ITV

Category: International

  • Helman to join the extensive mutant casting of Singer’s next, X-Men: Days of Future Past

    Helman to join the extensive mutant casting of Singer’s next, X-Men: Days of Future Past

    MUMBAI: After sparking the Marvel franchise X-Men in 2000, producer cum director Bryan Singer is all geared to set ablaze the box office come 2014 with a multi star cast sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past.

    Revealing more casting news for the high profile sequel, Singer has added the newcomer Josh Helman for an undisclosed role.

    X-Men: Days of Future Past reunites and blends the original‘s (X-Men) cast including Hugh Jackman playing the beastly Wolverine and Halle Berry (Storm), Anna Paquin (Rogue) and Ian Mckellen (Magneto) with X-Men: Fist Class‘s cast of Micheal Fasbender, James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawerence.

    The latest mutant addition, Josh Helman will join this extensive cast which also features newcomers to the franchise including Peter Dinklage, Daniel Cudmore, Fan Bingbing, Evan Peters and Boo Boo Stewart.

    The Australian actor, Helman was recently seen in Jack Reacher alongside Tom Cruise. He will also star in Mad Max: Fury Road alongside X-Men co-star Nicholas Hoult, Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron.

    The mutant mash-up is slated for a 23 May 2014 release and is already into production.

  • Neeson’s Taken 3 is set for a February 2014 release

    Neeson’s Taken 3 is set for a February 2014 release

    MUMBAI: Liam Neeson is all set to use his remarkable skills yet again in the third instalment of EuropaCorp‘s Taken 3 which is slated to go into production by February 2014. Reports confirm that Neeson has been roped in to for the role of Bryan Mills, the retired CIA agent at nearly $20 million.

    Neeson who played Mills in the last two instalments of the franchise will join the original cast of Maggie Grace who played his daughter in the first two films, and Famke Janssen, who played his ex-wife.

    As of yet, it is unconfirmed as who will helm the project but speculations reveal that Oliver Megaton may direct the third instalment as he helmed the last instalment (Taken 2). Luc Besson shall return as the writer for the movie with 20th Century Fox releasing it. Although story wise the sequel was not up to the original, the franchise did churn out well at the box office paving the way for the third instalment.

    Taken 2 had cost around $45 million and grossed over $ 376 million as compared to the original Taken which grossed over $ 226 million.

  • Boom! Studios acquires graphic comic Archaia Entertainment

    Boom! Studios acquires graphic comic Archaia Entertainment

    MUMBAI: With comics buzzing around into successful adaptations at the Hollywood Box Office, the competition just became stiffer as Boom! Studios acquire the intellectual property rights of the American comic book publishing company, Archaia Entertainment. The Eisner and Harvey Award-winning indie label Archaia Entertainment was founded in 2002 by Mark Smylie and is known for graphic novels Mouse Guard, Jim Henson‘s A Tale of Sand, Rust, Spera, Cowboy, and Gunnerkrigg Court. Archaia also has a number of titles which have been in development including Rust (Fox), Lucid (Warner Bros.), and Bolivar (Warner Bros.), and Feeding Ground (Pressman Films).

    Boasting a catalogue of such original content, Boom! Studios is all set to knock at the doors of the established Warner Bros‘ DC Entertainment and Disney‘s Marvel Entertainment, as the largest independently-controlled comics and graphic novel library in town. Boom‘s venture into feature films will launch this summer with Universal‘s 2 August release 2 Guns starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. The movie is based on industry veteran Steven Grant‘s original comic wherein a DEA agent and an undercover Naval Intelligence officer who have been tasked with investigating one another find they have been set up by the mob which is the very organisation the two men believe they have been stealing money from.

    Meanwhile Boom! is currently developing its next feature Jeremiah Harm, based on the comic book by Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, and John Mueller, which will be helmed by Timo Vuourensola (Iron Sky). The studio is managed by Pete Golden of Golden Entertainment West and represented by attorney Matt Saver.

