ITV

Category: Movies

  • Shane Acker directed ‘9’ to release globally on 9 September

    MUMBAI: A new era in animated storytelling begins on 9 September. It is on that day that 9-a thrilling tale directed by Shane Acker is set to release worldwide.

    The film‘s story is about 9 – an underdog hero who believes in taking risks besides wishing to know the meaning of life. His mental deftness helps him build his team, the mission of whom begins after the human civilization becomes extinct.

    The film stars Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer and Crispin Glover.

    An action-packed adventure, 9 is the feature-length expansion of Acker‘s Academy Award-nominated 2004 short film of the same name. As director of the short, Acker received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Animated Short Film category and also won a Gold Medal at the Student Academy Awards.

    Says PVR Pictures CEO Uday Singh, “We are thrilled to bring the much-awaited animated film 9 directed by award-winning animator and designer Shane Acker to the Indian theatres on a day-date release on 09.09.09.”

  • Shemaroo releases VCD of ‘Shilpa’s Yoga’ in Malayalam

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has released the dubbed Malayalam version of Shilpa‘s Yoga on VCD. This VCD is an introduction to ‘dynamic free-flow‘ yoga practice by popular Bollywood actress – Shilpa Shetty.

    The contents of the over 60-minute VCD is inclusive of various chapters – introduction by Shilpa herself, followed with Asanas [postures] like ‘Back Asanas‘, ‘Stomach Asanas‘, ‘Standing Asanas‘, ‘Sitting Asanas‘, ‘Neck and Shoulder Asanas‘ and Pranayam [breathing].


    Comments Shilpa Shetty, “Considering that we shot for Shilpa‘s Yoga in Kerala, – God‘s Own Country – it‘s a pleasure to know that this yoga DVD is dubbed in Malayalam as well. I am really overwhelmed with the response it has received in Hindi and English and I‘m certain that it will capture the Malayalam market as well.‘


    Adds Shemaroo Entertainment director Hiren Gada, ‘To begin with, we are releasing the dubbed Malayalam version of Shilpa‘s Yoga in VCD format and soon plan to extend it, to other Indian languages too. After the grand success of Shilpa‘s Yoga on VCDs and DVDs in Hindi and English last year, we saw a growing demand for it in other Indian languages as well. Thus, in an attempt to introduce this product to our diverse Indian audience, Shilpa‘s Yoga is now going regional.”


    Priced at Rs.75, ‘Shilpa‘s Yoga‘ VCD will serve as a perfect Onam gift for

  • Director Ron Shelton to direct ‘Q School’

    MUMBAI: Ron Shelton has been signed by David Friendly to direct Q School, a golf comedy based on a script he co-wrote with John Norville.

    It is being rumoured that Dennis Quaid and Tim Allen have shown interest to star in the project. The indie aims to start shooting in the spring.


    The film is said to be a comedy in which a group of hopefuls battle it out in a competition to make the PGA Tour, with both their game and their personal lives sometimes ending up in the drink along the way.


    Shelton made his directorial debut more than 20 years ago with 1988‘s landmark hardball comedy Bull Durham and followed it up with the Woody Harrelson-Wesley Snipes basketball film White Men Can‘t Jump four years later.


    Shelton also directed a boxing comedy Play It to the Bone. He also did a a cop comedy with Harrison Ford



    called Hollywood Homicide in 2003.


  • Producer Clive Parsons no more




    MUMBAI: UK-based film producer Clive Parsons has expired. He was 66.


    Oxford-educated Parsons started his film career in the legal department of Paramount Pictures in London; he then moved to Warner Bros. Europe as head of business affairs.


    Parsons co-produced Tea With Mussolini and Callas Forever. He also worked on TV productions including The Queens‘ Nose and The Giblet Boys.


    Later, Parsons and his long-time business associate Davina Belling formed Film and General Productions in 1971 and worked in financing and development before they forayed into production with Inserts in 1975.

    The company went on to work on films like Gregory‘s Girl and Comfort and Joy, Britannia Hospital, Scum, Brian Gibson‘s Breaking Glass, A Business Affair, True Blue, and I Am David.

