Category: Movies

MUMBAI

: Multiplexes have taken a Rs 1.42 billion hit since producers have choked supply of their new Hindi movies from 4 April, according to Indiantelevision.com estimates.

The hole in the pockets of plex owners has grown bigger as average occupancy rates have dipped to 11 per cent. For the first 15 days of the blackout phase, the average occupancy was 15 per cent.

Among the national chain multiplex operators, Reliance ADAG‘s Big Cinemas has been cushioned somewhat with its wide presence in the southern region where the row has not erupted yet. The company‘s south Indian spread amounts to 23 per cent of its total base of 201 screens, with properties sprinkled across Mangalore, Pondicherry, Tenali, Thanjavore, Vellore, Madurai, Salem, Warangal, Sivakasi,.Belgaum, Coimbatore and Hyderabad.

“No other national cinema chain in the country can boast of having such eclectic presence in the south. The southern markets have been performing handsomely with people relishing local content. With a large presence in the south, we have managed to counter losses faced elsewhere in the country,” says Big Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra.

In the other prominent multiplex chains like Inox, PVR, Fun, Fame and Cinemax, the number of screens are strongly skewed towards the northern and western parts of the country. These chains have, thus, not been able to capitalise on the boom in the southern markets.

“The absence of Hindi movies has only upped the occupancy rates for regional movies,” says Dhingra.

PVR‘s properties in Bangalore and Hyderabad contribute to 14 of their 108 screens in the country. While PVR in Hyderabad is flush with Telugu movies

, PVR Bangalore is riding on an entire mix: movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and English. However its number of screens in the south stands at only about 13 per cent of its total screens.

Inox‘s presence in the south, too, comprises properties only in Bangalore and Chennai and account for only about 10 per cent of their total number of screens. Fun Cinemas also has a thin presence in the south with properties in Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Fame‘s southern presence consists of one property in Bangalore while Cinemax is yet to open its account in the south.

“Multiplexes are under pressure to source alternate content and the lineup of aging Hollywood movies and regional and Hindi releases from lesser known producers haven‘t worked to bring in audiences,” says a film producer on condition of anonymity.

MUMBAI: 13B- Fear Has A New Address, a Big Pictures production, has been officially selected to be screened at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival.

The festival will commence from 13 June and will be featured in the International Panorama section.

Says director Vikram K Kumar, “I am happy that 13B is being showcased at Shanghai International Film Festival, a prominent Asian film festival. 13B is receiving commercial and critical acclaim and I am happy for everyone involved with the film.”

‘13B- Fear Has A New Address‘ stars R Madhavan, Neetu Chandra, Sachin Khedekar, Murali Sharma and Poonam Dhillon and was released in India on 6 March. The Tamil version of 13B is named Yaavarum Nalam.

MUMBAI: Pan Asian broadcaster Star has announced its first ever Blu-ray licensing deal with Hong Kong based distributor Kam and Ronson Enterprise. Star owns Fortune Star, which is its Chinese film and television library.

The deal covers Hong Kong and Macau but the Blu-ray discs will also reach Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand through third party distributors. It marks the first time a Bruce Lee title has been released in the high definition Blu-ray format. Four Bruce Lee titles The Big Boss, The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon and Fist of Fury, have been licensed and will be available to consumers in June.

The other titles to be distributed by Kam and Ronson Enterprise on Blu-ray include Jackie Chan‘s Police Story 1, 2 and 3 as well as Jet Li‘s Once Upon a Time 1,2 and 3.

Star VP programme syndication and distribution Yvonne Chuang says, “The Blu-ray format, with its enhanced video and audio features, is something movie fans from across the world have held in high esteem, particularly with premium and cult titles such as the ones included in this deal. We look forward to working with Kam and Ronson as well as distributors throughout the world to give viewers everywhere an opportunity to see these incredible titles like never before.”

MUMBAI: Just Married, a Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) production, has been selected for screening at the Salento International Film Festival this year.

To be held in Italy, the festival will commence from 4 September and run till 13 September.

“The official selection of the film for screening at the festival reaffirms our commitment to the new kind of cinema that is changing Bollywood and is making it a global force to recon with,” says PNC chairman Pritish Nandy.

The festival screens international features, shorts films

and documentaries.

MUMBAI: Director Ramya has roped in model Priyanka Shah for his next Tamil venture Kallakadhalan.

Produced by Storm Pictures, the film will mark the acting debut of Priyanka Shah opposite Kannada actor Vishal Hegde.

Kallakadhalan is loosely based on the ‘Agaligai‘ chapter that comes at the beginning of the epic ‘Ramayana‘. In the mythological ‘Ramayana‘, Agaligai was the wife of Saint Gauthamar who held her chastity close to her heart and didn‘t even look up and meet others‘ eyes, lest her eyes might rest on some other male other than her husband.

The film is scheduled to go on floors in early July.

