Category: International

MUMBAI: With the start of the filming of Lifted, former Odd Lot Entertainment

head honcho Deborah Del Prete has launched her own company to me known as Coronet Films.

The film about a singing prodigy who gets inspired to win a contest when his marine father is deployed to Afghanistan is being directed by Lexi Alexander who had earlier directed Punisher: War Zone and Green Street Hooligans.

The project that introduces twelve-year-old Uriah Shelton in the central role of Henry Matthews includes Dash Mihok, Nicki Aycox, James Handy and American Idol‘s Ruben Studdard and country music singer Trace Adkins.

Said Prete, “Having made the award-winning Green Street Hooligans with Lexi, I am thrilled to work with her again on the first film for my new company. Lexi is an exceptional multi-talent and it is exciting to be able to support her vision for this very inspiring project.”

Coronet Films is producing the film in association with Birmingham-based Hunter Films. Prete had earlier produced The Spirit, The Wedding Planner and Buried Alive.

MUMBAI: With a cameo appearance on the fashion series Project Runaway: All Star Challenge, Nicole Kidman is all set to make her foray into reality TV.

The actress known for her elegant red carpet style, will set up a design contest for eight contestants in a spin-off from the original Project Runway, with all the competitors having previously appeared on the original US show, it is learnt.

Kidman will kick off the all-star series today, the same day the star-studded sixth series of Project Runway is aired.

Also to sign up in the series are Lindsay Lohan, Eva Longoria Parker as well as pop star Christina Aguilera.

MUMBAI: PorchLight Entertainment has inked a long-term agreement with E1 Entertainment Distribution that covers newly produced holiday releases as well as kids‘ and family titles such as Adventures from The Book of Virtues.

E1 Entertainment will distribute PorchLight‘s December direct-to-video holiday releases A Martian Christmas and Jay Jay The Jet Plane: Jay Jay‘s Christmas Surprise. In addition to the new releases, E1 will also service PorchLight‘s extensive catalogue of movies and children‘s programs that includes such titles as LeapFrog‘s Tad of Christmas Cheer and 64 Zoo Lane. PorchLight has produced nearly 400 episodes of high-quality animation and more than 50 live-action movies.

Bruce Johnson, PorchLight‘s president and CEO, said, “Our label is a great fit with E1, and we look forward to bringing a continuous stream of high quality children‘s and family programs to retail venues.”

E1 Entertainment Distribution‘s president, Michael Rosenberg, added, “PorchLight is a leader in children‘s and family programming, and we look forward to working with the company to release quality entertainment for the whole family.”

MUMBAI: Known for working with dancer/choreographer Gene Kelly on the Olivia Newton-John film Xanadu, Kenny Ortega will direct the Michael Jackson tribute concert film This Is It.

The film will be released by Sony Pictures in a limited two-week worldwide run starting on 28 October.

Tickets of the film produced with the full support of The Estate of Michael Jackson will go on sale in most cities on September 27.

Said Ortega in a statement, “This film is Michael‘s gift to his fans,”. “As we began assembling the footage for the motion picture we realised that we captured something extraordinary, unique and very special. It‘s a very private, exclusive look into a creative genius‘s world.”

This Is It will feature Jackson in rehearsals for what would have been his farewell concert tour at the O2 Arena in London.

It is interesting to note that Ortega was Jackson‘s director and creative partner on This Is It as well as the previous Jackson concert tours Dangerous and History.

He also directed the Hannah Montana / Miley Cyrus Best Of Both Worlds Tour featuring The Jonas Bros.

MUMBAI: The British Government will soon merge the UK Film Council (UKFC) and the British Film Institute (BFI).
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport and key industry figures, including new UKFC chairman Tim Bevan, are now in plans to create a single body that will take on the cultural and economic remit of both organisations.

A working group, chaired by the DCMS with equal representation from the two bodies, is now being set up to consider how a single body would be structured and how to improve its service to film by reducing gaps and overlapping. It is expected to report back by the end of the year.

It is hoped that a streamlined body would be freed up to spend more of its funding on films and frontline services and less on infrastructure, and that this in turn, would help it to better support the British film and promotion of the industry.

MUMBAI: Visit Films has acquired international sales rights to Ole Schell and Sara Ziff‘s documentary Picture Me and will try and sell it to interested entities at Toronto.

The film that premiered at the 2009 Genart Film Festival Film Festival was proclaimed as the best documentary at the Milan International Film Festival.

Said Visit‘s Ryan Kampe, “The access to this high-profile world in a behind the scenes manner exposes the reality of the fashion industry in a way that no crafted or manipulated piece of reality television can.”

“Picture Me will become a major talking piece for anyone interested in fashion and should find theatrical outlets around the world, something so few docs can do these days,” he added.

Visit‘s ongoing projects include titles like Carcasses, Here and Manila, as well as The Missing Person, Kimjongilia, You Won‘t Miss Me and The Immaculate Conception Of Little Dizzle.

MUMBAI: Michael Mosley and Kerry Bishe have bagged roles in ABC‘s Scrubs. The two join Dave Franco as the three new regulars in the comedy.

Bishe will play Lucy, a 22-year-old first-year medical student who is an attractive all-American girl and the first in her close-knit family of commercial fishermen to go to college.

Lucy is bright and has learned impressive surgical skills from gutting fish, but is overwhelmed by the pressure of the workload, the new environment and the expectations of her family.

Mosley will play Drew, a scruffy and attractive thirty something medical student who is getting his second shot at medical school after a major meltdown 10 years ago when he was a top candidate at Harvard Medical School.

Despite being ten years older than the other students, he is not happy about being given the role of de facto “mentor” to the young students and completely resists any friendships that may come out of that.

MUMBAI: Jessy Schram and Kevin Dunn have been signed for Fox‘s action drama Unstoppable and will join Denzel Washington, Chris Pine and Rosario Dawson.

Tony Scott is directing the Mark Bomback-scripted film about the desperate efforts of a veteran engineer and novice conductor to stop a train laden with toxic cargo speeding out of control toward a nearby city.

Schram will play the estranged wife of Pine‘s character. Dawson will take on the role of a train dispatcher helping the men via radio, and Dunn will play her boss.
Julie Yorn is producing with Scott and Mimi Rogers; Chris Ciaffa is an executive producer.

MUMBAI: Andrew Herwitz‘s Film Sales Company (FSC) has secured worldwide sales rights to Joan Baez: How Sweet The Sound ahead of its Toronto premiere.

The film contains interviews with the singer and friends and collaborators including Bob Dylan, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn and Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The co-production between American Masters and New York-based entertainment company Razor And Tie is the first comprehensive documentary to chronicle the private life and public career of the celebrated folk singer.

Two screenings in the week commencing 14 September will precede the public premiere of Joan Baez: How Sweet The Sound on 18 September.

Herwitz recently took on North American sales for My Dog Tulip, which will screen in Toronto‘s Discovery section on 13 September.

MUMBAI: Following new package deals with NBC Universal (NBCU) Domestic Television and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distributors, ION Television has bagged more than 40 new feature films. These films will begin airing later this month and continue till 2010.

The NBCU package covers The Break Up, Miami Vice, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, the Back to the Future

trilogy, Inside Man and The Hitcher among others.

The network has also expanded on its existing agreement with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. The 30-plus new films in the package include March of the Penguins, Troy, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Matrix Revolutions and Taking Lives.

“As ION Television continues to build its schedule, these first-rate theatrical features are the perfect complement to our growing lineup of original and acquired series,” said ION Media Networks executive VP of programming Leslie Chesloff.