ITV

Category: Movies

  • Taj Enlighten Film Society to present Steven Spielberg Film Fest in Nov

    MUMBAI: Taj Mahal Enlighten Film Society, in association with Paramount Pictures, will present Mumbaikar‘s with a Steven Spielberg Film Festival that will be held at Cinemax and Metro Big Cinemas from 1 to 29 November.


    While Jurassic Park will open the festival, E.T. – Extra-Terrestrial will be the closing film. Other Steven Spielberg‘s films to be shown at the festival are Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and Schindlers List. 


    While Cinemax will showcase films like Jurassic Park, The Termainal, Catch me if you Can and E.T. (Extra Terrestrial), Metro Big Cinemas will screen films like Schindlers List.

  • 7000 pirated DVDs seized in Maharashtra raid

    NEW DELHI: 7000 DVDs, including those of the latest releases London Dreams and Aladin, were seized and three persons arrested when police station officials raided the road under a flyover in Hadapsar in Maharashtra this morning.


    The police also found pornographic films in a set-up just 250 meters away from the police station.


    All the three accused are professional vendors who work under an unknown dealer. Police officials have started investigations and are in search for the main dealer. Officials are now tracking the DVD route to the supplier and customers involved in the piracy chain.


    If proven guilty, the accused sellers will be booked under the stringent Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act which denies bail to alleged offenders for the first three months.


    Movie pirates are now booked under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and the Copyright Act.

  • Seventymm appoints Mudit Khosla as CEO

    BANGALORE: Movie rental company Seventymm.com has roped in Mudit Khosla as its chief executive officer.


    Prior to this, Khosla was business head at Yatra.com.


    In his new role, Khosla will report to the board of directors of Seventymm.com and will be responsible for developing and executing the company’s long term growth strategies, launching new initiatives and developing new earning opportunities.


    Khosla will be helping the company in capitalising on the Rs 1 billion fund, raised from Matrix Partners India, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and NEA Indo-US Ventures.


    Said Seventymm founder and director Raghav Kher, “Mudit’s track record in building online businesses will be an asset to Seventymm.com. With him leading Seventymm, I am confident of getting closer to our vision of delivering any movie anytime anywhere in India.”


    On his appointment, Khosla said, “I am confident about the potential that exists in online movie rental business. I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie in the business.”
     

  • Warner Bros Spain names Josh Berger as president and MD

    MUMBAI: Josh Berger has been appointed president and managing director of Warner Bros Entertainment Spain, from 1 December.


    Berger will combine the management of all of Warner Bros Entertainment‘s business activities in Spain with his existing responsibilities as president and managing director of UK and Ireland, a role he has held since 2002.


    In a broad role aimed at promoting transmedia opportunities and fostering third party ties, the executive will work closely with the local teams of the various Warner Bros business units in Spain, as well as executives at Warner Bros Pictures International, Warner Home Video, Warner Bros Digital Distribution, Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros International Television Distribution, and Warner Bros Consumer Products.


    Berger reports through Warner Bros executive vice-president of international Richard Fox to chairman and CEO Barry Meyer and president and COO Alan Horn.

  • ACI gets global rights of romantic musical Moonlight Serenade

    MUMBAI: Capitalising on the growing popularity of films such as Mamma Mia! and High School Musical 3, LA-based American Cinema International (ACI) has lapped up global sales rights of Moonlight Serenade, a romantic musical, starring Amy Adams.


    ACI will present the film‘s market premiere at AFM and then commence talks.


    The film, produced by Anthony Mastromauro, is a story of a cloakroom attendant whose singing voice attracts a successful businessman.


    Alec Newman also stars alongside Harriet Sansom Harris. Giancarlo Tallarico has directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay along with Jonathan Abrahams.
     

  • Shooting of Submarine underway

    MUMBAI: Debut feature from Richard Ayoade, starring Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, and Sally Hawkins begins principal photography.


    Production of Submarine, the feature film debut of writer/director Richard Ayoade commenced on 26 October. An adaptation of Joe Dunthorne‘s novel, the film stars Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, newcomer Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige and Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins.


    A Warp Films production in association with Red Hour Films, Submarine is to be produced by Andy Steebing and Mark Herbert with Mary Burke. Shooting will take place in Cardiff for 7 weeks.


    Submarine is a coming of age comedy set in Swansea following 15 year old Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) through the impending break-up of his parents‘ marriage and his first relationship.


    Submarine is a Warp Films production in association with Red Hour Films backed by Film4, the UK Film Council‘s New Cinema Fund, Wales Creative IP Fund and Film Agency Wales.
     

  • James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ to feature Lisbeth Scott vocals

    MUMBAI: Music film composer James Horner who is scoring Avatar has added singer Lisbeth Scott to his creative musical lineup for the James Cameron film.