Get Gorgeous ramp girl Priyanka Shah is making her debut as heroine opposite Sibiraj and Kannada actor Vishal Hegde in Kalla Kadhalan, produced by Gaurav Sharma and directed by Ramya. The tall and pretty Priyanka is a Pantaloons Femina Miss India Tourism 2007 winner, Channel V‘s GetGorgeous winner, Miss India International winner, Zoom Levis divawinner, celebrity PETA activist and the Indian captain of ladies netball team.

Priyanka Shah, a stunning-looking Ex-Miss India, has been cast opposite Sibiraj. Director Ramya, originally called Suresh, has written the story and screenplay for the Vijaykanth – Suriya starrer ‘Periyanna‘, and returns to Tamil after doing a Telugu blockbuster ‘Naga‘. He has made a script adapting the Ramayana for his film, ‘Kalla Kadhalan‘.Ramya said that the film is based loosely on the ‘Agaligai‘ chapter that comes at the beginning of the epic ‘Ramayana‘. In the mythological ‘Ramayana‘, Agaligai was the wife of Saint Gauthamar, who held her chastity close to her heart and didn‘t even look up and meet others‘ eyes, lest her eyes might rest on some other male other than her husband. Indra, leader o the Devas, falls in love with Agaligai and plays a trick, cheats her and manages to breach her chastity. Ramya has made adequate changes in this particular episode to suit today‘s needs and is making ‘Kallakaadhalan‘.

Pretty tall (5 ft 9″)Priyanka, half-Maharashtrian half-Gujarati, is an engineering graduate and is all excited about taking her first baby steps in Tamil cinema. In ‘Kalla Kadhalan‘, Sibiraj plays the role of Indhira, while Miss India Priyanka Shah plays Ahalya. Her husband‘s role is played by a popular Kannada stage and film actor H. Vishal. The film will be a take on women‘s morality.

Priyanka doesn‘t mind showing skin or body if done aesthetically, but is against vulgarity. She will wear a bikini in the film as she is cool about flaunting her body in a bikini was she has the figure to carry it off. She has worn a swimsuit for the various beauty pageants.

The film is produced by Storm Pictures and directed by Ramya. Director Ramya has taken on a portion of the epic to modernize it. The topic in question is morality concerning women, as it is dealt with in the portion involving Ahalya, Indiran and Sage Gauravar in the Baalakandam of Ramayana.

Shooting for the movie will begin in early July.

Priyanka has done an acting course at the famous Kishore Namit Kumar acting school in Mumbai. She has also done several modelling assignments and walked the ramp at international fashion meets before taking the plunge into the industry. PETA recently honoured her for my contribution towards animal welfare.

MUMBAI: A year after Reliance Big Entertainment announced it would flirt with Hollywood filmmakers, the Anil Ambani company has greenlit a slate of 20 projects outside its Spielberg deal.

“We have invested $10-15 million in the past one year in the developmental process of these Hollywood projects. We are now geared up for the next phase,” says a source in Reliance Big Entertainment.

The projects, involving nine Hollywood talents, have been approved and have entered various stages of script development. Reliance will provide a development fund silo for each of the production entities and it may also co-finance projects that emanate from these development deals.

Reliance will fund Nicolas Cage‘s Saturn Films action title Voodoo Child with writer John Collee and Jim Carrey‘s JC 23 Entertainment for the comedy O‘Gunn with writers Ed Cannistraci and Fred Seton.

Besides these, Reliance will also provide seed finance to three projects, to be produced under the Chris Columbus‘ 1492 Pictures banner. These are Things They Left Behind (based on Stephen King short story about 9/11 survivor), The Last Campaign (an adaptation of Thurston Clarke‘s book) and David Dorfman‘s script It‘s A Miserable Life.

Reliance will further fund Brett Ratner‘s Rat Entertainment to develop Youngblood, based on Rob Liefeld‘s iconic graphic novel ‘Infinity‘, with writer John Collee. The company will also develop John Delorean‘s project with James Toback. Meanwhile, Julia Roberts‘ Red Om Films will develop Dan Eldon‘s.

Says Reliance BIG Entertainment chairman Amit Khanna, “It has been a very active and satisfactory first year and we have been delighted by the quality of the individual projects being presented to us for development financing. There are many others in the evaluation/ negotiation stages and I‘m confident of moving into the filmmaking stage on several projects before the end of the year.”

Adding further Khanna says, “These creative partnerships call for Reliance to co-finance production for the US Studios where existing first-look deals are in place. From the conversations to date, we know that the respective studios welcome our development silos and our subsequent co-financing ability. We have broken completely new ground by empowering some of the best talent in Hollywood.”

Part of its long term strategy for media investments in Hollywood to build a fully integrated movie company with substantial holdings in production, distribution and exhibition, Reliance Big Entertainment sees these development deals as the first major building block in the creation of a virtual studio for Hollywood.

The deals also secure Indian rights for the films which Reliance co-finances. Additionally, through these deals, Reliance expects to attract suitable productions with appropriate incentives to India.

