ITV

Category: Movies

  • Aisha nets Rs 105 million in opening weekend

    MUMBAI: Aisha, the Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol starrer, opened to a mixed response and netted Rs 105 million in its opening weekend in India.


    While in the metros the film opened to occupancy of around 65 to 70 per cent, smaller centres recorded occupancy of about 35 to 40 per cent.


    Comments Fun Cinemas COO Vishal Kapur, “The occupancy of Aisha was around 85 per cent. It remains to be seen how the movie will fare in the subsequent days.”


    Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai is still going strong with about 60 to 65 per cent occupancy. 


    In week one, the film‘s net collections stood at Rs 340 million domestically, according to Balaji Telefilms Group CEO Punit Kinra.


    Tere Bin Laden has been performing better than Udaan, a film co-produced by UTV and Anurag Kashyap. While the former netted Rs 6.2 million from 78 prints, Udaan collected Rs 1.8 million from 30 prints during the same three-week run.


    All eyes are now focused on Aamir Khan‘s Peepli Live that has drawn a lot of critical acclaim.

  • Mahesh Manjrekar to make a film on Maharashtra politics

    MUMBAI: Besides two Salman Khan projects on hand, Mahesh Manjrekar has also planned a Marathi film called Buddhi Bal.


    The film would be a scathing commentary on present-day Maharashtra politics and would encompass the entire gamut ranging from staunch regionalism to the anti-migrants‘ policy.


    The film that promises to spare no politician or political party will abound with theatre actors who resemble real-life politicians. He has already zeroed in on artistes who bear a striking resemblance to Bal Thackeray, Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray.


    Says Manjrekar, “I‘ve selected actors who resemble the politicians. This makes the task of making audiences empathize with actors much easier. I don‘t have to spend time in explaining family trees.”


    The film would also make scathing comments on MNS activities against poor migrants from Bihar and UP.


    Comments the director-actor, “My film is not judgemental about Maharashtra politics. I am fascinated by the entire spectrum of politicians and their chess-like maneuvers in the state. Everyone is playing a game of one-upmanship. There are no real issues that bother politicians in Maharashtra. Every issue is raised for the vote bank. That‘s why I‘ve called my film Buddhi Bal which is the Marathi word for chess.”


    The film that will have Sachin Khedekar playing an important role is set to go on the floors in October.
     

  • Inception clings on to top spot in 2nd week

    MUMBAI: Down by a mere 15 per cent on the weekend, Warner Bros‘ Inception stuck to its top spot for the second consecutive week grossing $46.6 million from about 8,000 screens in 58 destinations.


    Over a month, Christopher Nolan‘s sci-fi thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio drew a total foreign box-office revenue of $250 million, with $ 39.4 million from UK, $ 23.7 million from Japan,$ 4.5 million from 491 sites in Spain in the opening week and $ 2 million in Brazil from 312 locations.


    Step Up 3D the third installment of the urban dance franchise released by Summit International and Universal Studios overseas played at 1,606 sites in 11 markets for an opening gross of $12.3 million.


    Universal handled the Step Up 3D premieres in the UK with a gross of $3.2 million from 574 locations, in Australia it grossed $3 million from 288 spots and in New Zealand it roped in $312,000 from 57 sites.


    Meanwhile, the weekend‘s No. 2 title, Pixar/Disney‘s Toy Story 3 in 3D drew $29.4 million in its latest round on the overseas circuit at 7,928 screens in 49 markets pushing its total foreign gross to $498.7 million.


    No. 3 on the weekend, Sony‘s Salt opened at No. 1 in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines and drew $16.9 million from 3,517 screens in 39 markets. The Cold War thriller starring Angelina Jolie made a total of $62.8 million since its foreign opening on 21 July.
     

  • Patricia Neal no more

    MUMBAI: 84-year old Willowy, husky-voiced actress Patricia Neal, who won an Academy Award for 1963‘s Hud died on Sunday. She had lung cancer and died at her home in Edgartown.


    “She faced her final illness as she had all of the many trials she endured: with indomitable grace, good humor and a great deal of her self-described stubbornness,” her family said in a statement.


    Having already won an award earlier when she won her Oscar for her role as a housekeeper to the Texas father (Melvyn Douglas) battling his selfish, amoral son Paul Newman.


