ITV

Category: International

  • Jackie Chan retires as action star

    Jackie Chan retires as action star

    MUMBAI: Actor director Jackie Chan has announced his retirement as an action star. He made the announcement at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival saying that he is too “old for stunts”.

    The 58-year-old actor, who was last seen as a martial arts teacher in Karate Kid, said he felt really tired. The actor was also quoted as saying that the world has become “too violent” and that he hates “violence”.

    The Rush Hour actor is at the festival to promote his 100th film Chinese Zodiac. Chinese Zodiac will be his last outing as an action hero. Chinese Zodiac, which is the third in Jackie Chan‘s Armour of God series, is likely to release in December this year.

    The actor, however, will continue appearing in films outside the action genre and said he wants to be the Asian Robert De Niro and not just an action star.

    Jackie Chan began his career as a stuntman in the Bruce Lee films Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon. His first major break was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle‘s Shadow. Jackie Chan
    introduced the comedic kung fu genre in movies with his blend of martial arts, improvisation and humour.

    He has successfully crossed over to Hollywood with Shanghai Knights, Shanghai Noon and the Rush Hour series.

  • Film about puffer fish seeks sponsor

    Film about puffer fish seeks sponsor

    MUMBAI: A short film about a man who turns into a puffer fish is looking for a sponsor with a view to be turned into a series. Directed by Ben West, coming from a visual effects background, the film follows the fortunes of a Japanese salary man who turns into a puffer fish after eating a live one in a restaurant.
     
    West‘s production company @Radicalmedia, islooking out for a distributor and is also considering looking for a sponsorship tie-up.
     
    “It‘s a film with edge, and is probably not for mainstream audiences. But there‘s potential for the film to become a branded entertainment series if we get a sponsor,” West has been quoted to have said.
     
    Earlier, West used to work at post house named Animal Logic on visual effects before he moved to directing films. Commercials he has directed include work for 5 Seeds and the Australian Directors‘ Guild.

  • Screen Australia initiates funding round with new docu

    Screen Australia initiates funding round with new docu

    MUMBAI: Screen Australia has initiated funding for documentaries with a four-part SBS series. The funding would be worth $1.8 million across six one-off documentaries and one series and is expected to trigger $4.8m worth of production.
     
    Following on from SBS‘s four part series Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta, which aired earlier this year and took 0.850m viewers across SBS1 in English and SBS 2 in Vietnamese will be Once Upon A Time in Punchbowl. The series will examine the Lebanese migrant settlement in Western Sydney and produced by Tim Toni and executive produced by Sue Clothier.
     
    “I‘m thrilled to announce investment in the SBS series Once Upon a Time in Punchbowl. This important series will again strongly resonate with the local community,” Screen Australia‘s documentary manager Liz Stevens said.
     
    Also receiving funding will be one-off documentaries about punk band The Sunny Boys, a floating hospital that visits poor nations, ten years on from four teen mums who stayed in school, the relationship between Judith Wright and HC ‘Nugget‘ Coombs, Licence to Kill about the events that take place after police use their firearms in the line of duty and Grey Man about Australian-led raids on the Thai sex trade.

  • Avengers crosses $ 1 billion mark

    Avengers crosses $ 1 billion mark

    MUMBAI: After taking a $200 million opening, Disney and Marvel‘s The Avengers has recorded a $100 million-plus second weekend.

    The superhero tale took in $103.1 million to cling onto the No. 1 position and lift its domestic take to $373.1 million in just 10 days. With nearly $630 million more overseas, The Avengers raised its worldwide total to just over $1 billion.
     
    Johnny Depp and Tim Burton‘s latest collaboration, the vampire romp Dark Shadows opened a distant second with $29.7 million domestically.
     
    The top 20 movies at US and Canadian theatres from Friday through Sunday last followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theatre locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release.

  • Five 007 films to screen at Cannes on 50th anniversary

    Five 007 films to screen at Cannes on 50th anniversary

    MUMBAI: This year‘s Cannes Film Festival will celebrate 50 years of the James Bond franchise by screening five classic 007 films.
     
    The films that will be screened on the occasion are From Russia with Love, On Her Majesty‘s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever and Daniel Craig‘s debut film Casino Royale. The films, which have all been digitally enhanced, will be shown free to the public.
     
    “The screenings in Cannes mark a year-long celebration, including a return to theatres worldwide of some of the classic Bond films,” said MGM and Sony executives in a joint statement.
     
    The superspy first made an appearance on screen in 1962‘s Dr No and went on to become a sensational hit thereafter.

  • Three film personalities to head jury of La Rochelle Film Fest

    Three film personalities to head jury of La Rochelle Film Fest

    MUMBAI: Actress Le?la Bekhti, filmmaker Tonie Marshall, Argentinian critic Luciano Monteagudo and Sylvie Pras will head cinemas at Centre Pompidou and artistic director of La Rochelle Film Festival.

    The jurors will unveil their awards at the Debussy Theatre ceremony on 26 May.
     
    Twenty films will screen in Un Certain Regard that opens on 17 May with Mystery by Chinese director Lou Ye and closes with Renoir by Gilles Bourdos.

