MUMBAI: Hot on the heels of expanding its theatre joint revenue sharing pact with AMC Entertainment, Imax has entered into a similar pact with Malaysia-based TGV Cinemas.
The Malaysian exhibitor would install another seven Imax theatres in its circuit. It had launched its first super-sized screen in December last year. The latest deal brings to eight the number of screens that TGV Cinemas will jointly operate with Imax, with the first of the new order to open in Bandar Utama in fall 2012.
Other Imax screens that will follow for TGV Cinemas would be in Johor Bahru, Penang and Kuala Lumpur.
“With today‘s agreement, TGV will bring Imax theaters into high-growth areas further supporting our expansion efforts in this key part of Asia,” said Imax, Asia Pacific, SVP and managing director Don Savant in a statement.
Category: International
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Imax in pact with Malaysia-based TGV Cinemas
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David Hasselhoff set to play himself in the film Baywatch
MUMBAI: 59-year-old David Hasselhoff has said that he won‘t be reprising his role as lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the big-screen version of Baywatch but will instead appear as himself. “I‘ve just met the guy writing the film. I‘m going to play myself,” he reportedly said.
The former ‘America‘s Got Talent‘ judge is the only cast member certain to star in film but it is rumoured that Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber may be the others who would also appear in the film.
Hasselhoff, who was one of the star performers at the White Nights of St. Petersburg festival last weekend, added, “There will be certain people in the movie for the original parts and we‘re trying to make it a very cool, updated version.”
The White Nights of St. Petersburg festival took place in St. Petersburg, Russia from July 6 to July 8 and as well as star performers such as David, Anastacia, Natalie.
Pamela Anderson, who played long-running character CJ Lewis in the 90s series, is yet to be confirmed, although the production people hope that she will sign up. -
Ice Age: Continental drift is No. 1 at overseas box office
MUMBAI: After logging its biggest overseas weekend to date grossing $95.2 million from 14,131 venues in 64 markets, 20th Century Fox‘s Ice Age: Continental Drift reclaimed the No. 1 foreign box office position as it out-did The Amazing Spider-Man.
The Blue Sky Studio‘s sequel is the fourth title in the increasingly remunerative computer animation franchise that has grossed $1.918 billion worldwide over the last 10 years.
Continental Drift‘s weekend was the third best ever for the franchise and the film‘s foreign gross total stands at $339.2 million accumulated since 25 June exceeding the figure of $270.1 millionof Madagascar 3: Europe‘s Most Wanted.
Driving its weekend box office action were openings in 18 markets including a powerful No. 1 debut in Russia where the film generated an astounding $16.4 million at 2,090 sites, the biggest market opening weekend of the year. The UK came up with $9.1 million from 1,246 spots for a market total of of $20.8 million.
The film took the top spot in its second Germany with $12.4 million at 1,214 play dates for a total of $33.6 million. In France, it remained No. 1 with $7 million generated at 1,019 spots for a market cume of $34.3 million. In all, the animation title ranked No. 1 in at least 30 territories.
The weekend‘s No. 2, Sony‘s The Amazing Spider-Man — fourth in the blockbuster series, that has racked up $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office generated $66.6 million at 16,575 venues in 87 markets, for a foreign gross total accumulated since June 27 of $320.4 million.
Unlike Continental Drift, the film premiered in several medium-to-small markets including Norway, South Africa, Greece, Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania. Spider-Man retained No. 1 holds in such larger territories as Mexico (cume $19.6 million), Brazil ($17.5 million) and India ($13.3 million). Top territory was the U.K. where it took the weekend‘s No. 2 spot with $6 million drawn from 911 situations for market cume of $29.5 million.
The overseas numbers posted by The Amazing Spider-Man and Ice Age: Continental Drift strengthen the odds that the “big six” Hollywood majors will set another foreign box office record in calendar year 2012. The current yearly high-water mark was set last year when the companies collectively drew $13.6 billion from the offshore theatrical circuit. -
Oscar-winning producer Richard Zanuck dies at 77
MUMBAI: Oscar-Winning producer Richard D. Zanuck, whose distinguished career as a producer included The Sting and Driving Miss Daisy, Jaws and other well-received films as The Verdict and Cocoon, died on Friday of a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 77.
