up with Emmy winner Jeff Garlin in organizing a mid-winter comedic festival.

The inaugural to be known as Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival will be held from 19 to 21 February that will feature star performers, along with talented up-and-comers. The lineup will be revealed next month.

Moore, a Flint native, now lives in Traverse City. He and Garlin say they want to boost a state where the economy was sinking long before the nationwide downturn.

In addition to stand-up performances by established artistes, there will be acts featuring improvisational groups and premieres of comedy movies — plus a show for children.
 

MUMBAI: Brittany Murphy was laid to rest at a small, private funeral on Christmas Eve, while a larger memorial service is expected to be held early next year.

The 32-year-old actress expired last Sunday after collapsing at her Hollywood Hills home. An autopsy performed Monday was inconclusive, and the coroner‘s office is awaiting results of toxicology and tissue tests before determining an official cause of death.

Authorities are investigating the cause of her death.

Murphy moved with her mother, Sharon, to Los Angeles when she was a teenager to pursue an acting career. She started out in sitcoms and commercials in the early 1990s before winning starring roles in several films.

She played Eminem‘s love interest in 8 Mile and Ashton Kutcher‘s wife in Just Married. She starred as a suspicious girlfriend in 2004‘s Little Black Book a barmaid with an abusive ex-boyfriend in 2005‘s Sin City.

Murphy was juggling multiple movie projects in the months before her unexpected death, wrapping two indie thrillers over the summer and preparing to shoot a romantic comedy next month.

MUMBAI: The Associated Press (AP) voted Michael Jackson‘s death as the number one entertainment story of the year, with Susan Boyle finishing second while Kanye West and Taylor Swift fiasco and the Jon and Kate Gosselin split followed.

Jackson‘s shocking death on 25 June at the age of 50 was one of the most notable deaths in pop culture history. 

Boyle became an internet sensation after a YouTube video of her audition for Britan‘s Got Talent was viewed by millions in April last. She stunned the music world after her debut album, I Dreamed a Dream, broke global sales records when it was released in November and became the fastest-selling debut by a female artiste in US history.

Other entertainment highlights of the year include West‘s infamous interruption of Swift‘s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Awards.

Also featuring is the David Letterman affair and scandal that rocked the late-night world in October.

Jon and Kate Gosselin announced their separation earlier this year and became an instant tabloid sensation. The year saw the end of the hugely successful reality show, Jon & Kate Plus 8 that followed the couple‘s life raising twins and sextuplets.

The Gosselin‘s divorce was final in December and Kate is filming a new show for TLC, which will debut next year.

AP‘s top entertainment stories of the year are: Michael Jackson dies, Susan Boyle becomes overnight sensation, Late-Night Swap between Jay Leno and Conan O‘Brien, Walter Cronkite dies, David Letterman affair, Chris Brown assaults Rihanna, Kanye West robs Taylor Swift, Live video explodes on the web, particularly President Obama‘s inauguration and Michael Jackson‘s funeral, Kate and Jon Gosselin broadcast split, Heath Ledger wins posthumous Oscar.

MUMBAI: Singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt died Friday afternoon in Athens, Ga., his record label has confirmed. He‘d been in a coma; the cause of that coma has not been confirmed, but frequent collaborator Kristin Hersh said that it had been a suicide attempt.

The news about the singer‘s condition first spread through the Internet on Wednesday through Twitter posts by former ‘Throwing Muses‘ singer Kristin Hersh, who has collaborated with Chesnutt.

Chesnutt, 45, has been in a wheelchair since a car accident when he was 18, and was discovered in the late ‘80s by R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, who produced his first two albums. Since then, Chesnutt has released 13 more albums, including two this year, ‘At the Cut‘ and ‘Skitter on Take-Off‘.
 

MUMBAI: Freida Pinto beat competitors like supermodel Kate Moss and Lady Gaga to feature prominently in the top ten list of fashion bible Vogue‘s annual list of the most stylish women.

The actress, who shot to international fame with Danny Boyle‘s Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, stands ninth on the list topped by British TV presenter Alexa Chung.

The 24-year-old Pinto was ahead of A-listers like Kate Moss and first ladies Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in the list of 20 celebrities. 

Da Vinci Code actress Audrey Tautou clinched the second place while Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker took the third spot.

X Factor judges Cheryl Cole and Danniie Minogue claimed the fourth and the fifth spot respectively while the sixth place went to Harry Potter star Emma Watson, Sienna Miller was seventh while actress Diane Kruger and former supermodel Kate Moss were on the eighth and tenth spot respectively.

US first lady Michelle Obama made it to the 14th spot followed by Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie while French first lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy stood 19th on the list.
 

MUMBAI: Harry Potter star Emma Watson will spend her Christmas holidays shooting the last film in the series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The 19-year-old actress, who is currently studying at Brown University in Rhode Island, announced on her newly-launched Christmas site that she has returned to the sets of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 

“I‘ve just returned from Brown where I‘ve had the most amazing first term and now I‘m back filming,” Watson wrote on her site. The shooting for the last instalment of the film franchise kicked off in February last.

The year-long production that was planned to be finished in April 2010, has been extended for about two months and is now scheduled to be wrapped in June 2010.

MUMBAI: Iran‘s first 3-D film The Secret of Taran Desert will have its premiere at the 28th edition of the Fajr International Film Festival. Helmed by Hatef Alimardani and Mohammad Lotfali, the film is the first 3-D production with real characters.

According to, The film has been produced using the same techniques employed in the production of Harry Potter and the Spider Man series, says a statement of Iran‘s Shokufa Films company.

The Film Festival will be held from 25 January to 4 February in the capital city of Tehran.