Category: Movies

MUMBAI

: Ross Pollack has decided to quit Sony Pictures Television‘s (SPT) Asian distribution operations to assume the post of CEO of Celestial Pictures. Pollack fills a position that has been empty since the departure of William Pfeiffer more than a year ago.

Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures operates three Asian movies channels and an infotainment service, produces and acquires feature film and TV content and owns the acclaimed Shaw Brothers catalogue. Formerly senior VP of distribution for Asia at SPT, Pollack will focus on developing and implementing strategies that will create additional value for the Shaw Brothers film library and channel bouquet. He will also focus on the production and acquisition of new Chinese content for distribution on parent company Astro‘s platforms and into global markets.

His successor at SPT is Angel Orengo, who is relocating to Hong Kong from Miami, where he is currently SPT‘s senior VP of distribution for Latin America and the Caribbean. Reporting to Keith Le Goy, SPT‘s international distribution president, Orengo will oversee the distribution of the studio‘s catalogue across Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

MUMBAI: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the latest adventure of the teen wizard, has raked in $22.2 million in the US from midnight screenings, distributor Warner Brothers declared.

The sixth instalment in the Harry Potter franchise also topped this year‘s biggest hit Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which pulled in $16 million from midnight screenings on 24 June, its first day of release.

Incidentally, the latest Harry Potter film raked in $10 million more from midnight screenings than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix did in 2007.

The two-year lag, since Order of the Phoenix, was the longest that fans have had to wait for a new Harry Potter film since the first film was released in 2001.

Warner had originally planned to release Half-Blood Prince last November but delayed the release to 2009 in order to take advantage of an open weekend in Hollywood‘s busy summer schedule.

The new movie has Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) trying to unravel a hidden memory from one of his teachers who holds key information about the wizard world‘s darkest enemy, Lord Voldemort.

MUMBAI: Jeff Wadlow and Summit Entertainment remain in business together, but they‘ve chosen a different project. Wadlow has been signed to direct Arena, a sci-fi action film.

Wadlow, who helmed the 2008 release Never Back Down for the studio, had been working on the prison-escape action project The Tomb for Summit but when the project got stalled, Summit moved him to Arena.

The film revolves around a group of modern-day soldiers transported to a shifting landscape, where they are forced to face off against the best warriors from different eras in gladitorial battle.

The film is being produced by Chris Bender and J.C. Spink of BenderSpink and Jim Thompson of Original Content along with Alex Franklin and Jonah Loop of Pangea Pictures.

Summit recently released Twilight, Push, Knowing and Next Day Air. It‘s horror film Pandorum is expected to hit theatres in September.

MUMBAI: The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced the contenders for the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards. With 99, HBO has once again, has scored most nominations.

NBC followed with 67 nominations while ABC had 55, CBS 49 and FOX had 42.

In the cable space, HBO was well ahead of its closest competitor, Showtime which picked up 29 nods with AMC not far behind with 23.

HBO‘s Big Love received its first nomination in the category for outstanding drama series, where it will compete with AMC‘s Breaking Bad, FX‘s Damages, Showtime‘s Dexter, FOX‘s House, ABC‘s Lost and last year‘s winner, AMC‘s Mad Men which secured a total of 16 nominations this year, more than any other drama.

On the performance side, Jon Hamm (Mad Men) is up against Hugh Laurie of House, Michael C. Hall for Dexter, Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad, Gabriel Byrne for HBO‘s In Treatment and Simon Baker of CBS‘s The Mentalist.

Lead actresses who have been nominated are Glenn Close for Damages, Sally Field for ABC‘s Brothers & Sisters, Mariska Hargitay of NBC‘s Law & Order: SVU, Holly Hunter of TNT‘s Saving Grace, Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men and Kyra Sedgwick for TNT‘s The Closer.

With a total of 17 nominations, HBO‘s Grey Gardens leads off the category of outstanding made-for-TV movie, along with fellow HBO contenders Into the Storm and Taking Chance, as well as Lifetime‘s Coco Chanel and Prayers for Bobby.

MUMBAI: Bridget Jones is coming back to the big screen. Renee Zellweger will reprise her role as the charmingly befuddled British publishing executive in the third instalment of the franchise, it is reported.

The script will, in all possibilities, be based on author Hele Fielding‘s columns for British paper The Independent about Bridget trying to have a baby and her continuing search for love.

The first two movies, Bridget Jones‘s Diary in 2001 and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason in 2004, were based on Fielding‘s best-selling books of the same titles.

The film will be produced by Working Title and is expected to go on the floors by the end of next year.

MUMBAI: Sarah Carter has joined CBS‘ crime drama CSI: NY. She will play a twenty plus forensic school graduate with aspirations to be a CSI who works as a crime scene clean up technician and has a secret up her sleeve.

The stint reunites Carter with CBS, the network, which aired Shark for two seasons.

On the legal drama, Carter played an young attorney assigned to the team of hot-shot lawyer-turned prosecutor Sebastian Stark (James Woods).