ITV

Category: Movies

  • Excel and Fox release ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ on DVD, Blu-ray disc

    MUMBAI: Excel Home Video along with Twentieth Century Fox Entertainment has released the DVD and blu-ray disc of The Day The Earth Stood Still.

    While the DVD costs Rs 399, the blu-ray disc is available for Rs 1,199.


    Directed by Scott Derrickson, the action epic showcases Keanu Reeves as Klaatu a humanoid who arrives on earth as a harbinger of death with a mission to seek redemption for sins committed against the earth.


    Claimed to be the first DVD with Hindi dub option on blu-ray disc, the film comes with bonus features that include deleted scenes of The Day, Watching the Skies: In Search of extraterrestrial life and The Day The Earth Was Green.

  • Pyramid Saimira to list its subsidiaries in January 2010

    MUMBAI: Chennai-based Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd (PSTL) plans to list its production and distribution subsidiaries in January next year, after demerging them from the parent company.

    The company is in the process of appointing independent agencies to valuate its distribution subsidiary company, Pyramid Saimira Content Distribution Pvt Ltd (PSCDPL). For FY 2008-09, PSCDPL posted a turnover of Rs 2.5 billion and has so far distributed 100 movies.


    PSTL had got Deloitte value its production arm, Pyramid Saimira Production International Ltd (PSPIL), in 2008 at Rs 4.5 billion. Now PSPIL is in the process of diluting 40 per cent stake to a strategic investor for Rs 1 billion. The cash-strapped company will use the money from the investor for production of 17 movies, which it had put on hold following a liquidity crunch.


    “The respective subsidiaries have already achieved independent business credibility and now are hindred by the parent company. Each of these companies have created their own infrastructure, business model and management bandwidth independent of the parent company PSTL,” Pyramid Saimira said, explaining its demerger move.


    Further elaborating, Pyramid Saimira said: “The parent company underwent huge business loss and also had taken a higher amount of risk in the exhibition sector by locking in properties at higher price during 2007-08. Moreover, the group had certain credibility-related issues.”


    Pyramid Saimira, which plans to raise up to $100 million via GDRs/ADRs, has initiated the process of demerger and is planning to file for scheme of arrangement in the second week of October.

  • Third Eye Asian Film Festival to screen ‘Vartul’

    MUMBAI: Marathi short film Vartul has been selected to be screened at the eighth edition of the Third Eye Asian Film Festival.

    The festival will be held from 8-15 October in Mumbai.


    The 19-minute film, written and directed by Santosh Ram, talks about a 10-year-old boy Damu.


    According to the plot of the story, Damu leaves his home to buy jaggery as told by his mother and on the way meets his friend Manya. The film dwells on their travails and the premise that greed harms.

  • San Sebastian announces line-up of ‘Films In Progress’ section

    MUMBAI: The San Sebastian Film Festival has announced its line-up of Latin American projects for the ‘Films In Progress‘ section including works from upcoming Uruguayan talents like Federico Veiroj and Daniel Hendler.

    The line-up includes Veiroj‘s new project La Vida Util, starring Jorge Jellinek who plays a middle age man going through a crisis after he loses his job. The film is backed by leading Uruguayan producers Control Z Films who had also supported Veiroj‘s least film Acne.


    The line-up will also feature Hendler‘s debut feature Norbeto, Apenas Tarde, about a man who always runs late. As an actor, Hendler starred in films including Lost Embrace and Whiskey.


    The other films are also first time features including Rompe Cabezas from Argentinian assistant director Natalia Smirnoff who has helmed this project.


    Films In Progress has grown in popularity over the recent years and now attracts leading producers, distributors, investors and festival heads from all over the world.

  • IFC buys ‘Vincere’ in a North American deal for distribution

    MUMBAI: IFC Films, in a deal, has acquired Marco Bellochio‘s Vincere which it will distribute in North America. The film that had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival is about Mussolini‘s rise to political power and the lengths he went to in order to cover up his marriage and fatherhood.

    Filippo Timi stars in a dual role as Mussolini and his illegitimate son, while Giovanna Mezzogiorno plays Dalser.


    The North American deal is IFC‘s sixth acquisition from Cannes 2009. Vincere will have its North American premiere in Toronto next month followed by the US premiere in October at the New York Film Festival.


    The film has been produced by Mario Gianani, Hengameh Panahi and Olivia Sleiter while Daniela Ceselli and Bellochio worked on the screenplay.


    IFC Films vice-president of acquisitions Arianna Bocco negotiated the deal with Panahi of Celluloid Dreams.

