MUMBAI: Lionsgate has come out with the release dates of the final two installments in The Hunger Games series for 21 November, 2014 and 20 November, 2015.
Lionsgate and Summit have split Suzanne Collins‘ third novel The Hunger Games: Mockingjay into two films much the same as The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn was.
The Hunger Games became an instant big-screen franchise this year after it grossed $678.2 million worldwide including $404.4 million domestically.
The second film of the series titled The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens on 22 November next year.
Category: International
-
Lionsgate comes out with dates of last two Hunger Games films
-
Hollywood films relegating Chinese films at BO
MUMBAI: Box office collection of Hollywood films in China continues to surge but local media say it‘s “embarrassing” that local films barely figure in the top 10.
Box office in the Country grew 35 per cent in the first half of year to 7.74 billion yuan ($1.22 billion), and nine of the top 10 titles were from outside China. Foreign films look likely to continue to reap the lion‘s share of Chinese BO thanks to the recently increased quota for imports of premium films.
The highest-grossing film so far this year, according to Chinese media reports, was the 3D release of Titanic that grossed $153 million; it‘s third on the list of all-time top earners behind Avatar and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
With grosses expected to reach $5 billion by 2015, China‘s B.O. total could equal US and Canada‘s $10 billion annually by 2020. Other Hollywood titles in the top 10 included Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, Battleship, The Avengers and Men in Black 3.
Though The Hunger Games missed the Chinese top 10, with nearly $25 million after four weeks locally, the film still shows the potential of non-studio films that are usually released outside summer.
Warner Bros.‘ Wrath of the Titans, that made $25.4 million in China, was the first film to benefit from the country‘s higher revenue-sharing ratio. -
Odessa Intl film fest from 13 July
MUMBAI: The third edition of the Odessa International Film Festival (OIFF) will kick off on 13 July.
“We are doubling in size with each edition,” festival‘s director Denis Ivanov said in a statement. “This year, we are inaugurating a new, 1,200 seat festival center, and we expect about 100,000 viewers to turn up,” he added.
Among the highlights of the international competition are Sergei Loznitsa‘s V Tumane (In the Fog), a WWII drama; Garbage by American director Phil Volken, Poslednyaya Skazka Rity, (Rita‘s Last Fairy Tale) by Russian actress/director/screenwriter Renata Litvinova and the teenage drama Dollhouse by Irish director Kirsten Sheridan.
“Apart from the international competition, the festival would feature a Ukrainian national competition and about half a dozen special programmes including French Panorama and Lost World: Ukrainian Cinema of the Early 1990s.
OIFF is also holding a retrospective of movies by Todd Solondz, who is expected to show up in Odessa. The festival‘s professional program is to be drastically expanded, compared to last year. “We are basically bringing in the entire Ukrainian film industry here,” Ivanov commented.
The festival is to close on 21 July. -
Oscar-winning actor Ernest Borgnine passes away
MUMBAI: Oscar-winning film star Ernest Borgnine died Sunday of kidney failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
The 95-year old Borgnine was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, winning an Oscar in 1955 for Marty.
On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962-1966 series McHale‘s Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles.
He was also known for his role as Mermaid Man in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER.
The former member of US Navy is reportedly survived by his fifth wife Tova Traesnaes, and his children Christofer, Nancee and Sharon Borgnine, a stepson David Johnson, six grandchildren, and his sister Evelyn Verlardi. -
Disney first studio this year to reach $1 bn at BO in US
MUMBAI: With the help of The Avengers and Brave, Disney has become the first studio of the year to cross $1 billion in domestic box office revenues.
With this milestone reached in just 188 days, Disney has set a new record for themselves, beating out 2010’s pace of 210 days to reach the $1 billion mark. This is the seventh year in a row that Disney has achieved this first place accomplishment.
The Avengers, from Marvel and Disney, has grossed $611.1 million domestically. It has become the No. 3 showing of all time after James Cameron’s Avatar and Titanic. Globally, The Avengers is No. 3 with $1.5 billion.
