ITV

Category: Movies

  • George Gallo to direct co-script writer Kevin Pollak

    MUMBAI: George Gallo, the writer behind action comedies such as Bad Boys and Midnight Run, will direct the indie thriller from a script he co-wrote with Kevin Pollak, who has also a role in the film as well.

    Selma Blair, Amy Smart, Jason Lee and Giovanni Ribisi also star in Circle. Oxymoron Entertainment‘s Christopher Mallick and Blue Star Entertainment‘s William Sherak and Jason Shuman, who exec produced Universal‘s comedy breakout Role Models will produce.


    Circle centers on a reclusive heiress (Blair) in an upscale Manhattan apartment building who is brought face-to-face with her fears when a detective (Ribisi) shows up to investigate a homicide next door and a new couple (Smart and Lee) moves in to that apartment. Pollak plays the building‘s concierge and one of the heiress‘ few friends. Jason Antoon has also been cast in the film.


    Shooting starts later this month in Los Angeles.

  • CFTPA contract approved by Canadian artistes


    MUMBAI: Members of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artistes (ACTRA) have ratified the new independent production agreement with the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) and the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec (APFTQ) by a margin of 98.3 per cent.


    The deal, which the union approved at the beginning of May, gives performers a rate increase of 2 per cent each year for three years. All other terms of the agreement remain remain unchanged.


    “This vote of confidence from our membership demonstrates our union‘s strength and solidarity,” said Ferne Downey, the president of ACTRA. “With this ratified agreement in place, we can focus our efforts on strengthening our industry and creating more work opportunities for performers.”


    The agreement covers the engagement of performers on all film, television and new media production in Canada, except for British Columbia. It takes effect on 1 January 2010 and expires 31 December 2012.

  • Comedian Owen to star in ‘Payne’

    MUMBAI: Comedian Gary Owen has inked a holding deal with Tyler Perry‘s company to star in a possible spinoff of Perry‘s hit sitcom House of Payne.

    On Payne, Owen enacts Zach, one of the barbers in the barbershop featured in the series, which airs in syndication and on TBS.


    Owen‘s stint on the film stems from a chance meeting with Perry last year on radio‘s The Tom Joyner Morning Show.


    In addition to the pact with Perry, Owen recently teamed with Martin Lawrence for a single-camera interracial family show based on Owen‘s comedy. That project has been set up at Starz.


    Owen, the only white man to host BET‘s “ComicView,” has appeared in such films as Daddy Day Care and Little Man.

  • ‘Princess’ draws 8.5 mn. viewers on TV premiere

    MUMBAI: Disney Channel, last Friday night, delivered the year‘s most-watched scripted programme on cable, drawing 8.5 million viewers with the premiere of its original movie Princess Protection Program.

    Starring Mouse contract players and real-life BFFs Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place) and Demi Lovato (Sonny With A Chance), Princess put up huge demo numbers averaging 3.1 million kids 6-11 and 3.2 million teens between 9-14.


    The film stars Lovato as a princess who is dethroned when a dictator seizes control of her country. She is subsequently taken in by the family of Gomez, who plays a tomboy.


    Princess now stands as the third-most-watched original movie in the Disney franchise, trailing only the June 22, 2008, premiere of “Camp Rock” (8.86 million viewers) and the August 2007 debut of “High School Musical 2″ (17.2 million viewers).


    Princess is Disney Channel‘s 76th original film.

  • ‘Transformers’ primes exhibitor stocks

    MUMBAI: Since Paramount‘s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen debuted last Wednesday, stock in companies that benefit from hefty traffic at movie theaters has outpaced broader markets by a crushing margin.

    The three big publicly traded U.S. theatre chains — Carmike, Regal and Cinemark — have seen their shares climb 10%, 7% and 6%, respectively, since Wednesday, while the Dow Jones index is up 2.5% during the same frame. Additionally, shares of in-theater advertising company National CineMedia have climbed 9%.


    Shares of Paramount parent Viacom have risen 6% since Transformers opened, closing 4% higher Monday at $24.71. Viacom was the largest gainer Monday among media conglomerates.


    The biggest beneficiary of the success of Transformers – in terms of rising stock, at least — might be Imax, shares of which have rocketed 19% since Wednesday.


    That is ironic considering that some Imax shareholders seemed to be selling off the stock this month upon learning the company was obligated to show Transformers through most of July, meaning it would cut into the time Imax could show Warner Bros.‘ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

  • BET Awards honour Michael Jackson

    MUMBAI

    : The BET Awards honoured Michael Jackson on last Sunday, a day after the King of Pop‘s family sought a second autopsy for more answers.Dressed in the singer‘s trademark red leather jacket and sequined glove, host Jamie Foxx sang and danced to Beat It during the opening of the ninth annual Black Entertainment Television awards show in Los Angeles, which was extended by 30 minutes to accommodate various Jackson tributes.

    Jackson‘s father Joe was also in the audience. Earlier on the red carpet, he told CNN that it has been really tough for his family, thanked fans in a prepared statement read by his publicist, and said he had concerns about the doctor who was with his son when he died.