In recent times , Zanuck produced Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows. He worked on six films with the director.
Regarded as one of the more progressive producers in Hollywood, Zanuck was partnered by his wife, Lili Fini Zanuck, in their company called Zanuck Co. Their first production was Driving Miss Daisy(1992). Winner of four Oscars, the film captured several other top honors: a Golden Globe award, the National Board of Review Award and Producer of the Year honours from the Producers Guild of America.
In 1999, Zanuck and his partner, David Brown, received the Irving G. Thalberg award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.The occasion marked the first time that an honoree was a second-generation recipient – Zanuck’s father, former 20th Century Fox head of production, and chairman Darryl F. Zanuck, were given the award in 1938, 1945 and 1951. They also happen to be the only father and son producers to be nominated for best picture at the Oscars.
In 1962, Zanuck became the youngest studio chief in history in1965 when he was appointed by his father as head of Fox at the age of 28. During his five years at the helm, the studio earned an impressive 159 Oscar nominations. Three of the films — The Sound of Music (1965), Patton (1970) and The French Connection (1971) — won best picture. -
Sylvester Stallone loses son Sage
MUMBAI: Sylvester Stallone‘s 36-year-old son Sage has expired. It is reported that his death was caused by a possible overdose of pills.
Sage, who made his big screen debut along with his father in Rocky V,was found dead in his apartment Friday afternoon.Sage was planning to get married, his attorney as reportedly said. His mother is Sasha Czack, who was once married to Stallone.
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The Amazing Spider-Man makes its way towards $800 million range
MUMBAI: The Amazing Spider-Man has all the chances of making its way towards a worldwide gross in the $800 million range, according to Sony, the distributors of the film.
Till Wednesday, the 3D film starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone grossed roughly $408 million worldwide which includes a nine-day domestic gross of $159.7 million.
A global gross nearing $800 million would put Amazing Spider-Man in the same range of the first two films; Spider-Man grossed $821.7 million in 2002, and Spider-Man 2 earned $783.8 million in 2004. Spider-Man 3 took in $890.9 million in 2007.
Said a Sony insider in a statement that Amazing Spider-Man has re-launched the franchise in “spectacular” fashion, pointing out that it‘s pacing ahead of other reboots, including Christopher Nolan‘s Batman Begins.
Globally, Amazing Spider-Man and Men in Black 3 together account for more than $1 billion in ticket sales. -
Ben Whishaw is fourth to reprise character Q in latest Bond film
MUMBAI: Producers of the 23rd James Bond adventure Skyfall Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have confirmed that the character of Q will be making a welcome return to the Bond franchise. The role will be played by Ben Whishaw.
Said the producers, “It‘s a real thrill to confirm the return of Q in Skyfall played by the enormously talented Ben Whishaw. We are delighted to have this beloved character back in the series.”
With his inclusion, Whishaw becomes the fourth actor to play Bond‘s quartermaster affectionately known as Q. The role has been earlier reprised by Peter Burton as Major Boothroyd in Dr. No, followed by Desmond Llewelyn (in 17 Bond films between 1963-1999), and John Cleese (who appeared as Q‘s assistant R in The World is Not Enough. He was later promoted to Q in Die Another Day).
In Skyfall, Bond‘s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
Whishaw will be seen later this year in Cloud Atlas alongside an all-star cast including Tom Hanks, Jim Sturgess and Halle Berry, and in the BBC‘s Richard II. He will also be seen in the second series of The Hour for BBC in which he stars opposite Dominic West and Romola Garai. -
4D formatted films in anvil
MUMBAI: Ever since the advent of 3D formatted movies, practically every big-budget film is being released in the format, with higher ticket prices boosting the box-office intake.
The latest attempt to move beyond 3D technology has resulted in a new cinematic encounter known as 4-D. The film industry is enthusiastic about the unique theatre- experience that 4D promises to deliver.
CJ Group, a South Korean company that operates Asia‘s largest theater chain, is on the cutting edge of the technology necessary for the display of 4-D movies. The company has 29 specialty theatres that screen blockbuster studio releases such as Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Prometheus.