  • Rome Fest explains pushing of dates move

    Rome Fest explains pushing of dates move

    MUMBAI: Brushing aside comments from Minister of Culture Lorenzo Ornaghi criticising the Rome festival authorities for pushing its dates within a week of that of the Turin Film Festival, the Rome Film Festival President Paolo Ferrari has sent the minister an explanation behind the festival‘s motives behind the move.

    The seven-year-old event, now scheduled to take place from 9 to 17 November has angered the organizers of the Turin Film Festival that will be held between 23 November and 1 December. The short break between the two events is expected to drain media and sponsor interest away from Turin, feel the Turin fest organizers.

    It may noted that on Monday last, Ornaghi had blasted Rome fest for acting “obstinately” saying that its decision to move its dates was “against the overall interests of Italian cinema.”A day later, Ferrari explained that Rome offered to give Turin space to promote its line-up during the Rome festival.
     
    FThe Rome fest president also scoffed at the idea that the short break between Rome‘s close and Turin‘s open was necessarily problematic for the second festival, pointing to the short three-day break between the Montreal Film Festival in Canada thay will conclude this year on 3 September and the Toronto Film Festival that starts just three days later.

  • 3D helps Warner Bros cross $1 bn in overseas markets

    3D helps Warner Bros cross $1 bn in overseas markets

    MUMBAI: Setting a new studio record and marking the 12th straight year, Warner Bros. has surpassed $1 billion at the overseas box office in less than five months, the biggest contributor being Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, that amassed $257 million of its $357 million overseas haul in 2012.

    Also passing the $200 million mark this year were films like Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Wrath of the Titans. The studio has made over $1 billion internationally 15 times, crossing the $2 billion mark four times.

    “Our success thus far this year would not be possible without the ingenuity of our filmmakers, and the hard work and dedication of our teams around the world,” said Warner Bros., president of international distribution Veronika Kwan Vanderberg. “These remarkable results demonstrate the continued strength of the international business, particularly in rapidly expanding overseas markets and in 3D.”

    The studios’ 3D revenues have go far garnered $324 million, a third of the overall sum.

    In its release, Warner Bros. has also claimed that its international division has been the market leader six times in the last 11 years.

  • Golden Lion for Francesco Rosi

    Golden Lion for Francesco Rosi

    MUMBAI: Italian director- screenwriter Francesco Rosi will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 69th Venice International Film Festival scheduled to go underway from 29 August to 8 September.

    Rosi, who will turn 90 on November 15th this year, will be given the award on August 31st, on the occasion of the screening of the restored copy of his masterpiece Il caso Mattei (The Mattei Affair, 1972), a restoration completed by Martin Scorsese‘s The Film Foundation.

    Commented Rosi, “I am honoured and very happy to receive this extremely prestigious acknowledgment, which has been awarded in the past to many great authors whom I love and admire.

    The director won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 1963 for his film Le mani sulla citt?(Hands over the City) and also won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival for Il caso Mattei (The Mattei Affair) in 1963.

    Universal Pictures wants director-writer Richard Curtis to come up with a follow-up to hit 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually.

    The film, which focused on different characters trying to find love, was a big hit at the box office and now Universal chief Eddie Cunningham is hoping to convince the film‘s writer to pen a sequel.

    “I think there should be a Love Actually 2. I‘d give it a green light. I think many American movies try to emulate that brilliant format where the stories interweave and no one‘s on screen for more than six minutes, but only Richard has achieved it. It really makes you appreciate the beauty of his writing,” Cunningham said.

    Love Actually boasted an all-star cast, including Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman.

  • Production of sequel of The Smurfs commences

    Production of sequel of The Smurfs commences

    MUMBAI: The shooting of Columbia Pictures‘ and Sony Pictures Animation‘s live-action/computer animated hybrid 3D family comedy The Smurfs 2 has commenced.

    The sequel has the evil wizard Gargamel create a couple of mischievous Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties that he hopes will let him harness the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence. But when he discovers that only a real Smurf can give him what he wants and only a secret spell that Smurfette knows can turn the Naughties into real Smurfs, Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and brings her to Paris, where he has been winning the adoration of millions as the world‘s greatest sorcerer.
     

    It‘s up to Papa, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Vanity to return to our world, reunite with their human friends Patrick and Grace Winslow, and rescue her. The rest forms the crux of the film.
    Announcing the launch, Kerner said, “We‘ve brought the entire live-action and voice cast into the sequel. It‘s a real thrill to ‘get the Smurf village back together‘ for another adventure. The same holds true for the crew. We are so deep in talent we know a fine film will result. It‘s like visiting with old friends – just some slightly smaller than others.”

    The film produced by Jordan Kerner and directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Neil Patrick Harris (Patrick Winslow), Jayma Mays (Grace Winslow), Sofia Vergara (Odile) and Hank Azaria (Gargamel). The film will have many crew members from the original film reuniting including DoP Phil Méheux, production designer Bill Boes, editor Sabrina Plisco, costume designer Rita Ryack and visual effects supervisor Richard R. Hoover. The film has visual effects and animation by Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc.