ITV

Category: Movies

  • Warner Bros. remaking The Bodyguard

    MUMBAI: In its want to remake its 1992 hit The Bodyguard, Warner Bros. has hired Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer to write the script.


    The original entered on a former Secret Service agent hired to protect a world famous pop singer. While initially uncomfortable in her glitzy world, the man eventually falls for her, compromising his ability to protect her.


    The film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, had the biggest ballads of all time, I Will Always Love You. It was written by Lawrence Kasdan, the first script written by him. best known for penning Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Big Chill. It was meant as a vehicle for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross.


    In the remake, the story would be updated so that the man would be a former Iraqi war vet.


    Friedman and Palmer had written the action-comedy script Family Getaway, set up at the studio and made the 2010 Black List.
     

  • 52 Weeks Entertainment to distribute 2 Hollywood films in India

    MUMBAI: Suniel Wadhwa‘s 52 Weeks Entertainment Inc has acquired the India distribution rights of Summit Entertainment‘s Source Code-Make Every Second Count and The Impossible.


    Code- Make Every Second Count, an action thriller directed by director Duncan Jones, is set for April release. The film revolves around protagonist Capitan Colter Stevens who discovers that he‘s part of a mission to find the bomber of a commuter train. He inhabits the body of another person and relives the last eight minutes over and over again, unearthing clues each time as to the identity of the bomber. 


    The film, co-produced by Mark Gordon who made 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow and Philippe Rousselet of Lord of War, stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan and Vera Farmiga.


    The Impossible, based on a true story of 2004 Tsunami in Thailand and directed by Juan Antoino Bayona, is set for a release in October-November.


    Comments Wadhwa, “The Hollywood revenue pie in India is stagnant at a meagre 3-4 per cent of the total Indian film box office collections for a long time. In 2009 and 2010, due to the advent of 3D technology, this has increased to between 8-10 per cent and is likely to touch 12 per cent this year.”

  • Tyler Perry set to receive CinemCon award

    MUMBAI: Tyler Perry will receive the CinemaCon Visionary Award at the next month‘s theatre owners convention in Las Vegas. To be held between 28 to 31 March.


    “I am so pleased to be recognized with this award from CinemaCon,” Perry said in a statement. “The success of the industry depends on whether exhibitors can see movies through fans eyes, and anticipate what they want. I‘m honored to be receiving this honor from the exhibitors who have helped me provide a great movie-going experience to my fans from the beginning,” Perry is quoted to have said.


    Added Lionsgate Motion Picture Division president Joe Drake, “Tyler is the very definition of a visionary. He has literally created everything he has based on a vision that was uniquely his, and one that he worked tirelessly to bring to life despite all kinds of barriers. We are so proud to be in business with Mr. Perry, who couldn‘t be more deserving of this honor.”


    Perry is an African-American actor, director, playwright, screenwriter, producer, author and songwriter. Already a successful artiste in Southern theatre, Perry began to make national celebrity status in 2005 with the release of his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman.

  • Tamil film festival in Norway in April

    MUMBAI: Tamil cinema, known as India‘s second largest film industry in terms of revenue and worldwide distribution, has enjoyed consistent popularity among populations in South East Asia. Way back in 1998, the Tamil film Chandralekha, Muthu was dubbed into Japanese language as Mutu: Odoru Maharaja and grossed a record $1.6 million.


    Last year, Endhiran (Robot) grossed a record $4 million in North America. After making waves in many international markets, Tamil films are now set to make its presence felt in Norway.


    People in Norway have organised a Norway Tamil Film Festival scheduled to be held from 20 to 25 April in Oslo. Having 15 films, the festival will screen Sun Pictures‘ Rajinikant starrer Endhiran directed by Shankar. Few other films have been shortlisted to be screened at the festival.


    Other films to be screened at the festival are Angadi Theru, Kalavani, Madraspattinam, Aadukalam, Mynaa, Boss Engira Baskaran, Vinnaithandi Varuvaya, Yudham Sei, Tha and Thenmerku Paruvakkaatru.


    Organisers of the festival are seeking support from the Norwegian government for the event.

  • Conceptual plan of Mohali Film City being readied

    MUMBAI: After the Punjab government’s nod to set up a world-class film city in Mohali last week, the state principal secretary Tourism and Culture, Geetika Kalha is busy putting up the conceptual plan for the proposed project.


    The Punjab government was initially hobnobbing with the idea of setting up the film city in Rupanagar but has now changed it to Mohali as it has better infrastructure and is in close proximity to the state capital.


    Along with the Film City, a film and television institute on the lines of the one at Pune will also be set up as an integral part of the city.


