ITV

Category: Movies

  • ‘The Expendables’: Stallone talks sequel

    MUMBAI: Having taken the biggest opening weekend for any of the films he directed with his new film ‘The Expendables’, an old fashioned action film, Sylvester Stallone is already thinking of a sequel.


    During an interview to the media, Stallone said that the sequel was plotted out in his mind and what needed to be done was for the group which fought in ‘The Expendables’ to evolve, same faces would not do. Hence, the challenge, according to him, was to introduce new faces on to the scene as naturally as possible and, at the same time, create a plausible for some older people to leave.


    ‘The Expendables’ boasts of top action stars of a generation back. As Stallone puts it, if one is a star, even a faded one, the light never goes out. It just needs to be rekindled.
     

  • Oracle founder’s son raises $350 million to co-finance films with Paramount

    MUMBAI: Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison’s son David Ellison has raised $350 million to co-finance films with Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures.


    The funds valuing $150 million in equity and a four-year $200-million revolving credit facility led by JPMorgan Chase will enable Ellison to step up production at Skydance Productions, his production house. 


    Ellison hopes to make four to six films a year at his 4-year-old Santa Monica-based production company. Skydance will focus on big-budget action, adventure, science fiction and fantasy films as well as modestly budgeted comedies and genre pictures. In turn, Paramount will have first dibs on all of Skydance‘s projects in development, with the opportunity to co-finance and distribute films that the company produces.


    Paramount‘s first big-budget film that Ellison will co-finance are the by Brad Bird directed Mission: Impossible 4 that stars Tom Cruise, True Grit starring Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges and an untitled film starring Chris Pine. Skydance is also co-developing License to Steal, an action heist movie with Paramount. The film, about the high-end repo business, will be produced with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.


    Ellison has a number of moderately budgeted projects in development including an untitled comedy written by David Caspe starring Charlize Theron and Hyde based on the Dark Horse comic The Strange Case of Hyde that is being adapted for the big screen by Cole Haddon and produced with Mark Gordon and Dark Horse Entertainment.

  • Aamir magic works for Peepli Live

    MUMBAI: Aamir Khan is making further inroads into movieland with his banner. After a successful run with Taare Zamin Par and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, the Khan has done it once again. His latest co-production with UTV, Peepli Live, has garnered good footfalls over its first weekend of release. Estimates are that it grossed around Rs 160 million nationally.


    Says veteran distributor and box office statistician Tolu Bajaj, “Peepli Live had a super strong Saturday and continued to pull in movie goers even on Sunday. I would classify it as more than a hit.”


    The film, which was made on a small budget without the A-listers of Bollywood, follows the mayhem that results on account of a farmer threatening to commit sucide.


    “Aamir Khan pulled out all the stops to make the film which can be considered as an independent cinema piece of work into a commercial success,” says a trade analyst. “The Aamir brand has worked its magic. Any commercial film maker too would have been more than happy with the box office that Peepli Live has generated so far. Had it been any other film maker, the office results might have been much lower.” Peepli Live was released in 600 screens across the country.

  • RGV’s Rakta Charitra to release in two parts

    MUMBAI: Ram Gopal Varma‘s upcoming film Rakta Charitra is set to create history in Bollywood.


    This is the first film in Indian cinema to release in two parts. Both films will be released in October and will be of two hours and ten minutes duration each.
    Part II will release three to four weeks after Part I hits the screens.


    As per Varma, it‘s a record that he has not just completed the prequel but the sequel is ready too.


    The film is based on real life events in the life of slain leader Paritala Ravindra played by Vivek Oberoi and Maddelacheruvu Suri by South actor Surya. Shatrughan Sinha is enacting the role of NT Rama Rao.


    Due to the violence quotient in Rakta Charitra, Varma has advised women and children not to watch the movie at all saying, “this film is for men only.”


    The film has been made in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

  • Prakash Jha retrospective in Fiji on 18 August

    MUMBAI: A retrospective of Prakash Jha‘s films will be held in Fiji from 18 to 21 August.


    The retrospective will feature six films including the recently released Raajneeti, GangaaJal, Apaharan, Mrityudand, Parinati and Damul.


    Raajneeti and Damul will also be screened at the Bollywood Festival at Norway that will be held from 10 to 16 September.


    The retrospective is being organised by the Fiji National University, Fiji Audio Visual Commission, Damodar Brothers and the Indian High Commission in Fiji.


    Joining the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, in 1973, Jha had to leave a course in editing midway, because the institution was closed for a while due to student agitation. He later completed the course in 1976.


    In his career that started in 1983, Jha has made films like Hip Hip Hurray, Damul, Parinati, Bandish, Mrityudand, Dil Kya Kare, Rahul, Gangaajal, Apaharan and Raajneeti. His next Turning 30 is now in its post-production stage.

  • Viacom18 appoints Vikram Malhotra as Studio18 COO

    MUMBAI: Studio18, the film production and distribution arm of Viacom18, has appointed Vikram Malhotra as chief operating officer.