    Less than two years later, she suffered a series of strokes in 1965 at the age of 39. Her struggle to once again walk and talk is regarded as epic in the annals of stroke rehabilitation. She returned to the screen to earn another Oscar nomination and three Emmy nominations.


    The Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in Knoxville that helps people recover from strokes and spinal cord and brain injuries is named after her.


    In her 1988 autobiography, ‘As I Am‘, she wrote, “Frequently my life has been likened to a Greek tragedy and the actress in me cannot deny that comparison.”
     

  • Saroj Khan’s dance academy set to open in Malaysia

    MUMBAI: Noted choreographer Saroj Khan is all set to open her dance academy in Malaysia.


    The Saroj Khan Dance Academy will be a joint venture between Khan and her local partner, Pen ‘N‘ Camera (M) Sdn Bhd. It will offer a four-month diploma programme in dancing, acting and singing.


    Students of the dance academy will also be given the opportunity to act as back-up dancers for Hindi films that will be shot in Malaysia. 


    Saroj is best known for her exceptiona dance movements in hit films like Devdas, Guru, Veer-Zaara and Taal among others.


    Besides Tabu, Nagma, Ravi Kishen and Shakti Kapoor will endorse the academy.


    Indian films from Bollywood are extremely popular in Malaysia, where there are 1.7 million ethnic Indians.

  • Anurag Kashyap plans 3D movie

    MUMBAI: Anurag Kashyap has firmed up plans for two movies, one of which will be in the 3D horror genre.


    The film set in the coal mines of Bihar will have a new star cast with Manoj Bajpai the only known face. The film spans over six decades and three generations. Kashyap will start rolling his film in October after the Venice and Toronto film festivals.


    Kashyap is also planning to do a 3D horror movie titled Tumbad.

  • Ahmedabad film fest kicks off with Harishchandrachi Factory

    MUMBAI: The International Film Festival kicked off in Ahmedabad with Paresh Mokashi‘s film Harishchandrachi Factory as the first exhibit. The film was India‘s nomination to Oscars last year.


    The event got underway with a dance performance, Suverna‘, choreographed by Kumudini Lakhia. It depicted the spirit of India‘s 50 years of celebration. The performance was followed by felicitation of Paresh Mokashi for his film.


    “It‘s been a great experience for me to screen my film in Ahmedabad. I was overwhelmed to see the response that my film received and the appreciation and encouragement by audience has been the biggest award for me. It‘s an honour that Harishchandrachi Factory is the opening film of International Film Festival at Ahmedabad and it‘s a feeling of deja vu for me,” Mokashi said.


    The opening day event was attended by dignitaries like Ketan Mehta, Gopi Desai, Subrata Bhowmick, John Lee Jr and Tanishtha Chatterjee among others.


    This year the Ahmedabad festival, which will showcase some of the best movies, will have a special screening of Aisha. The festival also includes short films and 20 award-winning films in the five days of its run.

  • Reliance MediaWorks narrows Q1 net loss to Rs 536.45 mn

    MUMBAI: Reliance MediaWorks Ltd (formerly known as Adlabs Films) has posted a consolidated net loss (after minority interest) of Rs 536.45 million for the quarter ended 30 June, narrowing it from Rs 636.96 million in the same quarter of the previous year.


    Reliance MediaWorks continues to maintain its strong investment phase and all its projects are well on track. “As a result of the continued investments and stabilisation of business verticals, the interest and depreciation charge, the company has recorded a net loss of Rs 536.45 million (US$ 12 million),” it said.


    Total revenue of the company jumped 100 per cent to stand at Rs 2.08 billion, as compared to Rs 1.05 billion in the year ago period. However, the company noted that figures are not strictly comparable with the corresponding period previous year, which was partially impacted by the strike between producers, distributors and exhibitors.


    The company‘s expenses also jumped 63.31 per cent to Rs 2.31 billion in the quarter, as against Rs 1.42 billion in the year ago period. This was mainly because of higher payout to distributors after enforcement of the new revenue sharing agreement, higher personal cost and decrease in stock value.


    Ebitda from operations stood at Rs 200 million against a loss of Rs 90 million in the previous year.


    “Reliance MediaWorks has delivered robust performance in the quarter and have started seeing strong returns on investments from the assets created in past two years. The forthcoming quarter has a steady movie line-up with more than 12 wide releases, which will help us leverage our leading presence across the entire film and media services value chain,” said Reliance MediaWorks CEO Anil Arjun.