    Film producers who have evinced interest in the Mohali Film City are producer and chairman of Chandigarh Film Advisory Committee, Yash Chopra and Dharmendra, besides Anupam Kher and Jaspal Bhatti.
     

  • Tariq Anwar in Oscar race for The King’s Speech

    MUMBAI: India has no reasons to be aggrieved at the rejection of Peepli Live from the Oscar race. Two more Indians are still in the race.


    The first is A R Rahman, who has been nominated for the best original score in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours. The other is India-born British film editor Tariq Anwar, nominated for his work in the historical drama The King‘s Speech.


    Tariq will be competing with Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter (The Social Network), Jon Harris (127 Hours), Pamela Martin (The Fighter) and Andrew Weisblum (Black Swan) for the prestigious award.


    This is Anwar’s second nomination for the prestigious award, the first being in 1999 when he was nomianted for American Beauty. He has to his credit two BAFTA awards, one for Oppenheimer and the second for ‘American Beauty.


    The Oscar presentation takes place on 27 February.
     

  • MPAA pulls out films from Indonesia

    MUMBAI: Reaction to sudden increases in tax, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has withdrawn Hollywood films from the Indonesian market. Indonesia‘s president has directed his culture and tourism minister to act.


    It is said that in the past, the MPAA paid only $20 per meter of film as against the increase to $43 a meter. Added was 24 per cent import duty tax and an income tax of 10-15 per cent of profits.


    Said Indonesian Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik, “There‘s a complaint from the film industry, asking why the tax was so high… they ask me how the high tax can encourage the local film industry.”


    However the minister adds by saying, “If necessary I will reduce the tax, but the owners of movie theaters or the film importer has a moral responsibility to build more cinemas. If we subtract the tax they should build more cinemas and add more screens. So there are more jobs for locals.”


    However, some Indonesians are unhappy with the changes.

  • Paramount to now release Scorsese’s Hugo Cabret

    MUMBAI: Distribution rights of Martin Scorsese‘s 3D adventure, Hugo Cabret has changed hands.It has passed on from Sony to Paramount and its release date has been preponed by two weeks to 23 November. Sony had originally scheduled the film for a 9 December release.


    The director seems genuinely fired up about the possibilities of the 3D format. “Every shot is rethinking cinema,” he enthuses, “rethinking narrative – how to tell a story with a picture. Now, I‘m not saying we have to keep throwing javelins at the camera, I‘m not saying we use it as a gimmick, but it‘s liberating. It‘s literally a Rubik‘s Cube every time you go out to design a shot, and work out a camera move, or a crane move. But it has a beauty to it also. People look like… like moving statues. They move like sculpture, as if sculpture is moving in a way. Like dancers,” Scorsese gas been quoted as saying.


    When Sony couldn‘t provide the requested Thanksgiving date release, it agreed to let GK Films move the film into the hands of Paramount. The studio, that didn‘t have a big Thanksgiving release, jumped at the chance to be part of Scorsese‘s first 3D film.

  • ESG to hold workshop on cinematography on 26 Feb

    MUMBAI: Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) has decided to organise a workshop on cinematography on 26 February.


    The workshop will feature different shooting formats on digital as well as film. It will also feature the output of digital as well as film media on film prints. 


    The workshop will cover different shooting formats in relation to creative formats of filmmaking.


    The trainers for this workshop titled ‘What is your Shooting Format’ are, Film & Television Institute of India Professor of Cinematography Prof. A.S. Kanal and Film Lab India COO Caesar.


    Established by the Government of Goa in 2004 as the nodal agency in the organisation of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the main objective of the ESG is to frame an entertainment policy to help cultivate Goa into a world-class international entertainment nerve centre of the country.

  • Bhindi Bazaar Inc to release on 15 April

    MUMBAI: Bhindi Baazaar Inc, the maiden venture of Picture Thoughts Productions, will release on 15 April worldwide.


    Set in the underbelly of Mumbai, the film is directed by Ankush Bhatt and produced by Karan Arora. It is set between the infamous bylanes where greed is a culture; the film revolves around the gangs of Mumbai who have embraced pickpocketing as an art and a means of earning a livelihood. They use their intelligence as a canvas and their spontaneity as a brush to survive in this dangerous profession.


    The film is based on the quest of a small time pickpocket Fateh and his ambitions to become a local area don.


    Key artistes of the film are Kay Kay Menon, Pawan Malhotra, Dipti Naval, Prashant Narayan, Shilpa Shukla, Vedita Pratap Singh and new find Shweta Verma, Gautam and Caterina Lopez.