The group is on the verge of closing a transaction with a nationwide US cinema chain that would create 200 4D theatres over the next five years.
The 4D technology has already been in use in theatres in Thailand, South Korea, and Mexico, and also in some theme parks. One of the company‘s biggest clients is the fourth-largest theater chain, Cinepolis, which recently expanded into Southern California. The company owns a dozen 4D theatres in Mexico.
Company execs project that filmgoers will be willing to pay an additional $8 beyond the cost of mere 3-D just to involve more of their senses while watching their favorite superheroes. CJ set up a lab located close to the famous Grauman‘s Chinese Theater in Hollywood to demonstrate and market its latest system, which it calls 4DX.
This isn‘t the first time that the film industry has tried to bring senses other than sight to film audiences. In 1960 a film titled Scent of Mystery utilised something called ‘Smell-O-Vision‘ which featured 30 different odours that included the smell of flowers, liquor, and gun smoke wafting toward the nostrils of the audience at appropriate times during the screening.
Then, for a film that was released in 1974 titled Earthquake, theatres used a technology called Sensurround that utilised large bass resonating speakers that shook the room with such intensity that Grauman‘s Chinese theatre had to install a safety net to catch falling plaster as the film was shown.
In 1981 John Waters used what is called as Odorama which allowed the audience to smell the cinematic scenes with scratch-and-sniff cards and in 2011 Robert Rodriguez used a similar approach that he referred to as Aromascope.
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Theatre operator shaves off head as last single-screen shuts in Seoul
MUMBAI: The only surviving single-screen theatre in Seoul, Seodaemun Art Hall, is soon to be knocked down and replaced by a hotel. As a parting shot, the cinema hall played its final film, the Italian classic The Bicycle Thief, yesterday. The moment was so emotional for the theatre operator that she publicly shaved her head in frustration.
“My heart is aching because I have to let (the theatre) go like this,” Kim Eun-ju, 39, the head of theatre operator Hollywood Classic, reportedly said before having her head shaved.
The theatre, which opened in 1964, had become a place where mostly elderly moviegoers gathered regularly to watch classic Hollywood and South Korean films and go back in time and indulge in nostalgia.
As huge multiplexes made it hard to compete financially, the cinema hall played up the one thing the newer theatres could never match – its age. But the theatre‘s attempt to keep business alive based on that shared joy of nostalgia and a sense of community among its elderly patrons came to an end on Wednesday.
The building venerates Hollywood royalty, with a hand-painted advertising board over the theater and big photos of American movie stars like Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor hanging on the walls.
Seoul officials approved plans to demolish the theatre way back in August last year to build a high-rise hotel that, according to them, would create jobs and resolve a shortage of hotel rooms for foreign tourists.
The theater‘s end has been hard to take for many of the workers and people who regularly watched movies here, hundreds of whom came Wednesday to see Italian director Vittorio De Sica‘s 1948 classic. -
Kevin Dunn and J.K. Simmons in Steve Jobs biopic
MUMBAI: The Steve Jobs biopic has got a shot in the arm after Kevin Dunn and J.K. Simmons have joined the cast of Jobs, that stars Ashton Kutcher as the late Apple co-founder along with Elden Henson, Lenny Jacobson, Giles Matthey, Ahna O‘Reilly and Victor Rasuk.
The fim, being directed by Joshua Michael Stern from an original screenplay by Matt Whiteley, is a Five Star feature film production, produced by Mark Hulme.
Dunn, who recently co-starred in HBO‘s Luck, will play Apple chairman Gil Amelio while Simmons will appear as venture capitalist and Apple investor Arthur Rock. Among the other additions to the cast, Henson plays computer scientist and Macintosh developer Andy Hertzfeld while Jacobson portrays Apple engineer Burrell Smith; Matthey is iPod designer Jonathan Ive; O‘Reilly plays Jobs‘ girlfriend Chris-Ann Brennan and Rasuk essays the role of Apple‘s first employee and user interface architect Bill Fernandez.
Names of cast members whose names were earlier announced include Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak, Ron Eldard, John Getz, Lukas Haas, Dermot Mulroney, Matthew Modine, Lesley Ann Warren and James Woods.