    In his new capacity, Malhotra will be responsible for driving growth and profitability at Studio18.


    Malhotra joins Studio18 from Balaji Telefilms where, as COO, he was responsible for the business strategy and profitable growth of the motion pictures business.


    Prior to that, Malhotra was head of worldwide marketing of Kingfisher Airlines, where he led a team that is credited with creating India’s largest airline brand in just a little over four years of operations.


    The top team of Studio18, being led by Sandeep Bhargava, is being given a new shape under Viacom18. Bhargava had earlier quit the organisation.


    Await detailed report…
     

  • The Expendables tops weekend with $35 million

    MUMBAI: Good old action rules and so does veteran action star, Sylvester Stallone. The actor-director’s “The Expendables” has raked in $35 million in USA and Canada over the weekend to steal a march over “Eat, Pray, Love” (approx $24 million).


    What is special about “The Expendables” is that the explosions and stunts have been done with physical effects instead of digitally generated by computer technology. The film is about a bunch of mercenaries assigned to finish off a cruel dictator of a South American island.


    Though expected to appeal mainly to male audience, the film had drawn a decent ratio of female audience to make the earnings look more promising to the local distributor Lionsgate. Made at a cost of $82 million, the film has already recovered this in pre-sales.


    The all action cast of The Expendables” includes, besides Sly Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke and Dolph Lundgren.
     

  • Julia Roberts to receive San Sebastian honour

    MUMBAI: Julia Roberts will receive an award for her movie career at next month‘s film festival in San Sebastian. She will also attend the festival to promote her latest film Eat Pray Love that co-stars Spanish actor Javier Bardem.


    Eat Pray Love, based on a novel of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert, is the story of a recent divorcee played by Roberts who travels to Italy, India and Bali that helps her rediscover her inner peace through each place.


    The 42-year-old Roberts came to fame for her role in the 1990 movie Pretty Woman and spent a decade becoming one of Hollywood‘s favourite box-office draws and highest paid actresses. She won an Oscar for best actress in 2001 for Erin Brockovich.


    In recent years she has taken some time off from acting to get married and gave birth to three children.


    She will receive the award for her film career on September 20. The San Sebastian International Film Festival runs from September 17 to 25.
     

  • Chinese film bags back-to-back Locarno top award

    MUMBAI: A Chinese film has bagged the top honour at the Locarno Film Festival. Li Hongqi ‘s Han Jia (Winter Vacation), a coming-of-age story set it small town China won the Festival‘s Golden Leopard prize. This is the second consecutive year that a film from a Chinese director has bagged the festival‘s top prize.


    Last year, it was Xiaolu Guo-directed She, a Chinese that had won the Golden Leopard. Combined with this year‘s winning film, this marks the first time since 1995-96 when the same country won back-to-back Golden Leopards.


    Among the festival‘s other top prizes: Morgen, a border drama set on the boundary between Romania and Hungary from Marian Crisan won a Special Jury Prize while Denis Cote was given the Prize of the City and Region of Locarno for Best Director for the Canadian thriller Curling.


    Emmanuel Bilodeau, who played the male lead in Curling won the best actor award while Jasna Duricic won the best actress honor for her work in Beli Belisvet (White White World).


    The top prize carries an award of 90,000 Swiss francs ($85,000), while the Jury Prize and Best Director award are worth 30,000 Swiss francs ($28,000) each.


    The award ceremony was followed by the world premiere of Sommervogel (Little Paradise), a first feature film from 64-year-old Swiss director Paul Riniker, a veteran of more than 70 documentaries.


    Saturday, that was the closing day of the festival also saw the closing of the Open Doors co-production laboratory, which focused on films from Central Asia, and the final screenings of the well-received Ernst Lubitsch retrospective.

  • Mukta Arts Q1 net at Rs 14.46 mn as revenue climbs

    MUMBAI: Mukta Arts, the Subhash Ghai-promoted film and entertainment company, has posted a net profit of Rs 14.46 million for the quarter ended 30 June, as against a net loss of Rs 99.94 million in the year-ago period.


    The company saw a surge in its revenue to the tune of Rs 333.38 million compared to Rs 73.21million in the earlier year.


    Expenses climbed to Rs 324.50 million, up 92.61 per cent from Rs 168.48 million.


    Profit from operations, before other income, interest and exceptional items was at Rs 8.88 million, as against a loss of Rs 95.35 million.


    The software division business saw maximum growth and turned profitable with Rs 35.75 million on an income of Rs 332.88 million. In the earlier-year quarter, the loss stood at Rs 70.19 million on an income of Rs 72.43 million. Capital deployed towards this segment was Rs 453.44 million.


    The equipment division business, however, suffered an operating loss of Rs 1.99 million on an income of Rs 0.50 million. The capital deployed for the segment stood at Rs 138.32 million.