ITV

Category: Movies

  • SAG to honour Ernest Borgnine with lifetime achievement award

    MUMBAI: The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), in its annual awards presentation on 30 January, 2011, will honour Ernest Borgnine with a lifetime achievement award. Borgnine, who won a best actor Oscar for the 1955 film Marty has appeared in nearly 200 films and TV shows that includes From Here to Eternity and the series McHale‘s Navy.


    “Whether portraying brutish villains, sympathetic everymen, complex leaders or hapless heroes, Ernest Borgnine has brought a boundless energy which, at 93, is still a hallmark of his remarkably busy life and career,” said SAG president Ken Howard.


    This year, the lifetime-achievement award was presented to Betty White.

  • Angelina Jolie Johnny Depp’s Tourist in December

    MUMBAI: Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp- starrer The Tourist will release on 10 December.


    Tourist shot in Venice and Paris by German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck centers on an American tourist (Depp) who becomes involved with an Interpol agent (Jolie).
    It will face competition from films like Fox‘s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Paramount‘s boxing drama The Fighter.


    Jolie‘s Salt, that has grossed $103.4 million domestically, remains to run successfully in theaters even today. This year, Depp had featured in Disney‘s Alice in Wonderland.
     

  • YRF partners with Big Cinemas to release Lafangey Parindey in US

    MUMBAI: Yash Raj Films (YRF) has partnered with Big Cinemas to release its movie Lafangey Parindey in the US across the cinema chain‘s nine properties.
    In the US, Big Cinemas has 190 screens across 20 cities.


    Said Reliance MediaWorks CEO Anil Arjun, “Some of the most notable Indian movies have been released over the years by the YRF banner and it is a privilege for us to be an exclusive partner for the release of Lafangey Parindey in the US.” 


    Directed by Pradeep Sarkar, Lafangey Parindey, an edgy love story about the never-say-die spirit, travels in the grungy streets of Mumbai. The film‘s story revolves around a blindfolded street fighter (Neil) and a blind dancer (Deepika) who, along with four friends, set out to achieve the impossible.


    A division of Reliance MediaWorks and member of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, the cinema chain is also conducting a Lafangey Parindey sweepstakes contest, where the audiences have a chance to win autographed merchandise and select movie apparel by registering on Big Cinemas‘ website.

  • Peepli Live grosses Rs 230 million at box office

    MUMBAI: Peepli Live has grossed Rs 230 million at the box office, according to data provided by UTV Motion Pictures till Tuesday evening.


    In India, the film grossed Rs 205 million from 750 screens while the remaining portion came from overseas markets across 100 screens.


    With 64 prints in the US, the film has collected $364000 in the opening weekend, which is higher than many mainstream commercial films with a big cast, UTV said.


    Meanwhile, in the Middle East the film released during Ramzaan and has opened at $175,000 on 18 prints. In Australia, Peepli Live ranked 4th in the Limited release Australian box office and has collected 47900 Australian dollars on six screens. 


    From countries like South Africa, Pakistan, Singapore, Benelux, Kenya and others, the total contribution was to the tune of $59,000 in the opening weekend.


    The movie was released on 13 August. Said UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur, “It’s great to witness what would usually be considered a ‘a small’ film like Peepli Live, receive such a tremendous response from audiences in India and overseas. The film has set a benchmark for the highest opening ever for a non-cast film. The complete support and involvement from Aamir at every stage of the process, has helped the marketing and distribution team at UTV to rewrite the definition of what constitutes commercially viable cinema. We look forward to making Peepli Live the ‘biggest small film’ in the history of Indian cinema.”


    Peepli Live, co-produced by Aamir Khan Productions and UTV Motion Pictures and directed by Anusha Rizvi, follows the mayhem that results on account of a farmer threatening to commit sucide.
     

  • Sajid Nadiadwala to launch 3 big star cast films

    MUMBAI: Sajid Nadiadwala is ready to launch three major films on a budget of Rs 1.5 billion.


    The first film starring Saif Ali Khan will be directed by Siddharth Anand. Right now Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra are in the race to play the female lead. Siddharth and Saif have worked together in YRF’s Salaam Namaste and Tara Rum Pum.


    Then there’s a sequel of Housefull to be directed by Sajid Khan that will have Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Arjun Rampal and Boman Irani in the cast. The females are yet to be signed, but Deepika Padukone could definitely be one of them.


    The third film coming from the Nadiawala Grandsons banner is Kick with his buddy Salman Khan in the lead. The leading lady. in all likelihood, would be Salman’s Dabaang co-star Sonakshi Sinha.


    Admits Nadiadwala, “You have the names of the leading men right. As for the leading ladies, it’s suspense! I am talking to all the girls that you mention.”
     

  • Grandeur of Pandora’s Ocean in Avatar sequel

    MUMBAI: Days before his film Avatar is set for a worldwide special edition re-release on 27 August, James Cameron has already revealed his plans for a sequel.


    The next instalment of the Avatar franchise will explore Pandora’s Oceans. Revealing this to the media, Cameron said that his fictional planet’s aquatic life was equally rich and “diverse and crazy and imaginative” as its colourful land-based equivalent.


    According to Cameron, many of the scenes would actually require underwater filming. “I think what we should do there – because we’ll have to have characters that are in and under the water – is that we should actually capture them underwater. It’s not the same as going diving, but I like to keep my diving, which I do for pleasure, separate from work,” Cameron averred.
     