  • Box Office mints on the three tentpoles, as ‘Man of Steel’ continues as No 1globally

    Box Office mints on the three tentpoles, as ‘Man of Steel’ continues as No 1globally

    MUMBAI: From a weekend which expected three tentpoles raking in over $50 million respectively, the results have managed to live up to the expectations. Especially Pixar‘s Monster University leading at the No 1 position grossed over $137 million worldwide over its first weekend.

    Brad‘s zombie flick World War Z too bit off a sizable share at the box office with over $110 million worldwide collections. Lagging behind was Warner Bros‘ and Legendary‘s Man of Steel whose sales dropped nearly 65 per cent domestically but ranked number 1 with its worldwide grossings over $89 million.

    Zack Synder‘s Krptonian red-capped superhero reboot has soared globally over $188 million continuing to be a superhit internationally. Together with a total of $210 million collections in the domestic markets, Man of Steel is nearing the $400 million mark in its second weekend, after battling Pixar‘s Monsters and Brad Pitt‘s Zombies over the weekend.

    The Superman reboot also opened successfully (80 per cent) in China, minting over $25.5 million across 5631 screens, second best behind Warner Bros‘ Harry Potter finale.

    “We‘re in great shape moving into the 4th of July holiday playtime with such an iconic character at the helm,” said Warner Bros Domestic Distribution president Dan Fellman. “Hoping we have a similar result to the strong day we had on Father‘s Day.”

    Man of Steel promises a brighter weekend with 27 more markets opening this weekend, including the major countries France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia and China.

  • Family Ties creator Gary David Goldberg succumbs to brain cancer

    Family Ties creator Gary David Goldberg succumbs to brain cancer

    MUMBAI: After the recent shock of James Gandolfini‘s sudden death, the industry receives another jolt at the demise of Gary David Goldberg, the creator ofFamily Ties and Brooklyn Bridge and co-creator of Spin City. It is reported that Goldberg succumbed to his long battle with brain cancer, early this morning at his house in Montecito in California. He passed away just two days before his 69th birthday.

    Goldberg, who shot to fame with his hitFamily Ties, was born in Brooklyn, New York. The American sitcom which spans over three decades was apparently an inspiration from his personal life. The two time Emmy Awards winner also worked onThe Bob Newhart Show and Lou Grant. Among his other laurels Goldberg also won two Golden Globes, two WGA Awards, six Humanitas Prizes and a Peabody.

    Goldberg worked with actor Michael J. Fox for Family Ties and Spin City both of which were commercially successful delivering blockbuster ratings. The finale of Family Ties ranked among the Top 10 series finales of all time with 36.3 million viewers and Fox‘s farewell episode on Spin City bringing in 32.8 million viewers, one of the largest audiences for a series this century. Beyond his work in television, Goldberg also directed features such as “Dad,” starring Jack Lemmon; “Bye Bye Love,” with Paul Reiser; and “Must Love Dogs.”

    Goldberg till the last, was well supported by his wife, Dr. Diana Meehan, who apart from being a producer, author and advocate also co-founded the Archer School For Girls in Brentwood and his two grown-up daughters, former Friends executive producer and comedy writer Shana Goldberg-Meehan and a freelance writer and Huffington Post contributor Cailin Goldberg-Meehan, both who are following in their father‘s footsteps with careers in TV writing.

  • Emmerich’s Independence Day 2 to go on floors by summer 2015

    Emmerich’s Independence Day 2 to go on floors by summer 2015

    MUMBAI: Its finally official, the 1996 alien invasion is to strike back after 19 years with the Independence Day 2 hitting the box office come 2015. After clearing all the speculations Twentieth Century Fox announced on Thursday that the sequel to the blockbuster hit Independence Day(1996) will arrive in theatres on July 3, 2015.

    While the reports confirm the original‘s director Roland Emmerich‘s involvement in the sequel, it remains unclear of whether the original‘s cast would be returning back. The 57-year-old filmmaker is currently travelling around the globe for White House Down, which release in the coming week.

    In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year, co-screenwriter of Independence Day Dean Devlin commented, "We resisted doing the sequel for years because we still wanted to honour the first one. The first one gave us all careers and we really love that movie and loved the experience. I think it took a long time, but I feel like we finally got something that really feels like, ‘That‘s worth seeing as a sequel to Independence Day‘."

