ITV

Category: Movies

  • Morgan Freeman to be feted at Palm Springs Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Morgan Freeman will be feted by the 21st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival‘s Career Achievement Award for Acting at the fest‘s awards gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on 5 January. The festival runs till 18 January.


    Freeman plays Nelson Mandela in the upcoming Invictus directed by Clint Eastwood, who annexed the festival‘s career achievement award last January.
    Invictus which also stars Matt Damon as rugby team captain Francois Pienaar, will release on 11 December.


    Freeman, who has earlier received three other Academy Award nominations, won the Oscar for best supporting actor in 2005 for MIllion Dollar Baby.


    His recent films include The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, The Bucket List, Feast of Love and Gone Baby Gone.

  • Halle Berry tipped to receive Sherry Lansing award

    MUMBAI: Noted actress Halle Berry has been tipped to receive the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter‘s (THR) 18th annual Women in Entertainment breakfast presented by Lifetime.


    The actress will be honored for her trailblazing within the industry and for her generosity in giving back to the community at large.


    Hilary Swank and Eva Longoria Parker will also participate in the 4 December breakfast at the Beverly Hills Hotel.


    Berry joins past recipients Barbara Walters, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster and Glenn Close in receiving the Lansing award.

  • Exhibitors steaming over ‘Meatballs’

    MUMBAI: Exhibitors are unhappy over Sony‘s decision to release Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs digitally on 8 December, less than three months after its theatrical release.


    Sony said that Meatballs would be made available for early home entertainment viewing by owners of internet-enabled TV sets and certain Blu-ray Disc players.
    Owners of Sony-branded Bravia TVs and the latest generation of networked Sony Blu-ray players will be able to rent the title almost a month earlier than the Jan. 4 street date for the DVD and Blu-ray discs.


    This marks the second time Sony has tried to exploit inter-divisional synergies between Sony Pictures and Sony Electronics on a home-entertainment release. Summer 2008 actioner Hancock also got a month‘s digital jump on its packaged media release when released for Bravia and Sony Blu-ray households the following October.


    That tightened its theatrical window to about 3 1/2 months. But the Hancock move but drew less discernible reaction from exhibitors who object to any disc released sooner than four months after a pic‘s theatrical opening.


    Distributed in both 2D and 3D versions theatrically, Meatballs, which bowed 18 September played last weekend in a total 1,126 venues and was expected to shed at least a few hundred engagements next Friday.

  • Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani enthralls, Jail fails to enthuse

    MUMBAI: Last week‘s two releases, Tips‘ Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani (APKGB) and Percept and Madhur Bhandarkar‘s Jail were expected to generate fireworks.


    But, while APKGB took the country by storm, Jail failed to click.


    APKGK did a net business of Rs 245 million in its opening weekend across the country, the fourth-highest all-time opening weekend collections for a film in the country.


    The record for the highest opening weekend collections is held by Aamir Khan‘s Ghajini which bagged Rs 300 million followed by Love Aaj Kal that grossed
    Rs 270 million and Singh Is Kinng that netted Rs 260 million.


    Audiences have been raving about the film and are terming APKGK to be a clean comedy with loads of fun. The other strong point about the film is the amazing chemistry between Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif.


    On the other hand, Jail fails to connect as the film lacks content at the concept level itself. The film falls further with a single track screenplay and mundane story writing.


    On the whole, apart from Neil Nitin Mukesh‘s acting skills, Jail doesn‘t deliver up to Bhandarkar‘s benchmark standard.


    Going back to last week‘s releases, London Dreams and Aladin, the former clung on to some screens because it was doing well at the box-office. In its first week, London Dreams grossed an average of Rs 3, 65, 237 per print compared to an average intake of Rs 1, 61, 841 per print.


    Next week will see the release of Vishesh Films‘ Tum Mile and Aftab Shivdasani‘s Aao Wish Karein. However, Sony Pictures Entertainment‘s disaster film 2012 will be the highlight of the week.

  • Mark Zoradi quits as Disney Group President

    MUMBAI: Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group president Mark Zoradi has put in his papers. The 29-year Disney veteran used to look after global marketing for the entire theatrical slate and was one of the most powerful studio executives in the field.


    During his tenure as president of Buena Vista International (BVI), Zoradi delivered numerous $1bn-plus domestic and overseas years including an extraordinary run of 12 consecutive $1bn years at the box-office.


    Zoradi had assumed the post of president of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group in July 2006 after having led the studio‘s international distribution and marketing arm formerly known as BVI for 14 years. 


    He joined the Disney fold in 1980 as a marketing manager for Walt Disney Home Video in the beginning of the home entertainment boom. He eventually moved into television as marketing director for the Disney Channel.