  • Shooting of The Eagle of the Ninth rolls in Hungary

    MUMBAI: The shooting of Kevin Macdonald‘s Roman epic The Eagle Of The Ninth has begun. The 12-week schedule started on 25 August in Hungary.

    The film, which will also be shot in Scotland stars Channing Tatum, Donald Sutherland and Jamie Bell and tells the story of centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum), who crosses Hadrian‘s Wall into savage Caledonia to solve the mystery of the Ninth Legion, which disappeared 20 years earlier.


    Co-financed by Film4 and Focus Features, The Eagle of the Ninth has already sold in virtually every territory after a successful Cannes showcase earlier this year.


    Among Macdonald‘s previous films are The Last King of Scotland and Kevin Macdonald‘s Roman epic The Eagle Of The Ninth Touching the Void. The film sees Macdonald‘s reuniting with Jeremy Brock who had earlier written the screenplay of The Last King of Scotland.

  • Fortissimo Films acquires worldwide rights ‘Shock Labyrinth’

    MUMBAI: In a deal, Fortissimo Films has acquired worldwide rights of live-action 3D thriller The Shock Labyrinth, directed by Takashi Shimizu and produced by Japan‘s Asmik Ace.

    The acquisition marks Fortissimo‘s first foray into the world of 3D cinema and follows its recent acquisition of another horror-thriller in Pang Ho Cheung‘s Dream Home.


    The Shock Labyrinth, which is Japan‘s first live-action 3D film, is currently in post-production stage.


    Set in an attraction at the Fuji-Q High Land amusement park, known as the Senritsu Meiyu (literal translation: The Shock Labyrinth), the film follows a group of teenagers dealing with the surprise return of a friend who disappeared more than a decade ago.


    Shimizu previously directed Japanese horror films Juon and Juon 2 along with their US remakes The Grudge and The Grudge 2.


    The deal was brokered by Fortissimo chairman Michael J. Werner and Asmik Ace manager, international production and marketing, Joe Ikeda.

  • Pyramid Saimira to demerge production and distribution subsidiaries


    MUMBAI: Chennai-based movie production, distribution and exhibition company Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd (PSTL) has decided to demerge its distribution and production subsidiaries from the parent company.


    Analysts see the demerger as a step towards listing both the distribution and the production companies.


    PSTL MD PS Saminathan had earlier told Indiantelevision.com that the production company would be listed.


    PSTL houses its distribution business under Pyramid Saimira Content Distribution while production falls under Pyramid Saimira Production International Ltd. (production wing) from the parent company.”



    Pyramid Saimira said today the demerger is subject to necessary approvals.


    PSTL board today also approved the raising of up to $100 million through international offering of securities including Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).


    PSTL has been facing serious liquidity crunch and has exited from the gaming business by selling its UK gaming subsidiary Aurona Technologies.


    The company had earlier announced that due to huge business loses, the company suffered working capital erosion.

  • Network18 ups stake in AIM-listed Indian Film Company to 69%

    MUMBAI: Network18 Holdings, the subsidiary of Raghav Bahl-promoted Network18 Media & Investments, has increased its stake in the AIM-listed Indian Film Company (IFC) to 69.2 per cent, mopping up additional equity through a mandatory offer.



    Network18 has received another 19 per cent stake offer, taking its “total valid acceptance of the offer” to 33.2 per cent, or 18,239,930 shares.


    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that Network18 had acquired 14.2 per cent equity, or 7.8 million shares, through the offer, increasing its stake in the movie company to 50.2 per cent.


    The offer will remain open for acceptance and will lapse if the acquisition of IFC is referred to the competition commission before 7 September.


    Network18 had recently increased its stake in IFC to 35.99 per cent, following which it had to make a mandatory offer for all the remaining shares not owned by it.

  • Michael Jackson‘s Moonwalker on Big Home video


    MUMBAI: Michael Jackson‘s Moonwalker has been released by Big Home Video. Priced at Rs 599, the DVD holds a collage of short stories apart from the movie.


    The DVD also features live concert footage and his performances at the Grammy Awards. Also included is a wild adventure film written by Michael Jackson himself that gives audiences a glimpse into his creative mind.


    Moonwalker, released by Michael Jackson in 1988, is named after the popular dance technique known as the ‘Moonwalk‘ that was one of Michael Jackson‘s trademark moves.


    Said Big Music & Home Entertainment CEO Kulmeet Makkar, “Michael Jackson‘s superlative talent is displayed in Moonwalker. Big Home Video is proud to release this DVD that celebrates this exceptional genius.”