    Parsons and Belling were also briefly associated with US-based Kings Road Productions, with the former serving as president for three years.

  • Alex Holmes to direct film on auto maverick John DeLorean

    MUMBAI: Director Alex Holmes has been signed by XYZ Films, Time Inc Studios and producer Tamir Ardon to direct their feature film that is based on auto industry maverick John DeLorean.

    The story recounts the latter years of the auto mogul‘s life when he was arrested for drug trafficking by the FBI and eventually acquitted on grounds of entrapment.


    Holmes, who wrote and directed several episodes of BBC and HBO‘s acclaimed House of Saddam, will direct from the screenplay he is developing with Rob Warr. The pair had previously worked together on BBC‘s BAFTA Award winner Dunkirk.


    Holmes is also working on an adaptation of Robert Mazur‘s book The Infiltrator about Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel for 2929 Productions. He is also set to direct the Warner Bros. produced film The Interpretation Of Murder.

  • Reykjavik film fest to honour Milos Forman

    MUMBAI: The Reykjavik International Film Festival will give its ‘Honorary Award 2009‘ to director Milos Forman.

    The Czech-born director‘s films include One Flew Over The Cuckoo‘s Nest, Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt and Valmont, as well as earlier Czech New Wave notable works such as Black Peter, Loves Of a Blonde, and The Fireman‘s Ball.

    Forman is currently working on The Ghost of Munich, about the 1938 Czech annexation meetings in Munich, in collaboration with Vaclav Havel.

    The Reykjavik International Film Festival which will show a selection of his work will be held from 17 -27 September.

  • BL Gautam joins Mumbai Mantra as director operations

    MUMBAI: Mumbai Mantra Media, the entertainment division of auto major Mahindra & Mahindra, has appointed BL Gautam as director operations.

    Prior to this, Gautam was UMP chief operating officer and UTV Motion Pictures (Mauritius) chief operating officer.


    Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com, Gautam said, “Yes, I have quit UTV and joined Mumbai Mantra as director operations. I would be involved in the movie division of the company.”

  • Fox Star Studios to release Quick Gun Murugan on 28 August

    MUMBAI: A character created by Channel V is now a feature film Quick Gun Murugan.


    Fox Star Studios has acquired the entire rights of the film and is set to release it on 28 August.

    Rajendra Prasad, a veteran Telugu actor, plays the title role and the film is directed by Shashank Ghosh, a former Channel V executive.

    Years ago in 1993, Ghosh made a series of spots on Murugran for Channel V. Anand Surapoor was carried away by the idea and decided to adapt it into a full-length film under the banner of Fat Fish Motion Pictures.


    “I worked on it for 18 months. The film has been shot in the style of a 70s Westerner though a lot of adaptation and thought went into modifying the cowboy-genre to suit modern sensibilities.”


    Ghosh made the character in a South Indianish style, yet possessing features of the ‘Wild West’ to make him look modern. “The film is a tribute to the South Indian genre of movies and I am eager to get the response from the western audiences once it hits the screens,” Ghosh adds.


    The film is shot in Mumbai, Hong Kong and Hyderabad. It has been shortlisted among the five films in the South Asian category at the London Film Festival to be held from 14 to 29 October.

  • UK Exhibitors’ Association launches digital funding group

    MUMBAI: The Cinema Exhibitors Association (CEA) in the United Kingdom is launching a funding group that will help small to medium-sized operators convert to digital technology.
    The plan follows an “expression of interest” exercise that found more than 450 screens who were interested in being part of the group.

    With digital transition already underway, 35mm prints will become increasingly difficult and expensive to source, particularly after the country‘s major cinema chains, have converted, it is understood.

  • Maggie Q in adaptation of pop comic

    MUMBAI: Maggie Q will co-star Paul Bettany and Cam Gigandet in a western horror film Priest that is being directed by Scott Stewart.

    Adapted by Cory Goodman from a TokyoPop comic, Priest is set in a world ravaged by war between man and vampires and follows a warrior priest (Bettany) who teams with a sheriff (Gigandet) to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.


    Maggie, an Asian action star who was seen in films like Mission: Impossible III and Live Free or Die Hard will play a priestess – a vampire hunter as tough as the priests.