    In a recent interview, Fox Music executive Mike Knobloch described Horner‘s early music of Avatar as being “epic and hugely cinematic … music that transports us to another world … a brilliantly unique blend of traditional and contemporary, electronic elements that spans the entire spectrum of attitude and energy – from bombastic action to the delicate, romantic discovery of a new world.”


    Of the last five years‘ top-grossing movies, Scott has been a featured vocalist in almost half like Passion of the Christ, Narnia, Shrek 2, Transformers and Munich.
     

  • Terminator franchise under the hammer

    MUMBAI: Production company Halcyon is auctioning off the rights of its Terminator franchise, indicating that bad days are not yet over and movie profits continue to be under pressure from falling DVD sales.


    The news of the auction comes only a few weeks after the rights of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were sold for $60 million.


    Terminator has evinced considerable interest within trade circles as it is a film franchise not controlled by a big studio. 


    Sony Pictures and Warner Bros, which distributed the latest Terminator Salvation, are considering bids as is independent studio Summit Entertainment.


    Last month, Halcyon hired FTI Capital Advisors to put the rights up for sale and manage the process. The auction to make new Terminator films will likely take place by January. Representatives of Halcyon have set their plans to sell off the rights to pay debts and recapitalize their company.


    Later this month, Halcyon may choose a “stalking horse,” a potential buyer whose early bid puts it in first position and gives it exclusive access to perform due diligence. Any other company that wanted to buy the Terminator rights would then have to outbid the stalking horse.


    Whoever buys Terminator would get rights to make future sequels as well as get Halcyon‘s remaining income from Salvation, which cost about $200 million to make and grossed $371 million worldwide.

  • UK Film Council to bring independent British cinema to India

    MUMBAI: In its drive to open up UK films to Indian markets and audiences, the UK Film Council (UKFC) will showcase a series of independent British films this February through its UK-India film distribution initiative, ‘From Blighty with Love‘.


    As part of this initiative, the UKFC has partnered with Reliance Media Works, the Mumbai Film Festival, BookMyShow.com, Fame Cinemas and UK Trade and Investment to organise the festival in multiplexes across Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore from 26 February to 11 March next year.


    The initiative is an offshoot of the hugely successful ‘Summer of British Films‘, by which the Council organised festivals across several locations in Britain in 2007 along with the BBC.


    This will be the first time when independent specialised British films will be digitally screened for the English speaking audience in India and will feature simultaneous screening of each film on multiple screens in 2K digital across the three cities. The movies will be followed by a ‘virtual‘ in-conversations with key talent from each film via the Skype technology.


    Says UK Film Council senior executive for Export Development Sarah McKenzie, “While Reliance Media Works will take care of processing of all the films into 2K, films of the festival will be shown at Big and Fame cinemas.”


    ‘From Blighty with Love‘, McKenzie notes, is an exciting example of the UK Film Council‘s drive to open up UK film to international markets and audiences.


    “From classy literary adaptations such as Stephen Elliot‘s Easy Virtue and Julian Jarrold‘s Brideshead Revisited, to international hits such as James Marsh‘s Man On Wire and Armando Lannucci‘s satirical comedy In the Loop, we are confident that Indian audiences will be both entertained and enlightened by the diversity of British talent showcased throughout the season,” elaborates McKenzie.


    The festival will also include films from renowned British filmmakers like Michael Winterbottom, Sally Potter and Danny Boyle.
     

  • MPAA president congratulates Chinese efforts to fight piracy

    MUMBAI: Highlighting the importance of greater market access and industry cooperation in the fight against rampant movie piracy in China, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) President and COO Bob Pisano, while congratulating the Chinese government in its efforts to fight piracy, has called for a pro-legitimate stance by the Chinese authorities.


    Said Pisano, “The MPAA congratulates the Chinese government for raising an anti-piracy awareness among the public. However, piracy is still severely hindering the entertainment industry‘s development in China, especially the home video business that is being devastated by a lack of legitimate retail outlets, inadequately slow censorship and rampant piracy.


    We urge the government to adopt and promote a pro-legitimate policy that will enable the industry to effectively compete with pirated products which are widely available in the country.”


    Pisano was speaking after he witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was designed to increase cooperation between the China Film Copyright Association (CFCA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
     


    Foreign entertainment products are under strict government import control when entering China and outdated regulations and administrative barriers restrict foreign companies from investing in the wholesale and retail audio-video business sector.


    In its effort to fight piracy and help develop legitimate online businesses, the MPA has actively engaged the Chinese government and industry in its effort to seek sustainable business models that would adopt effective copyright protection technologies and mechanisms.


    The situation has been further worsened in recent years by widespread Internet piracy where copyright infringers use legal loopholes to escape punishment.


    Said MPA President and Managing Director, Asia-Pacific Mike Ellis, “We have developed a strong cooperative relationship with CFCA and with the CFCA‘s newly
    expanded mandate for industry development we are looking forward to increased
    cooperation in areas of mutual interest. Fighting piracy and creating a more favourable, pro-legitimate market environment is in the interests of all our members and good for China‘s economy.”