    In 1985 Zoradi entered the feature business as director of sales for Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. He was named vice-president and general manager of Buena Vista Television and from 1987 to 1992 led the rapid growth of this business unit and was responsible for ad sales, finance, administration and operations. In 1992 he set up BVI, generating $16.8bn from 1995-2006.
     

  • Film critic David Ansen is LAFF artistic director

    MUMBAI: Newsweek film critic David Ansen is set to join Film Independent as artistic director of next year‘s Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF).


    Senior programmer Doug Jones has been promoted as associate director of programming for the event that is set to run from 17 to 27 June next year.


    Said Ansen, “LAFF is uniquely positioned to draw on the industry‘s history and broad range of talent to create a festival that will not only showcase the best new work from around the world but provide unforgettable film-going experiences for the audience.” 


    Averred Film Independent executive director Dawn Hudson, “With one of the most respected tastemakers joining forces with a talented producer like Rebecca, we continue to build a top-notch team that makes the Los Angeles Film Festival a platform for nurturing the diversity of films being made and bringing them to the everyday filmgoer.”


    Ansen was Newsweek‘s movie critic from 1977-2008 and continues to write for the publication as a contributing editor. He has written several documentaries for television about film celebrities and was on the selection committee of the New York Film Festival from 1990-98.

  • NeoClassics acquires worldwide rights of The Over The Hill Band

    MUMBAI: Canada-based NeoClassics Films has lapped up worldwide rights to Geoffrey Enthoven‘s Belgian comedy drama The Over The Hill Band. The film is the latest from the producers of the 2008 Cannes Critics‘ Week winner Moscow, Belgium that NeoClassics distributed in the US earlier this year.


    The Over The Hill Band that is the story of a 70-year-old widow who sets up an R&B band with her friends stars Marilou Mermans and Jan Van Looveren.

  • Wild Bunch in a two-film deal with GK Films

    MUMBAI: Wild Bunch Germany, the new German distribution arm of the French film group, has signed a two-picture deal with Graham King‘s GK Films, taking rights in Germany to Martin Campbell‘s Edge Of Darkness starring Mel Gibson and Jean-Marc Vallee‘s The Young Victoria with Emily Blunt.


    The deal, meant for Germany and Austria for both films, was closed by GK Films sales chief Lisa Wilson with Wild Bunch Germany‘s Marc Gabizon.


    The eight-month old Wild Bunch Germany bought SC International‘s Gunslinger starring Josh Hartnett earlier in the week. “We are trying to build a theatrical operation in Germany,” said Gabizon adding, “and we are looking for movies that could be successful and make sense financially.”


    He says Edge Of Darkness will be released in Germany in the first quarter next year after the US opening on 29 January.

  • Baba Arts acquires theatrical rights of De Dana Dan

    MUMBAI: Baba Arts Ltd has acquired the theatrical rights of De Dana Dan, touted to be one of the big Bollywood releases of this year, from Venus.


    Baba Arts will release the movie across the country on 27 November. An Eros International presentation directed by Priyadarshan, De Dana Dan stars Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Suneil Shetty, Paresh Rawal along with Sameera Reddy, Neha Dhupia and Chunkey Pandey.


    “De Dana Dan will hit approximately 1000 cinemas all over India. We haven’t yet decided on the number of prints we are releasing the film with since we have three weeks in our hand to chalk out our game plan,” Baba Arts CEO Ajay Acharya tells Indiantelevision.com.


    Baba Arts will heavily promote the movie. “The trailers of the film are already being shown in theatres, the promos are all over the FM radio stations, and the website is active. As we near the release date, we will resort to road shows. That will be our final frontier in terms of promotion,” avers Acharya.


    Baba Arts Ltd has earlier released films like Ganesha2, Ishq, Pyar To Hona Hi Tha, Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge, Tarzan-the Wonder Car, Life Mein Kabhi Kabhi and Tumko Na Bhool Payenge.
     

  • IFC acquires all US feature rights to Olivier Assayas’ Carlos

    MUMBAI: IFC Films has picked up all-US feature rights of Olivier Assayas‘ Carlos, a mini-series about terrorist Carlos The Jackal that will be shown on the Sundance Channel in spring next year.


    The distribution house plans an autumn 2010 theatrical and VOD release to a shortened version of Sundance Channel‘s three-part mini-series of the same name.


    Canal Plus will screen the film in early 2010. Studio Canal and Film En Stock‘s Daniel Leconte and Jens Meurer produced Carlos in association with Sundance Channel.


    Edgar Ramirez stars in the lead as Carlos, who masterminded a wave of terrorist attacks across Europe and the Middle East in the 1970s and 80s. Carlos is mostly English-language with passages in French and Spanish.