In its third weekend, Pixar‘s Brave grossed $20.2 million for a domestic cume of $174.5 million. The 3D toon has grossed $211.1 million worldwide. -
Oliver Stone picks five actresses he thinks are great actors
MUMBAI: Some of Oliver Stone‘s best-known and most-celebrated films – including Platoon, Wall Street, and Born on the Fourth of July – focus on complicated men.
But his latest, the violent drug thriller Savages, has a couple of formidable females at its central characters: Salma Hayek as the stylish, ruthless leader of a Mexican drug cartel and Blake Lively as an Orange County princess who must find a resourcefulness she never knew she had.
In that spirit, Stone has picked five of his favourite examples of strong women throughout film history. “To begin with, that is quite a reduction from the dozens of screen roles that are still living in my memory, including the evil queen/witch in the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) that truly affected me. I thought Charlize Theron was terrific in the latest version and chilled me to the bone. Nor can I forget, for that matter, Cruella De Vil.
In these selections, I‘m going to exclude every movie that Meryl Streep has ever done, because whatever she does rivets my attention.
“In an equally larger-than-life fashion, I would like to site Marlene Dietrich in several roles, but particularly for one of her first roles with Josef von Sternberg in Dishonored (1931). She plays a withering Mata Hari opposite several men, among them her nemesis – Victor McLaglen (of all people!) in an early role as the Russian spymaster who figures out her act. It is essentially Dietrich‘s long looks, even more than her dialogue, that make the point. She talks with her eyes, undresses men and makes them give her what she wants. A portrait for all time.
In the same vein, Dietrich again for her role as a young Catherine the Great in von Sternberg‘s The Scarlet Empress (1934). This is a masterpiece of Sternberg‘s excess and also Dietrich‘s power. In the origins of the movie, unlike Mata Hari, she is a rather pristine, almost elegant young maiden sent off on an arranged marriage to a madman.
Faye Dunaway in Network (1976) is certainly one of the coldest bitches of all time, but is hilarious to watch in her mannerisms, Paddy Chayefsky‘s dialogue, and her cool toying with William Holden‘s love and marriage. I thought Dunaway was equally effective in Mommie Dearest (1981). She was a better Joan Crawford than even Joan Crawford. That film rips me up. Dunaway was priceless because she was not looking to gain the audience‘s love or sympathy in any way. Actually, it works that way better. I don‘t think that a lot of the actresses today have the guts to approach what she did, except for Theron in some of her recent efforts.
To go in a completely different direction, Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit (2010). She plays a 14-year-old girl with a great moral centre and moves mountains in her quest. She grows into the heart and soul of a wonderful movie by the Coen brothers, who have also compiled a long list of wonderful female heroines.” -
Russian box-office expected to reach $1.3 bn in 2012
MUMBAI: Russia‘s box office is predicted to reach a record $1.3 billion in 2012, based on the first six months‘ figures. If it happens, it will be a 13 per cent increase from that of last year.
From January through June, the country‘s box office has reached $682.5 million, according to the industry publication Kinobizness Segodnya (Film Business Today). No figure, although, was available for comparison, as prior to this year, Russia‘s box office was measured in December through November periods before they were switched over to a calendar year.
However, the publication predicts that the entire year‘s figure would likely reach $1.3 billion that would set an all-time record, a 13 per cent increase from $1.15 billion, which all the theatrical releases grossed in Russia in 2011.
The increase in box office revenues was largely due to increases in ticket prices. In the first six months, the average ticket price was 238 roubles ($7.35), compared with 200 roubles ($6.18) in the corresponding period last year, according to Movie Research, a research company.
During this period, local fare grossed $114.2 million, which corresponds to 16.7 per cent of the total, a slight increase from 14.5 per cent in the December 2010 through November 2011 period.