    The 1996 sci-fi, Independence Day included a powerful cast of Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum. While the original plot revolved around an alien invasion and Earth‘s retaliation to defend its stand, it saw Will Smith take over the role of Captain Steven Hiller and Bill Pullman as the President of United States of America.

    In an interview with Crave Online earlier this year, Bill Pullman shared that, "The Will Smith part of it may be ongoing but I think there‘s strategies for both. I like what I have to do in both of them. I‘m not in an old age home in a wheelchair being wheeled out for one more moment. It‘s a very interesting conception of what happens to my character between then and when it picks back up."

    As for the release date July 3, 2015, Independence Day 2 joins a list of massive blockbusters lined up on that summer‘s calendar, including Marvel‘s The Avengers 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 5, Jurassic Park 4 and, perhaps, Star Wars: Episode VII.

  • Disney plans an extensive cast for the Broadway musical ‘Into the Woods’

    Disney plans an extensive cast for the Broadway musical ‘Into the Woods’

    MUMBAI: Disney seems to be successfully cashing out on its fairy tale adaptations. The latest in its list of offerings is a take on Cinderella, named Into the Woods. The Broadway musical which will be helmed by Rob Marshall has attracted a glamorous cast including Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, Jake Gyllenhaal, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Tracy Ullman and Christine Baranski, all of whom are in various stages of negotiations to be part of the production.

    Disney is also in talks with Anna Kendrick to play the lead Cinderella which will bring the actress back into the screen singing spotlight after her last year‘s surprise hit Pitch Perfect. Disney‘s keen for Kendrick as she has been acting in Broadway musicals from a young age and won several awards.

    The plot revolves around the classic fairy tale wherein a childless baker (Corden) and his wife (Blunt) attempt to lift a family curse by journeying into the woods to confront the witch that put the spell on them. Along the way, they encounter a group of fairy tale characters including Rapunzel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood.

    In this mashup of the fairy tale, Cinderella will be married to a vain prince (Pine) and be described as a woman trying to find her place in the world.

    Kendrick who is yet to affirm her involvement in the project is currently shooting Richard LaGravenese‘s musical adaptation The Last 5 Years.

  • “I am Iron Man” reveals Downey Jr, donning the iron suit again

    “I am Iron Man” reveals Downey Jr, donning the iron suit again

    MUMBAI: “Take that suit out, then who are you?”…. “Billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist” remarks Marvel‘s Mr. Stark played by Robert Downey Jr. in Hollywood‘s one of highest grossing movie of the decade, The Avengers. (2012).

    After a spread of disappointing rumours questioning Downey donning the Iron Man suit ever again, especially when Downey had hinted in numerous interviews, including a recent segment on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” saying his days of playing Tony Stark are over, ‘Marvellites‘ have now a reason to rejoice as Marvel studios confirms of signing Robert Downey, Jr. to reprise the role of Marvel‘s iconic genius and witty playboy Tony Stark. Tony Stark a.k.a. Robert Downey Jr.‘s famous closing line “I am Iron Man” in the very first Iron Man series sparked life into the studios which raked in over $585 million worldwide and has only doubled over the two sequels grossing over $ 2.2 billion (Iron Man2; Iron Man3) over the last few years.

    Marvel asserts that under the two-picture agreement, Downey will star as Tony Stark/Iron Man in Marvel‘s The Avengers 2 and Marvel‘s The Avengers 3. As per reports, The Avengers sequel will be helmed and written by Joss Whedon who has also directed the original grossing over $1.51 billion worldwide. While the script is still being worked upon, The Avengers 2 is set to go into production by March 2014 and open in theatres by 1 May 2015.

    Piling the fan‘s curiosity, Marvel on its website also revealed that the sequel would feature new Marvel characters never before seen on the big screen and in the coming days and weeks and months, the studio will reveal additional casting updates, new characters coming to Marvel movies and much more thrilling news quenching the curiosity of its fans. As a promotion gig, Marvel claims to reveal such information from the most secret meetings at Marvel.

