ITV

Category: Movies

  • Michael Moore documentary set for October release

    In a press release Moore said that his latest feature will explore the impact that corporate dominance and out-of-control profit motives have on the lives of Americans and citizens of the world. “It will be the perfect date movie,” said Moore.


    “It‘s got it all-lust, passion, romance, and 14,000 jobs being eliminated every day. It‘s a forbidden love, one that dare not speak its name. Heck, let‘s just say it: It‘s Capitalism.”


    Moore‘s last release was Slacker Uprising, which followed Sicko, about the health-care system in the US; Fahrenheit 9/11, about the Bush administration; and Bowling for Columbine, for which he won an Academy Award.

  • French Senate adopts revised piracy bill

    MUMBAI: The French Senate has adopted a revised version of the country‘s controversial anti-piracy law, after a provision in the original edition was struck down for being unconstitutional.

    Last month, the Constitutional Council nixed the provision in the Creation and Internet bill that enabled a new state agency, HADOPI to cut off the web access of anyone who, after two warnings, continued to download illegal content.


    France‘s highest legal body ruled that only a judge could bar an individual‘s access to the Internet.


    The revamped version of the bill that passed today now puts the fate of three-time offenders in the hands of a judge. The judge can levy a fine of up 300,000 euros or a two-year jail sentence.


  • Josh Lucas in ‘In Death In Love’

    MUMBAI: After playing a creepy, violent con man who mistreats women in his new film, Josh Lucas wants to find a much “lighter tone in his love life”.

    In Death In Love, the actor plays a sick misogynist who treats women terribly, but he insists the dark role gave him fresh perspective when it comes to his romance with actress Rachel McAdams.


    “It made me want a different kind of love in my life, that‘s for sure. It made me absolutely not want to ever feel this level of pain that I was willing to do to myself and other people for the character. It made me want to stay away from the kind of relationship where you‘re in a cycle of destruction with each other,” he says.

  • K Sera Sera’s new management floats two subsidiaries

    MUMBAI: The promoters of K Sera Sera have exited, giving way to a new management in the film production company. The GDR holders have 57.90 per cent stake in the company, while 41.32 per cent is with the public.

    In March 2008, the promoters held 17.05 per cent stake. This has further dropped to a negligible 0.78 per cent, according to data provided by the company till 31 March 2009.


    The new management has floated two subsidiaries in India, K Sera Sera Box Office Pvt. Ltd and K Sera Sera Technologies Pvt Ltd. The film distribution and small-to-medium budget movies will be channelised through K Sera Sera Box Office, says a source in the company.


    K Sera Sera Technologies, on the other hand, will be producing animation movies and getting into graphics.


    K Sera Sera Productions Ltd, the listed entity, will engage in big budget movies. The company has announced a slate of ten films in its production pipeline for the year 2009-10 for which it has reportedly given advances of Rs 200 million to leading artists and directors.


    K Sera Sera Productions had earlier reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 606.35 million for the fiscal year ended March 31 2009, up 53 per cent from Rs 399 million a year ago.


    Total income jumped eight per cent to Rs 1.89 billion, from Rs 1.73 billion in FY‘08.

  • Moser Baer’s ‘Sankat City’ in theatres on 10 July

    MUMBAI: Moser Baer Entertainment is set to release its home production Sankat City on 10 July.

    Produced by Moser Baer in association with Seven Entertainment, the film has been directed by Pankaj Advani. The star cast of the film includes Kay Kay, Anupam Kher, Rimmi Sen, Chunky Pandey, Rahul Dev, Dilip Prabhavalkar and Yashpal Shama.


    Commenting on the new release, Moser Baer Entertainment CEO Harish Dayani, “Moser Baer Entertainment‘s aim is to make quality and popular content available to Indian consumers and this film is an attempt in that direction. With acting talent like Kay Kay, Rimi Sen, Anupam Kher and Chunkey Pandey and with the directorial capabilities of young Pankaj, we are confident the film will entertain all viewers.”


    Sankat City is Moser Baer‘s second Hindi production after Shaurya that was released last year. The company has also produced three Tamil films so far. These are Raman Thediya Seethai, Poo and Abhiyum Nanum.

  • Excel Home Video releases ‘Ice Age’ on DVD

    MUMBAI: Excel Home Video has released Ice Age 1 and Ice Age: The Meltdown on DVD.

    Priced at Rs 299 each, the DVDs also feature ‘making of the movie‘, ‘trailers‘, ‘character galleries‘, ‘deleted scenes‘ and ‘Gone Nutty: Scrat‘s Missing Adventure‘.


    Ice Age 1 traces 20 thousand years back wherein at the dawn of the ice age three completely mismatched creatures come together by a twist of fate. The animated movie is directed by Carlos Saldanha and Chris Wedge.


    Meanwhile, the second part Ice Age: The Meltdown, also directed by Carlos Saldanha, shows the animated characters trying to escape the valley to avoid a flood of trouble.

  • ‘The Hangover’ crosses $200 mn mark at US box office

    MUMBAI: Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures‘ comedy The Hangover has crossed the $200 million mark in the US.

