ITV

Category: Movies

  • Nimrod Antal chases down ‘Predators’

    MUMBAI: Nimrod Antal, the director of the horror film Vacancy has been hired to direct Predators for Fox and producer Robert Rodriguez.

    Alex Litvak and Michael Finch have written the script, which the studio is hoping will revive the alien-hunter franchise in a solo outing for the first time since 1990.


    The dreadlocked menace, who first appeared in a Central American jungle stalking Arnold Schwarzenegger and friends in 1987, has had two solo features and a pair of matchups with the double-jawed badasses of the “Alien” franchise.


    In this version, a group of humans will find themselves stranded on a planet home to Predators and must survive the horrors they encounter. James Cameron pulled a similar move with his advancement of the Alien franchise in his Aliens.


    The new iteration, which Rodriguez (Planet Terror) has been hoping to make since 1994, when he was hired to write a screenplay for a second sequel, is scheduled for a 7 July, 2010 release.

  • Fame launches new property in Mumbai

    MUMBAI: Multiplex chain operator Fame Cinema has opened its new property in Kalyan, Mumbai.

    With this launch, Fame takes its all-India tally to 22 properties. The 5-screen multiplex has a total seating capacity of 46.


    Says Fame Cinemas Managing Director Shravan Shroff, “Kalyan is a very important market for us and we have been able to come up with one of our finest properties in Mumbai yet, for the patrons of this suburb.”


    With this property, Fame now has 10 cinemas in Mumbai with a total of 36 screens and 10,381 seats. In the all-India market, Fame has 79 screens with a seating capacity of 22,777 seats.

  • Cinemax launches new multiplex in Ahmedabad

    MUMBAI: Multiplex chain operator Cinemax has launched its new property in Ahmedabad, taking its tally up to four in Gujarat.

    The four-screen multiplex will be open to the audiences with movies like New York, Kambakkht Ishq, Ice Age 3 and Terminator Salvation, Cinemax said in a statement.


    The multiplex has a seating capacity of 987.


    With this new addition, Cinemax now has a total of 24 theatre properties, 74 screens and 20,320 seats across India.


    Cinemax India had earlier revealed its plans to invest between Rs 800 million to Rs 1 billion to roll out 50 screens in the current fiscal.
    The company‘s ambitious three-year plan is to add 300 screens over a period of three years, up from its current 74 screens across 25 properties.

  • Now, Actor Prepares in Ahmedabad

    MUMBAI: After having opened chapters in Chandigarh and London, Anupam Kher‘s acting school Actor Prepares is all set to launch in Ahmedabad on 20 July. The 2.5 acre campus has a swimming pool, a state -of -the-art gymnasium and a horse-riding school.

    “This phase of vigorous expansion reflects the high level of interest in Indian cinema and the entertainment business among the younger generation the world over,” says Kher, whose career spans a quarter century encompassing almost 400 films, adding, “I believe that acting, like any craft, can be taught, learnt and perfected in.”


    The popularity of his three-month full-time Actor Prepares programme is reflected in the fact that in Mumbai, it is running house full for the past one year and the rejection rate is almost 1:1.


    Scores of its alumni including Deepika Padukone have bagged roles in major Hindi and South Indian films.

  • K Sera Sera FY’09 net up 53% to Rs 606 million

    MUMBAI: K Sera Sera Productions Ltd. has 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 has jumped eight per cent to Rs 1.89 billion, from Rs 1.73 billion in FY‘08.


    Expenditure stands at Rs 1.56 billion, compared to Rs 1.2 billion a year ago, as cost of operations grew from Rs 1.11 billion to Rs 1.4 billion in FY‘09.


    The company has announced 10 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.

  • Universal wins bid to film ‘Asteroids’

    MUMBAI: Universal has won a four-studio bidding war to pick up the film rights to the classic Atari video game Asteroids. Matthew Lopez will write the script for the feature adaptation, which will be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

    In Asteroids initially released as an arcade game in 1979, a player controlled a triangular space ship in an asteroid field. The object was to shoot and destroy the hulking masses of rock and the occasional flying saucer while avoiding smashing into both.