     

    Downey is represented at CAA by Bryan Lourd, Jim Toth and Matt Leaf and by his attorneys Tom Hansen and Stewart Brookman of the firm Hansen Jacobson. However after tough negotiations with the penny-pincher studio as previously reported by Deadline, Marvel felt it comfortable to shell out and grab Downey Jr. especially when Downey Jr‘s past two Marvel films, 2012‘s Marvel‘s The Avengers and this year‘s Iron Man 3, rank as two of the top five grossing films of all time, collectively raking in over $2.7 billion worldwide to date.

     

    The agreement figure however remains undisclosed but is speculated to gross in millions as the original had earned him (Downey Jr.) no less than $50 million (speculated).

  • Columbia Pictures begins development on ‘Bad Teacher’ sequel

    Columbia Pictures begins development on ‘Bad Teacher’ sequel

    MUMBAI: Columbia Pictures is developing Bad Teacher 2, to be directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Justin Malen, it was announced today by Columbia Pictures president Doug Belgrad and Hannah Minghella, president of Production for the studio. Jimmy Miller, Jake Kasdan, Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky will produce the film, and Melvin Mar will be the executive producer. The project is being developed for Cameron Diaz to star in the film but no deal is yet set with the actress.

    Commenting on the announcement, Minghella said, “Bad Teacher was a hit not just in North America, but throughout the world. We‘re excited that Jake will be returning to develop and helm the sequel. We love Justin‘s take on the material – it hits all the notes that made the first film such a breakthrough hit and also takes the characters in a new direction that is fresh and fun.”

    When it was released in 2011, Bad Teacher was a global hit taking in $216 million. It was also recently announced that Bad Teacher will be coming to CBS television next season in a half-hour series starring Ari Graynor. The Sony Pictures Television and CBS Television Studios co-production received a 13-episode midseason order.

    Columbia Pictures senior VP production Jonathan Kadin will oversee development of the project for the studio along with Minghella.

    Jake Kasdan is in pre-production on Sony Pictures‘ Sex Tape, also starring Cameron Diaz, with Jason Segel. He most recently directed and executive produced episodes of the hit series New Girl. Kasdan made his feature film debut as writer and director of Zero Effect and also directed the pilots for the television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared;returning to feature films, he directed Orange County, wrote, directed and produced The TV Set, co-wrote and directed Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and directed and executive produced Bad Teacher.

    Justin Malen‘s feature film screenplay Bastards was named on The Black List of one of the best unproduced screenplays in 2011. He also completed a rewrite of the comedy project The Manny for Red Wagon and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

    Malen is represented by Verve and H2F, and Eisenberg and Stupnitsky are repped by Mosaic and WME. Kasdan is represented by WME.

  • Mary Jane Watson’s character played by Shailene Woodle sliced from Spiderman sequel

    Mary Jane Watson’s character played by Shailene Woodle sliced from Spiderman sequel

    MUMBAI: After unraveling the news of two more action packed movies slated for Marc Webb‘s The Amazing Spiderman franchise, Webb has sent another shocker about the story for the upcoming 2014 sequel.

    It seems with a change of mind; Webb has decided to slice off the character of Mary Jane Watson played by the Descendant star, Shailene Woodley in the second instalment, focusing more on the Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) relationship.

    As stated by Webb, “I made a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship. Shailene is an incredibly talented actress and while we only shot a few scenes with Mary Jane, we all love working with her.”

    Despite shooting for a handful of scenes whose images had even gone viral over the internet, Sony‘s The Amazing Spiderman 2will not feature the red haired love interest of Peter Parker. It is also reported that the Mary Jane‘s character will be pushed to the third instalment which is slated for a 2016 release.

    However what remains unclear is even if Mary Jane is introduced in The Amazing Spiderman 3 in 2016, will Woodley still be the one playing her?

    Meanwhile Woodley is focusing on her career, with the award-winning Sundance hit The Spectacular Now in theatres in August and next March opens her first franchise, Summit‘s Divergent, which already has a sequel in the works. She‘s also lined up novel adaptation The Fault In Our Stars for Fox 2000 and director Josh Boone.