    The film made a little over $11 million over the 4 July holiday weekend, bringing its current box office total to $205 million and still climbing. It is the fastest an R-rated comedy has hit $200 million at the US box office, having surpassed the number on 4 July, its 30th day in theatres.


    In only its first month of release, The Hangover has already become the third highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time.


    Warner Bros. Pictures president domestic distribution Dan Fellman said, “This is extraordinary for an R-rated comedy. We are thrilled by the response of audiences, who have kept ‘The Hangover‘ at or near the top of the box office through both strong word-of-mouth and repeat business. People are still flocking to catch The Hangover and we expect it to continue throughout the summer.”


    Warner Bros. Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov stated, “From its opening weekend, The Hangover has caught fire with moviegoers, who have made it a surprise summer blockbuster



    . We believed we had a hit on our hands when we saw it, but the response has been overwhelming. Congratulations to Todd Phillips, who has once again proven his ability to make audiences laugh and keep them coming back for more.”



    Legendary Pictures‘ Thomas Tull, who served as an executive producer on the film, says, “We are delighted with the success of The Hangover for all involved, especially our partners at Warner Bros., who have done a spectacular job on the film. We congratulate and thank our hilarious cast and the incredibly talented Todd Phillips, whose singular comedic vision is the reason the movie works so perfectly.”

  • Vishesh Films’ ‘Jashnn – The Music Within’ due 17 July

    MUMBAI: After giving the first hit of 2009 in the form of Raaz The Mystery Continues, Vishesh Films is ready with its next movie Jashnn – The Music Within.
    Produced by Mukesh Bhatt and directed by Hasnain S Hyderabadwala and Raksha Mistry, Jashnn will release on 17 July.
    Jashnn is the gripping tale of one‘s self discovery in the harshest winter of his life. On every street, in every home somewhere in India, there is a nobody who wants to be a somebody. Jashnn is the story of one such nobody – Akash Verma (Adyayan Suman), a 22-year-old Indian lad who thirsts to become a singing icon who can blaze a trail for himself among the galaxy of existing stars.
    But though he has dreams in his heart, he has not been able to find that distinctive voice that he can call his own, that will propel him to the top.
    The film stars Adhyayan Suman, Anjana Sukhani, Shahana Goswami and a renowned Pakistani actor, Humayun Saeed, in key roles. The film‘s screenplay is by Shagufta Rafique.

    Based on true events the story is an emotional drama that transformed the city of Los Angeles.


    The release of Changeling will also be promoted on Radio Mirchi. The radio partner will promote the home video launch via RJ mentions and contests.


    At the retail front, exclusive offers have also been planned for women shoppers.


    BIG Music & Home Entertainment CEO Kulmeet Makkar says, “We are very pleased to bring this dramatic and emotional film which is based on a true story. I am sure the Indian audiences and critics will agree that one cannot miss this excellent movie.”

  • Hope Davis replaces Julianne Moore to play Hillary Clinton

    MUMBAI: Julianne Moore, originally slated to play Hillary Clinton has pulled out because of a scheduling conflict. Hope Davis will now play the former First Lady and current Secretary of State.

    The film that chronicles the unique and sometimes turbulent political relationship between newly installed British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, is slated to begin production on 20 July in London.


    Dennis Quaid will play President Clinton while Michael Sheen will be seen as Prime Minister Blair with Helen McCrory enacting the role of Cherie Blair.


    Oscar-nominated scribe Peter Morgan, who wrote the film had planned to make Special Relationship his directorial debut but pulled out from helming the same with Richard Loncraine stepping in to direct.


    Morgan is executive producing with Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Andy Harries and Christine Langan.


    For Moore, the scheduling conflict arose from her commitment to the feature The Kids Are All Right.


    Davis, who co-starred on HBO‘s In Treatment the last season is currently on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning play God of Carnage for which she received a Tony nomination.

  • Anthony Zuiker signs new two-year deal with CBS

    MUMBAI: CSI mastermind Anthony Zuiker has signed a two-year deal with CBS Studios.

    He will remain as an executive producer of the three “CSI” series, but the focus under the new deal will be on developing new projects — primarily scripted and reality TV as well as publishing and cross-platform storytelling — through his production company Dare to Pass.


    Zuiker came up with the name for the shingle after ABC famously passed on the Touchstone TV-developed CSI which ended up at CBS.


    “If you pass on a project it may end up somewhere else,” Zuiker said. “I‘m daring them to pass.”


    Weinberg, most recently a partner atmanagement/ production company Guy Walks Into a Bar, was the last person Zuiker interviewed for the job, but the two go back 10 years, before Zuiker became an overnight success with his first TV pilot script, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.


    At the time, Weinberg worked with Zuiker‘s longtime manager Margaret Riley and helped him with a feature script on which he was working. “I remember (Weinberg) brought out the best of me in writing the story,” Zuiker said.


    Besides his relationship with CBS, Zuiker has been working on Level 26: Dark Origins, a multimedia “digi-novel” that Zuiker described as “an edgy version of CSI. Slated to be published by Dutton on Sept. 8, it‘s a book supplemented with three-minute “bridge” videos — on which Zuiker made his directorial debut — featuring characters from the novel.