  • Transformers to release in 3 local languages in India on 10 June


    MUMBAI: Having set box-office records across the globe, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is set for a wide release in India on 10 July.
    The movie will release in three Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. “We will be releasing the film in English and in three local languages in India. We will release with a total of 200 prints all over the country. Besides multiplexes, we will also release the film in single-screen theatres,” says Paramount Pictures marketing head Jacinto Fernandes.


    The film that has Shia LaBeouf in the lead opened across the world, setting the fourth highest all-time international weekend gross. It grabbed the number one spot in the UK with a five-day gross of $10.2million from 505 locations. It also had the biggest of 58 openings in China where the film recorded all-time highest opening gross for an English language film with a weekend total of $21.9mn from 1,009 locations.


    Transfomers also set a new all-time highest opening in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Elsewhere, there were huge openings in Korea, Australia and Russia with the film out-performing the first edition by 41, 80 and 69 per cent respectively.


    Meanwhile the IMAX edition, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: The IMAX Experience, directed by Michael Bay and featuring scenes filmed with IMAX(R) cameras, posted strong opening results too.


    The film raked in an estimated $14.4 million coming from 169 IMAX(R) theatres in the USA for a per-screen average of over $85,000 during the five-day opening from 24 June to 28 June.


    The film has already set records for the biggest IMAX opening in international markets including China, Australia and France. The film‘s worldwide IMAX total has reached $18.3 million till the last weekend.

  • The Curios Case of Benjamin Button now on home video

     NEW DELHI: Big Video released a two-disc DVD and two-disc Blu-ray of The Curios Case of Benjamin Button on 27 June.

    The Blu-ray disc is priced at Rs 1499 while the DVD is available in two different packaging options: the premium Steel-book at Rs 799 and the standard at Rs 599. The film is also available on VCD at Rs 299.


    Directed by David Fincher and set in Baltimore, the film is a tale of a not-so-ordinary man and the people and places he discovers along the way, the loves he finds, the joys and romance of life and what lasts beyond time. The film is an exhilarating adventure that takes viewers on a breathtaking journey filled with romance and redemption.


    Called “a monumental achievement” that ‘must be experienced‘, the film stars Academy Award nominee Brad Pitt pitted against another Academy Award winner, Cate Blanchett. The Curios Case Of Benjamin Button also stars Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson, Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton and Julia Ormond.


    The two-disc DVD and two-disc Blu-ray boast of over three hours of special features including interviews with stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett with behind-the-scenes footage of their on-screen transformations, an in-depth documentary revealing the unusual journey of the film itself including the secrets of its award-winning visual effects and an exploration of the groundbreaking computer wizardry that brought the magical world of Benjamin Button to life.


    Says Big Music & Home Entertainment CEO Kulmeet Makkar, “This epic masterpiece is a grand experience as one traces a time-traveler‘s journey into the joys of life, the sadness of death and a love that endures beyond time. It‘s a film one just cannot afford to miss!”

  • FFI to organise its own international film fest at Indore

    NEW DELHI: For the first time since its establishment, the film industry’s recognized apex umbrella organization Film Federation of India (FFI) is organising an international film festival in Indore.

    The FFI, which has always collaborated with the Directorate of Film Festivals of the Union Government in the organisation pf the International Film Festival of India, is holding its own festival in association with the State Government of Madhya Pradesh between 9-16 October.



    The 7-day extravaganza will have a collage of sections such as World Cinema, Country of Focus, Documentary, Retrospective (Foreign Film Personality), Tribute (Indian Film Personality) and many other interesting sections.


    Germany will be the Country of Focus in this first festival, it is expected that the festival will showcase the best in recent German cinema.



    Madhya Pradesh is not only providing financial assistance and co-operation, but also pumping their administrative machinery to ensure that the best possible infrastructural facilities are made available to the festival authorities. Efforts are being made to bring high profile Artists/Producers to the festival.



    The MP Government is promoting the conclave as a high profile event on its agenda and endeavouring to develop the entertainment brand value of Indore in general and MP in particular.



    Film industry sources said if the experiment succeeds, this festival is expected to become an annual but a roving event, just as IFFI used to be in its early years.

  • Foxx leads Jackson salute at BET event

    MUMBAI

    : The BET awards kicked off on Sunday night with a musical
    tribute to Michael Jackson in which host Jamie Foxx did Jackson‘s famous moonwalk and sung his hit song Beat It in a classic King of Pop attire – red leather jacket and one white glove.

    Oscar-winning actor and singer Foxx told the packed house in Los Angeles‘ Shrine Auditorium that the awards programme would honour Jackson.


    “I‘m going to moonwalk tonight — going to moonwalk from here, all the way to there, for Michael,” Foxx said. He then performed the backwards shuffle dance step that Jackson made famous.


    The awards given annually by the BET television network honour the best African American singers, actors, actresses and athletes. This year‘s show was revamped at the last minute due to Jackson‘s death in which many performers and winners dedicated their awards to Jackson and his family.


    Said, Michaeal‘s father Joe Jackson that there were still “a lot of concerns about what happened” in the final hours of my son‘s life.”


    The BET Awards were established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports, and other fields of entertainment. The awards are presented annually and broadcast live on BET.