Category: International

MUMBAI: Monsters vs. Aliens, the DreamWorks Animation film distributed on DVD and Blu-ray Disc by Paramount Home Entertainment

, has captured the top spot among all three home video charts in the week ending 4 October.

In its first week in stores, the film was No. 1 on the Nielsen videoscan first alert sales chart and also on the Home Media Magazine‘s rental chart.

It also topped the Nielsen VideoScan Blu-ray Disc chart. Warner‘s magnificently restored The Wizard of Oz, which arrived on DVD and Blu-ray Disc the same week and finished at No. 2 on both the overall and the dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales charts.

Another Warner release, the direct-to-video animated feature Superman/Batman

: Public Enemies was at No. 3, brushing aside 20th Century Fox‘s X-Men Origins: Wolverine to No. 4.

MUMBAI: Nancy Tellem CBS Network TV Entertainment Group president is in discussions to move into a new role at CBS Corp.

The CBS veteran, who has been at CBS gor 12 years, is expected to focus on bigger-picture strategic aspects of content creation leaving behind herday-to-day responsibilities. In her role, Tellem will continue to work with CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves.

Tellem, a former business affairs executive who went on to run CBS Entertainment, was elevated to president of CBS Network TV Entertainment Group in 2004, when she oversaw CBS and CBS Studios.

Since then, she has added responsibilities, including looking after CBS‘ interests in the CW, launching CBS Records and shepherding the company‘s efforts to expand content into new media and emerging platforms.

Content creation slowly became a passion for Tellem, who would turn almost every conversation into a debate about technology, platforms and production models and how they would come together to benefit content.

MUMBAI: Kaboora Productions‘ Afghan Star has been selected as the UK‘s official Academy Award foreign language submission.

The documentary will vie for the award after it was chosen by the British Academy Of Film And Television Arts having won the directing and audience awards at Sundance earlier in the year.

The film was released in the US by Zeitgeist Films and follows a band of plucky contestants in Afghan Star, a version of American Idol in Afghanistan.

MUMBAI: BAFTA will honour Kirk Douglas for his contribution to worldwide filmed entertainment at the upcoming awards gala

on 5 November.

Oscar contender Colin Firth, who recently annexed the Coppa Volpi in Venice for A Single Man, will receive the Humanitarian Award while Danny Boyle will receive the John Schlesinger Britannia Award For Artistic Excellence in Directing.

Robert De Niro will collect the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award For Excellence In Film and Emily Blunt the Britannia Award For British Artist Of The Year.

Said BAFTA/LA chairman Peter Morris. “Kirk Douglas is an acting institution whose iconic roles have made him an archetypal international movie

star. His filmography is second to none and outside the world of film he has continued to inspire audiences worldwide through his books and his charitable endeavours.”

MUMBAI: The third instalment of NTV-Toho‘s 20th Century Boys trilogy has become the most successful film in the series, with an unbroken reign of six weeks at the top of the Japanese box-office.

Boys surpassed earnings of $44.9m (Y4bn) on the Oct 3-4 weekend, outdoing the first and second entries‘ $44.4m (Y3.95bn) and $33.8m (Y3.01bn) respectively.

Released on 29 August in 374 screens, 20th Century Boys: The Last Chapter held off other major releases over the past six weeks including The Taking Of Pelham 123, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Shochiku‘s big-budget ninja saga Kamui.

Made at a total of $60m, all three films were directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi and star a large cast led by Toshiaki Karasawa, Etsushi Toyokawa and Takako Tokiwa. The first film was released on August 30 2008 and the second on January 31 this year.

MUMBAI: Lionsgate and Lakeshore Entertainment will co-produce “The Vatican Tapes,” a spooky genre film written by Christopher Borrelli from a story by Borrelli and Chris Morgan.

Lionsgate acquired the thriller and will co-distribute it globally with Lakeshore.

The film is being produced by Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, Chris Cowles and Morgan.

Lionsgate and Lakeshore recently teamed on Gamer which grossed $21 million worldwide, and Crank: High Voltage which has made $16 million worldwide.

MUMBAI: Adam Fogelson has been named chairman and Donna Langley co-chairman at Universal Pictures. They succeed David Linde and Marc Shmuger.

Fogelson, the former president of marketing and distribution, and production president Langley are widely respected in Hollywood and have been rising stars at the studio for some time. Vice-chairman and COO Rick Finkelstein will work closely with both as a strategic advisor.

By this move Universal top brass are smarting from the poor performances of high profile summer releases Land Of The Lost and Funny People that grossed $49.3m and $51.9m at the North American box office

respectively.

MUMBAI: Hong Kong‘s Media Asia Films has sold Lu Chuan‘s City Of Life And Death to Latin America and Greece, following its success at San Sebastian where it won the Golden Shell for best film and best cinematography.

Incidentally, the distribution company had taken all rights for Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay while Nutopia acquired all rights for Greece.The harrowing black-and-white film, which depicts the Japanese massacre of Nanjing in 1937, was previously sold to territories including the UK (Highfliers), Spain (Karma Films) and Russia (Carmen Video).

Venice competition title Accident has proved to be another hot seller for Media Asia which has closed a deal with Wild Bunch for all rights in Germany, Italy and Benelux.

MUMBAI: UK-based distributor Revolver has bagged rights of Robsessed, a documentary about Twilight and New Moon star Robert Pattinson.

Revolver is currently at Mipcom in France selling the film to broadcasters and home entertainment companies. It intends to release the DVD in the US and UK in November to coincide with the release of New Moon, the second film in the Twilight franchise.

The documentary looks at the teenage phenomenon known as being “Rob-sessed” and Pattinson‘s rise to the most sought-after young actor after winning over fans and critics with his performance in Twilight, based on the Stephanie Meyer.

Revolver is also planning to create a box-set with the documentary accompanying Haunted Airmen, the 2006 drama starring Pattison to which it also holds the rights.

MUMBAI: Unlike the other major Canadian film festivals, the thing that distinguishes the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is that it is a festival for common filmlovers. The festival got that got underway on 1 October will conclude on 16 October.

Interestingly, VIFF doesn‘t cater to the glitterati, but to the film community that consists of writers, directors, actors and audience.

VIFF is also the premiere showcase of Canadian film and has a healthy documentary film slate.

During its sixteen-day run, the festival will screen more than 377 films from over 70 countries.