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) was instrumental in brokering the deals and is advising Reliance Big Entertainment on its Hollywood strategy.

Meanwhile, Reliance has already stiched a deal with Steven Spielberg to set up a $1.5 billion company that would finance 32 movies over six years.

MUMBAI: In a first of sorts, an animated film had the honour of opening up the Cannes Film Festival. Pixar films‘ Up opened the 62nd Cannes Film Festival yesterday.

A host of celebrities donned 3D glasses for the not-in-competition film that deals about a curmudgeonly man who ties balloons to his house in order to get airborne.

Up producer and Pixar co-founder John Lasseter beamed with delight as he and colleagues mingled with celebrities present on the carpet. “We‘re just a bunch of animation geeks from northern California on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival,” he said.

The 10th feature film from animation powerhouse Pixar was warmly received earlier at its press screening where the closing credits were greeted with a round of applause.

The curtains of the event will be wrung down on 24 May when the Palme d‘Or prize will be announced.

Commenting on the tremendous response to the film, festival director Thierry Fremaux said, ” Perhaps this year we can think about cinema and not the stars and the starlets.”

MUMBAI: Excel Home Videos has released two scifi films like X-Files – I Want To Believe and Babylon AD on DVD. The films based on science fiction and sci-fi action promises to be a treat for lovers of the genre.

Both the DVDs will be available in all leading stores for Rs 399.

Incidentally, The X- Files: I Want To Believe is the second feature film based on Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning American cult television series The X- Files.

The X-Files had become the longest-running science fiction series ever on US broadcast television by its final airing and was rated as one of the greatest cult television show by TV Guide. In 2007, Time magazine included it on a list of the ‘100 best TV shows of all time‘.

Directed by series creator Chris Carter from a story he penned with executive producer Frank Spotnitz, The X-Files: I Want To Believe is a standalone story described as a “skillful thriller” (Roger Ebert; Chicago Sun-Times) that picks up six years after the series ended.

Bonus features included in the DVD are: audio commentary by director Chris Carter and producer Frank Spotnitz, deleted scenes, gag reel, featurettes and ‘Dying to live‘ by Xzibit.

In Babylon AD Vin Diesel is back at his best on a mission to save the future of mankind. Based on the critically-acclaimed French novel Babylon Babies by Maurice.G.Dantec, Babylon AD is directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (of Gothika and Assassins fame) and stars Vin Diesel (of Saving Private Ryan, The Chronicles of Riddick fame) as Toorop, French actress Mélanie Thierry and martial arts star Michelle Yeoh (of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame).

The DVD is loaded with action packed bonus features that include an extended unrated cut, multiple featurettes and picture-in-picture behind-the-scenes footage.

Bonus features found in the DVD are Babylon Babies, Artic Escape, Featurettes, deleted scenes, prequel to Babylon AD and still gallery.

MUMBAI: Dharma Productions faces a $150, 000 lawsuit in the US for not paying local workers and actors hired for the shooting of a Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor starrer in Philadelphia. According to the Philadelphia Daily News website, the Karan Johar-owned production house that tied up with Australia-based Swish Films for the movie shot for a few scenes in Philadelphia last autumn and then left owing money to hundreds of local actors and vendors.

Now, both the companies Dharma Productions and Swish Films have been sued according to documents filed in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia.

The lawsuit seeks in excess of $150,000 to be paid to in unpaid services and expenses for 25 of the vendors.

Those named in the lawsuit include Fishtown bar‘s Johnny Brenda who supposedly owes $972, Mike Lemon Casting $7,971 and Kitchen Sink Fabrications $1,060.

A restraining order has also been placed on both the production houses which forbids them from leaving the USA with any footage that may have already been shot.

MUMBAI: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) has secured Sunday prime-time clearance in almost two third of the US in less than 10 days. The studio had recently announced its prime time Sunday movie package for affiliates of the CW Television network known as ‘MGM Prime-Time Sunday Movie‘.

MGM, which previously programmed UPN‘s Saturday weekend movie, took over the programming of 8-10 pm Sunday night for the CW Television Network last year.

With all of the CW stations taking back Sunday night, MGM is offering an upgraded line up of popular feature films of which the package includes Legally Blonde starring Academy Award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon, Overboard, starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and four films from the Studio‘s James Bond collection.

MGM Worldwide Television co-president, Jim Packer states, “MGM has a long track record of providing quality, ratings-driven films that work in a 52-week lineup. With over 4,000 films in our library, MGM has the right mix of films to deliver ratings while allowing CW stations to have some programming continuity on Sunday nights.”

Adds MGM Broadcast Strategy, Executive Vice President John Bryan, “With about 150 CW stations having signed up for the same, the station community seems to have embraced the ‘MGM Prime-Time Sunday Movie‘.

“In addition, MGM is offering over 50 per cent of the titles in high definition which has been a big win for local stations in their drive to be competitive on Sunday nights.”