    As opposed to today‘s games, there is no story line or fancy world-building mythology, so the studio would be creating a plot from scratch. Universal, however, is used to that development process, as it‘s in the middle of doing just that for several of the Hasbro board game properties it is translating to the big screen, such as Battleship and Candyland.

  • History teams up with Aniboom for animation contest

    MUMBAI: History is launching an animation contest for its People Speak project; the winner gets a development deal.

    The network will team with online animation community Aniboom, challenging animators to create interpretations of 10 readings and musical performances in History‘s upcoming film The People Speak.


    Animators will attempt to bring to life readings by such actors as Matt Damon, Sandra Oh, Josh Brolin and Morgan Freeman, who are giving voice to the experiences of Americans who have changed the course of history.


    The competition will be in two stages, beginning with a call for entries starting July 15 based on 10 celebrity recordings in the film. Five finalists will be granted a chance to further develop their entries and might have their work featured on History. The grand-prize winner will receive additional on-air promotion, a cash prize and a development deal with the network.


    History has dabbled in animation before, but the Aniboom project represents a potential for a notable increase in the use of the medium to bring historical events to life.

  • Academy winner Karl Malden dies at 97

    MUMBAI: Academy Award and Emmy-winner Karl Malden expired at the age of 97 on Wednesday.

    Malden‘s family informed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences of his death. Malden served as the Academy‘s president from 1989-92.


    Malden won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role as Mitch in A Street Car Named Desire, but he may have been best known for uttering the famous tagline for the American Express card: “Don‘t leave home without it.”


    He made his screen debut in the 1940 film They Knew What They Wanted and starred as Detective Mike Stone in the 1970s TV series The Streets of San Francisco with Michael Douglas.

  • PRO.BG to showcase Warner Bros. stuff in Bulgaria

    MUMBAI: As per the multi-year output deal announced today, Central European Media Enterprises‘ (CME) PRO.BG will become the new Bulgarian home for TV series, feature films and animated series from Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD that includes the hit shows Fringe and The Mentalist.

    The Bulgarian broadcaster has already made good amount of investment in its content slate, picking up the rights to key sporting events such as UEFA‘s Champions League and Europa League, as well as the local Bulgarian A league.


    With the WBITD deal, effective this month, the channel scores the rights to J.J. Abrams‘ Fringe, CBS‘s hit drama The Mentalist, Jerry Bruckheimer‘s new show Dark Blue and John Wells‘ latest NBC show, Southland. On the movie


    front, PRO.BG will be able to air The Last Samurai, Ocean‘s Eleven, Training Day and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, among others.

    “After six months of very competitive negotiation, we are extremely glad to have landed the most important and biggest deal on our market,” said Liliana Slavova, the program director at the channel.


    “PRO.BG is going to air more than 900 hours of programming per year from Warner Bros. The latest hit films and TV series from Warner Bros. will be available soon for Bulgarian viewers, only on PRO.BG, and our viewers will be happy to learn that we have acquired the rights to the series involved “for life,” meaning that whenever a new season of a particular program has been made, in Bulgaria it will be aired on PRO.BG, she added.”


    “This deal positions PRO.BG to become the Bulgarian home for our highly sought-after Warner Bros. programming, and is a great fit for the channel‘s audience,” said Warner Bros. International Television president Jeffrey R. Schlesinger.

  • Bhandarkar’s ‘Fashion’ first Hindi film at MIFF

    MUMBAI: Madhur Bhandarkar has added one more feather to his cap as his film Fashion became the first ever Bollywood film to be showcased at Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF).

    The festival, conducted to promote cultural exchanges and mutual understanding among nations and to develop further co-operation among filmmakers of the world, was being held in Moscow in the period of 19 to 28 June.


    The MIFF, recognised by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), is in its 31st year and is held under support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.


    Bhandarkar‘s Fashion was, in fact, chosen to inaugurate the Indian section of the festival yet proving him to be India‘s most applauded and outstanding filmmaker.


    On 20 June, Fashion was screened at the October Multiplex, Moscow and received a standing ovation from the Russian audience which was followed the next day by the lunch hosted by the Indian Ambassador to Russia Prabhat Prakash Shukla in Moscow, which was also attended by the veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal.


    Madhur Bhandarkar was also present at the Gala-Opening of the Festival de Festivals held in St.Petersburg where again his film was screened on 26 June.