ITV

Category: Movies

  • Percept Picture Company readies first of eight horror films

    MUMBAI: The horror genre will get a boost in Bollywood with Percept Picture Company (PPC) readying a slate of movies under the Horrorotainment brand.

    PPC plans to roll out eight films in this genre over three years, made each on a budget between Rs 80-100 million. The first in the pipeline is 8, made in association with Glorius Entertainment.


    A youth-oriented horror film, 8 will be directed by noted special effects director Wilson Louis. Says PPC chief executive Navin Shah, “Today it is the youth who rules the box-office and horror films are extremely to their liking. Our research department has found out that besides reading horror stories, the youth is attracted to the horror-genre may it be through TV serials or films.”


    Why the name 8? “You see when you write the figure 8 you start at a point and taking a curve end up at the same point. That is life. The story of our film is similar. In fact before arriving at the title, we did a market survey and all the respondents okayed it,” says Shah.


    All the horror films will be made under the Percept Horrorotainment banner. “We are already working on Grrr, a film directed by Priyadarsan, that involves the Tiger. It is akin to numerous creature films like Annaconda, Lake Placid and Deep Rising,” avers Shah.

  • City cancels Saudi Film festival

    MUMBAI: The Jeddah Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that was scheduled to open was 25 July has been cancelled unexpectedly by city officials.

    The festival had lined up 71 feature films from the Persian Gulf region and 15 short films from Europe.


    While festival officials state that the event was cancelled because of lacked preparations, reports are on that pressures from conservative religious clerics had led the city to cancel it.

  • Harry Potter in marketing tie up with Airtel

    MUMBAI: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has partnered with Bharti Airtel to unveil product offerings based on the film as part of its marketing initiative.

    With the tie up in place, Airtel users can have access to games, wallpapers, ringtones and themes from the sixth installment of the Harry Potter series.


    Bharti Airtel has the exclusive rights to the Harry Potter game based on the latest film that revolves around the adventures of Harry, Ron Weasely and Hermione Granger at Hogwarts.


    Bharti Airtel also has the exclusive rights to wallpapers and animations of Harry, Ron and Hermione practicing wizardry. Currently, there are twelve Harry Potter wallpapers and animations on the Airtel website and 14 ringtones based on the soundtrack of the film.


    Airtel customers can download Harry Potter games at Rs 50 and wallpapers, animations and ringtones at Rs 15 each.

  • Sony inks deal with Redbox

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) has signed a multi-year distribution agreement with Redbox Automated Retail that will put Sony‘s DVDs, direct-to-video movies and catalogue titles into Redbox‘s 17,000 self-service kiosks where movies rent for $1 a night.

    Redbox is even is battling Universal in Court claiming that the studio is trying to limit third-party distributors‘ dealings with Redbox.


    Sony



    , in contrast, has decided not only to embrace Redbox but also to deal with the Illinois-based company directly. While Sony refused to comment on the terms of the deal, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sony is selling Redbox its DVDs at a lower price than Redbox would pay a wholesaler. Redbox, in turn, has agreed not to sell used Sony DVDs.



    “Our consumers have always been the best barometer of where our business needs to go, and clearly Redbox has become an important distribution option,” SPHE president David Bishop said.

  • Sony to make MJ’s rehearsal film with $50m bid

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures has bid $50 million to acquire the worldwide distribution rights to a film based on rehearsal footage for Michael Jackson‘s This Is It comeback concert series, it is understood.

    The bid came after studios, including Paramount, Universal and 20th Century Fox, were shown the footage early last week but all the studios remained tight-lipped on the subject.



    Sony Pictures would now produce the film with Jackson‘s concert promoter, AEG Live. The deal would go a long way in helping promoters, AEG Live recoup some of the $30 million to $32 million it spent producing the concert before Jackson expired on June 25.


    Incidentally, Sony Pictures had an advantage on the other bidders because its music wing, Sony Music distributes Jackson‘s music and is in a 50:50 partnership with Jackson in Sony/ATV Music Publishing.



    Though Sony‘s bid is at par with the cost of making a mid-range budget film, it is offset by the fact that Sony Music would benefit from the music licensing rights of the film.


    The promoters are also negotiating with several television networks and pay-per-view outlets on a TV special that would be a stage show featuring Jackson‘s music and dancing. It would be directed by Kenny Ortega.