  • Michelle Carey is artistic director of MIFF

    MUMBAI: Michelle Carey, head of programming of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has been promoted as its artistic director.


    Since the last four years Carey has been working with MIFF executive director Richard Moore as co-coordinator of the accelerator programme and also as head of programming at Australia’s largest film festival.


    Earlier this year, Moore announced that he was stepping down from his position at MIFF, after the Board of the festival said that it would split the role into two. It later appointed Petrina Dorrington as general manager at the beginning of this year‘s festival late July and also announced Carey’s appointment.


    Dorrington said, “We are thrilled to appoint Michelle as the artistic director – she has extensive experience in film programming, and has been a member of the MIFF programming team for the last four years. She understands both the festival’s diverse audiences and the ethos of the festival as a whole.”


    Besides her role in the MIFF, Carey is currently the president of the long-running Melbourne Cinémath?que and editor for film festivals at online film journal Senses of Cinema.


    Moore will now relocate to Brisbane this month where he will join Screen Queensland as the organization’s new head of screen culture.


    In Moore’s four-year tenure MIFF’s Premiere Film Fund, supported by the Victorian government was introduced and its 37° south market and accelerator programme were expanded for emerging filmmakers.
     

  • Malaysian 3D animation film set to release on 27 August

    MUMBAI: Malaysia‘s 3D animation film Geng-The Adventure Begins is set to release in India on 27 August.


    The film is being distributed in India by Ken Films in association with Les‘ Copaque and IndiaTales Media.


    Geng is about a gang that embarks a journey of action and adventure set upon the warm atmosphere of a village. Set against the Indian backdrop and with Indian characters, the movie is an adventurous story that is bound to appeal both to kids and adults.


    Unlike other films, Geng seeks to promote Asian Culture globally. Apart from Malaysian characters, it has several Indian characters that is bound to strongly connect with the Indian audience.


    While making this 3D film, the producers always had the Indian audience in their mind and hence the storyline and characters were based in India.


    This film has won many awards like best director, best animated film, best short film (animated) at the International Film Festival for Children, Indonesia, 22nd Malaysian Film Festival – 2 Jury‘s Choice Awards (box-office, animated feature film with distinctive characters), MSC Malaysia Kre8tif! Industry Awards- best editor, best music/score.


    Avers Ken Film chaiman Aneesh Singhal, “After smashing box office records in Malaysia, 3D animation film GENG will become the first Malaysian movie to get a commercial theatrical release in India when it opens here in the last week of August.”

  • Film on groom abduction to release on 27 August

    MUMBAI: After Aamir Khan‘s Peepli Live focussed on the farmer issues faced by rural India, it is now the turn of National Award winning film Antardwand, based on groom kidnapping, to reveal the blatant truth going on in the interiors to moviegoers.


    The film is a peep into the reality that is mofussil India, a feudal India refusing to die. It‘s a story where everybody involved pay a heavy price for the ugly patriarchal power play. It‘s a society rotting while the country surges ahead to be a global power. 


    The film is based on a true story of the film‘s director Sushil Rajpal‘s closest friend, who still suffers from the psychological scars of being kidnapped and forcibly married to someone, he didn‘t intent to get wedded to.


    Though he later escaped and lives in an urban city presently, the case is in Court because he is still legally married.


    Rajpal felt it was his moral duty and sacrificed his entire savings to bring this issue of ‘Groom Kidnapping‘ to urban India, which had closed its eyes to rural India and the twin social evil of ‘Groom Kidnapping‘ and related issue of ‘Dowry‘.


    It is still surprising that because ‘groom kidnapping‘ has got a social sanction amongst the upper caste, in states like Bihar, where potential bridegrooms who have done their IAS, engineering etc are targets, because the bride family can‘t afford the high dowry rates. It‘s a society where human beings are ‘traded‘ as animals, with social sanction, wherein its ‘acceptable.‘


    Comments Rajpal, “This is just one side of the larger story that propelled the director in me and more moving was part of the story. Such forced marriages wreak huge emotional damage on both the girl and the boy. More for the voiceless girl who is deeply entrenched in a male dominated feudalistic society where she has nothing else to fall back on. Whether deserted or divorced -the life of a hapless girl in such a claustrophobic society becomes a hellish and endless journey. She bears the stigma of ‘being married but not married‘.”


    The film is set to hit the silver screen on 27 August.
     

  • MGM, ITV renew deal for Bond films

    MUMBAI: MGM‘s TV distribution has inked a multi-year renewal agreement with ITV for the James Bond movies, by which the latter will keep the franchise on the British commercial network and its family of channels for several years.


    The deal that includes the over-the-air premiere of Quantum of Solace, has the entire Bond films including Casino Royale, Goldfinger, From Russia With Love and Diamonds Are Forever. These films will be shown on ITV1 HD.


    No details were available of the value involved in the renewal deal.


    Annual revenue from licensing the MGM library domestically and internationally to TV outlets, including moneys for the Bonds, is said to be in the range of $300 million.


    Bond films typically rate well on European TV stations in their first airing and are often shown during holidays.


    “James Bond is a British cinematic icon loved by ITV‘s audience, and we‘re delighted to continue the franchise‘s long association with ITV as well as the chance, for the first time, to show every Bond feature film in fantastic HD,” ITV director of digital channels and acquisitions Zai Bennett said.


    ITV‘s broadcasting business is made up of ITV1, the country‘s largest commercial channel in terms of audience share, and several digital channels. Every year the network invests about ?1 billion ($1.57 billion) in content for its channels and the website itv.com.