Madagascar 3: Europe‘s Most Wanted, distributed by Central Partnership, became Russia‘s highest grossing movie in the first half of this year after it grossed $46.5 million. -
Aurelio De Laurentiis announces $ 100 mn expansion plan
MUMBAI: Italian film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis has announced an ambitious $100 million expansion plan for his Filmauro production house. He has also opined on a variety of topics including a new strategy for film distribution, criticism of Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti‘s alleged disinterest in film and an end to Filmauro‘s highly profitable Christmas film franchise.
The expansion plans, involving Universal Pictures International Italy, were the centerpiece of the gregarious De Laurentiis‘ meandering 80-minute monologue at Universal‘s Rome headquarters, with Universal Italy president Richard Borg and De Laurentiis‘ son, Luigi De Laurentiis also present.
De Laurentiis said he would produce at least 20 films in conjunction with Universal Italy, including some international titles. Among them: the Steve Jobs biopic Jobs: Get Inspired and a yet-unnamed project he said would be based on a Truman Capote story and would star Leonardo DiCaprio and Ryan Gosling.
De Laurentiis, 63, nephew of the late famed producer Dino De Laurentiis, also predicted that comedic actor Christian De Sica, the son of iconic Italian director Vittorio De Sica would try his hand increasingly at directing in the future.
The Italian productions he said are in the works include Colpi di fulmine (Lightning Strike), the latest comedy from Neri Parenti, a comedy he said would be called Mr. Love, another featuring popular comic Carlo Verdone called Sei personaggi in cerca d‘amore (Six Characters in Search of Love) and three films from young director Alberto Ferrari, including one that De Laurentiis said Oscar-winning actor and director Roberto Benigni wanted but that De Laurentiis snatched away from him.
The producer also said that he would make his first foray into television next year, with a project of six 100-minute episodes taken from a book by best-selling author Giorgio Faletti.
He also said he soon will travel to Los Angeles to meet with Universal brass to discuss a still wider agreement with the company, covering territories other than Italy.
-
British comedian Eric Sykes no more
MUMBAI: Well-known British comedian Eric Sykes expired yesterday; he was 89.
Sykes was one of the most popular comic actors of his generation having appeared in shows in London‘s West End into his 80s.
He began his career writing scripts for BBC shows, co-writing 24 episodes of the classic radio comedy The Goon Show with the late Spike Milligan. He appeared in the Sykes and a sitcom about a brother and sister living together in west London, which ran in the 1960s and 1970s. He went on to write and act in theatre shows and films including an appearance in The Others starring Nicole Kidman and also in the Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Sykes also wrote scripts for Peter Sellers and other major British actors. TV star and former Monty Python member Michael Palin said Sykes was “one of the nicest, most decent men in the business and one of a kind.”
Sykes was survived by his wife, Eith Eleanore Milbrandt, and his four children.
-
The Amazing Spider-Man beats Transformers opening Tuesday performance
MUMBAI: Sony‘s The Amazing Spider-Man starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone has beaten the $27.9 million debut of the first version of Transformers that released in 2007. The Marc Webbs-directed film had set off early 4 July at the domestic box office.
The $220 million Sony reboot — looking to relaunch the franchise by going back to the beginning with a new cast — nabbed the top opening for a Tuesday with roughly $35 million, eclipsing the $27.9 million debut of Transformers on the same day in 2007.
“We are off to an outstanding start here in North America with big fireworks still to come!,” a Sony executive said.
Spider-Man, starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, is being helped at the box office by the upcharge for a 3D ticket and is doing big business in Imax theaters, the favourite venue of young fans. Roughly around 300 Imax theaters contributed $4 million to the $35 million booty.
Estimates vary in terms of how much Spider-Man will earn in its six-day debut. Bullish observers believe it could earn $120 million to $140 million.
On the other hand, Transformers had grossed $155.4 million in its six-day debut after opening on Tuesday although it grossed $8.8 million in advance Monday night shows and a total of $13.5 million including midnight runs.
The film, also starring Martin Sheen, Denis Leary and Sally Fields, is off to a stellar start overseas, where it debuted to $50 million last weekend in only 11 territories.