  • Two new awards at Sheffield Doc/Fest

    MUMBAI:Early bird registrations are open for the Sheffield Doc/Fest 2009, which introduces two new awards this year: The Sheffield Inspiration Award and the Sheffield Jury Award.

    The Sheffield Inspiration Award recognizes a person who has inspired the doc community, contributed to the impact of documentaries and has made a lasting contribution to the art of documentary.

    The Award celebrates the best documentary programme that demonstrates excellence in both craft and style. The award will be selected by a panel of film and media professionals.

    The winning films can be of any length and made for any medium and should have been selected for the festival programme. The winners will be revealed at an awards ceremony during the festival on November 8.

  • Phil Claydon to direct ‘Badass’

    MUMBAI:Phil Claydon has been signed on to direct Dan Mintner: Badass for Hire, a New Line comedy being produced by Contrafilm‘s Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson with Mason Novick. Conceived as a light-hearted homage to 1980s action thriller such as Cobra and Missing in Action, Badass centers on a tight-jeans-wearing, matchstick-chewing man stuck with an ‘80s mentality while kicking some modern-day butt.

    Claydon directed Lesbian Vampire Killers, a horror comedy that generated comparisons to Shaun of the Dead. Killers hasn‘t gotten a U.S. theatrical release but has developed a cult in England.

  • Gujarat CM inaugurates Ahmedabad edition of Anupam Kher’s ‘Actor Prepares’

    MUMBAI: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Anupam Kher‘s acting school ‘Actor Prepares‘ in Ahmedabad today. Speaking on the occasion Modi said, “I am very glad and overwhelmed that such kind of talent promotion took place in our state. If you look at the TV industry today, you will get to see the maximum of a Gujarati family and culture everywhere.”


    Commending Kher‘s initiative Modi remarked,” Kher is the only actor in the world who has become a teacher while still actively pursuing his career.”


    The acting school has a sizeable collection of films and books/journals to facilitate the learning of cinema. Actor Prepares also has a Talent Placement agency, which is constantly called upon by major film and television production companies to refer actors and actresses for their projects.

  • Bhandarkar’s Jail on BSNL portal

    MUMBAI: In association with telecom major BSNL, Percept Picture Company and Bhandarkar Entertainment have launched India‘s first sneak preview of the movie, Jail, on BSNL Live today at Chandigarh.
    Present on this occasion were director Madhur Bhandarkar, lead pair of the film Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mughda Godse and BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal.

    BSNL offers a treat to 3G users who can watch films any time and any where according to their own convenience just by visiting BSNL Portal ‘BSNL Live‘.

    Jail gives a ringside view of the world that exists inside the walls of the prison spread across our country. The film is a hard hitting yet sensitive tale of an ordinary man Parag Dixit, played by Neil Mukesh, who finds himself inside the four walls of a prison, thanks to a series of unfortunate events around him. The whole film is from his point of view and tells the stories of several other inmates of the prison.

    Commented Madhur Bhandarkar, “I wanted a larger platform to share the promo of Jail and wanted it to be different from all my previous films and what larger than the 3G technology itself. I am excited as well as honoured. I think the promo is quite sensational and would catch the glimpse of some real shocking and reality shots.”

    Speaking on the occasion, BSNL CMD Shri Kuldeep Goyal said, “We are proud to partner with Percept Picture Company and Bhandkar Entertainment to offer customers an unbelievable level of entertainment in the country for the first time with the first ever movie sneak preview of Jail via 3G services.

    “It is a historical occasion for India that we are making 3G services available to the citizens of this country. Value added services like mobile television, mobile broadband and subsequent services like mobile commerce will help to save cost and time for the common man. And our association will be proved as a mile-stone in the beginning of new era of technology.”

  • Rajiv Gandhi award to Shahid Kapoor

    MUMBAI: The 12th Rajiv Gandhi Awards in the Best Actor category will be presented to Shahid Kapoor.
    Said Kapoor, “I could‘t believe my ears when I got the news about me being chosen for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi award. I think it‘s early in my career of getting this prestigious award. I am indeed humbled and honoured to have been chosen for the award.”

    The earlier recipients for this award have been Sunita Williams, Sachin Tendulkar, Mukesh Ambani and Amitabh Bachchan among others.

    The award function will be held in the second week of August.