Category: Movies

MUMBAI: The Princess and the Frog, Disney‘s first hand-drawn animated feature in five years that opens this Wednesday will also be the first Disney animated film since 2003‘s Brother Bear to release in limited release in New York and Los Angeles.

Like that movie and many other of its traditional cartoons, including The Lion King and Hercules, the studio is pairing the two runs of Princess with an “experience” that includes games, actresses dressed as Disney princess, props, costumes and other activities that give kids fun time beyond the film. 

The extras mean ticket prices will be substantially higher than a normal picture ticket. Disney is charging $30 for general admission tickets, $50 for the best seats and $20 per person for groups at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and on the studio lot in Burbank.

The show will play until 13 December, the first weekend that The Princess and the Frog shows nationwide. Disney already has grossed more than $3.2 million in pre-sales.

MUMBAI: Filming of an untitled project helmed by two-time Oscar-nominated director Gus Van Sant starring Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper has begun on location in Portland, Oregon.

The film produced by Imagine Entertainment‘s Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, and Bryce Dallas Howard and Gus Van Sant has screenplay by first-timer Jason Lew based upon his original stage play Of Winter and Water Birds has Ryo Kase, Schuyler Fisk and Jane Adams in the supporting cast.

The film, a coming of age story, of two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love will offer a take on friendship and young love as engaging and true as it is provocative and stirring. 

Said producer Bryce Dallas Howard, “This film is a quietly epic coming of age story. It captures the profoundly defining turning point of a young person‘s life with stark realism, irreverent humor, and intense emotion.

“I think that Gus was drawn to this story because he has an uncanny ability to convey the complexities of youth and outsiders. For this is, above all else, the journey of an outsider.”

MUMBAI: German producer-distributor Senator Entertainment has launched a Cologne-based production arm to be known as Senator Film Koln Produktion that will take on as an international production hub.

In addition to developing and producing German- language features, the new company will produce international and English-language in-house projects and co-productions to be shot in NRW region.

The new company will be managed by Senator Entertainment‘s board member Helge Sasse along with producer Ulf Israel.

Senator Film Köln is also talking to Cologne‘s MMC Studios for a long-term partnership on the production of international features at the facility.

Additionally, Berlin-based Senantor Film Produktion has appointed Oliver Schmitz‘s Chanda‘s Secrets as German partner with Senator Film Verlieh taking the German rights.
 

MUMBAI: New Zealand‘s biggest casino operator, Sky City Entertainment Group Ltd.has agreed to sell its cinema interests and will only focus on its core business.

Sydney-based Amalgamated Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy the business in New Zealand and Fiji for NZ$59 million ($43 million), Auckland-based Sky said in a statement to the New Zealand stock exchange. The parties aim to complete the transaction by 15 February. 

Sky has “significantly” improved the performance of the cinema group the past 18 months, helping achieve today‘s sale, Chief Executive Officer Nigel Morrison said. The transaction excludes Sky‘s interest in a ticketing software company and the division‘s land and buildings, he added.
 

MUMBAI: A casino in Macau will house Asia‘s first Michael Jackson shrine after its owners bought the late King of Pop‘s iconic white glove for $350,000 at a US auction ceremony.

Made of cream leather and studded with hand-sewn rhinestones, the left-handed glove is considered an iconic accessory by Jackson fans.

The shrine will be located in the lobby of the casino-resort Ponte 16 and will add to Macau‘s attractions that already houses the world‘s largest casino, The Venetian.

Said Hoffman Ma of Success Universe Group that has teamed up with Macau gaming tycoon, Stanley Ho in the Ponte 16 venture “MJ‘s distinctive musical sound, vocal style and choreography inspired numerous pop, rock, R&B and hip hop artistes. We aim to create a rendezvous to reminisce this great performer of the 20th century.” 

During Saturday‘s auction of Jackson memorabilia in New York, Ma‘s firm paid the astronomical sum for the glove that was almost eight times the pre-sale estimate amid stiff bidding.

Ponte 16 also picked up nine other items that were owned by Jackson including a signed drawing of Charlie Chaplin, a pair of acrylic tube socks, Jackson‘s “zombie” shirt that he wore in the video of Thriller and a platinum record awarded for the album Bad.

The white glove, that auctioneers Julien‘s Auctions, called “the Holy Grail of Michael Jackson,” was worn by Jacko when he first staged the famous moonwalk dance at the 1983 Motown 25 television special.

MUMBAI: The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honour Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Stanley Tucci and Christoph Waltz with its Cinema Vanguard Award at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara on 12 February.

The award recognizes actors who have “forged his/her own path, taking artistic risks and making a significant and unique contribution to film.”

Farmiga, whose credits include Breaking and Entering and Nothing But the Truth, appears next in Jason Reitman‘s Up in the Air. Sarsgaard, who has appeared in Garden State, Kinsey and Shattered Glass can be seen in An Education. Tucci, who played Julia Child‘s husband in Julie & Julia is also playing a stellar role in the upcoming The Lovely Bones. Waltz picked up the best actor award at the Festival de Cannes in May for his performance in Inglourious Basterds.

The Santa Barbara festival runs from 4 to 14 February.

MUMBAI: The 27th edition of the Turin Film Festival honoured an Italian production with its top award for the first time, when La Boca del Lupo (The Mouth of the Wolf) from Pietro Marcello won the fest‘s central honour.

Veteran actors Robert Duvall and Bill Murray were co-awarded the prize for best actor for their roles in Get Low from Aaron Schneider. The film tells the story of a 1930s Tennessee hermit who threw his own funeral party before he died. 

Vatalina Saavedra, meanwhile, took home the award for best actress for her work as the title character in Sebastian Silva‘s La Nana (The Maid).

Two North American films shared the special jury prize for Crackie directed by Canadaian director Sherry White and U.S. director Damien Chazella‘s Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.

The festival took place from 13 to 21 November.

MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has shown keen interest in buying out Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), including their James Bond franchise.

Also interested are Sony, Time Warner Inc and Qualia Capital LLC even as MGM has put itself up for sale.

There are talks of the film studio going to a News Corp, Time Warner and Qualia Capital in a joint deal.

MGM has mandated a restructuring specialist to help the ailing company turnaround. The studio faces debt obligations of $3.7 billion stemming from its 2005 buyout, plus payments on a $250 million revolving credit facility due in April next year.

Creditors of the studio are hoping to get at least $2 billion from a single buyer or by selling the assets separately.

It was only last week that MGM, in a statement, had said that it was exploring a potential sale of the company as lenders extended the payback time till 31 January. It said its other options include operating as a stand-alone entity or forming strategic partnerships.

MGM was purchased from majority owner Kirk Kerkorian for $2.85 billion by a group including private equity firms Providence Equity Partners; TPG; DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, a unit of Credit Suisse; and Quadrangle Group; and media firms Sony and Comcast Corp. The group also assumed a debt of $2 billion.

The risk now is that MGM might well end up being broken up, but a decision has to emerge by 31 January when the bankers are going to step in.