    On a standalone basis, the net loss for the quarter was Rs 317.02 million (from Rs 661.05 million). Total income of the company for the quarter was Rs 1.29 billion, while expenses were at Rs 1.35 billion.


    In the segment-wise results, theatrical business reported a revenue of Rs 1.35 billion, a jump of 91 per cent from previous year’s Rs 708.73 million. But this was mainly because of previous year quarter had no new movie releases.


    The strong revenue growth helped the company to reduce the operational loss to Rs 237.4 million (Rs 298.88 million operational loss in the previous year).


    Total capital investment in the theatrical exhibition segment stands at Rs 10.91 billion.


    From the film production services segment, the company has earned a revenue of Rs 730.78 million, as compared to Rs 288.89 million in the previous quarter. It also posted an operating profit of Rs 121.17 million during the quarter under review (from previous year’s Rs 15.08 million).


    However, in the TV/Film production and distribution segment, the revenue dropped to Rs 44.93 million, from Rs 70.81 million a year ago. The company posted an operating profit from the segment of Rs 4.78 million, as against a profit of Rs 12.80 million for Q1 FY ’09.

  • Multiplex operators post weak recovery in FY’10

    The multiplex operators were up against the wall in FY’10. The first quarter was gobbled by a bitter row with the film producers, freezing fresh movie content from the Bollywood studios. Revenues went for a toss as they tried to source alternate content and tapped regional language movies.

    The bruise didn’t disappear in a hurry as the revenue-share arrangement increased their content costs. The release window shortened as film producers had to find space in the clutter. The situation worsened as most of the movies bombed at the box office.

    Corrective measures were taken and the major players hiked ticket prices while their expenses also deepened. Revenue for the fiscal jumped but operating profit took a knock.

    Revenue soars

    The combined turnover of the five listed cinema exhibitors stood at Rs 13.73 billion in FY’10, up 21.47 per cent over the earlier year. The major reason was hike in the ticket prices and some blockbuster movies in between (like 3Idiots, Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani etc).

    Reliance Mediaworks, Fame India and Cinemax saw maximum growth in revenues, jumping 39.5 per cent, 28.7 per cent and 25 per cent for each of them. Inox Leisure saw a moderate 12.6 per cent growth, while PVR had a measly 3.2 per cent increase in its income.

    Higher expenses as distributor payout increases

    Multiplex operators had to cough out more to the film distributors due to the new revenue share agreement.

    Though the companies kept control over personnel costs, their interests in organic and inorganic growth led them to invest to build or acquire properties. This resulted in increase in expenses.

    Expenses in the fiscal stood at Rs 13.59 billion, up 24 per cent, from Rs 10.98 billion in FY09. (Disclaimer: All expenses figure are on approximate basis barring PVR, as the companies have not given the expenses for the exhibition segment separately.).

    Fame India, Reliance MediaWorks and Cinemax had seen over 30 per cent increase in their expenses during the fiscal, compared to the year-ago period.

    Inox saw a 16.5 per cent rise in expenses over the year-ago period, while PVR kept the expenses under control with just over one per cent increase over the earlier year.

    At the operational level, all the exhibitors had a bad year as between the two fiscals, their profit narrowed by 58.3 per cent in FY’10 over the year-ago period. The FY’10 operating profit stood at Rs 179.09 million as compared to operating profit of Rs 429.69 million.

    The companies who suffered the most were Fame India (down 80.3%), and Cinemax (down 64.07%). However, Reliance MediaWorks, which had suffered an operating loss from the exhibition sector during FY’09 (Rs 454.56 million), increased the losses by nine per cent to Rs 495.37 million in the fiscal 2009-10.

     

     

    The cinema exhibitors are expected to put up a better show in FY’11 with an increase in ticket prices and, hopefully, more successful movies.

  • Toronto fest unveils names of 28 docs

    MUMBAI: The Toronto International Film Festival, due to be held from 9 to 19 September has unveiled 24 documentaries that will be screened at the fest.


    The films include works of filmmakers like Werner Herzog in 3D, Alex Gibney and a collaboration with ‘The Boss.‘ The films expose issues like the banking crisis, war in Afghanistan and the future of energy among others.


    The fest will have the world premiere of The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town with Bruce Springsteen attending. Grammy- and Emmy winner Thom Zimny will chronicle the creative process through the making of Springsteen‘s fourth album in 1978.


    Werner Herzog‘s Cave of Forgotten Dreams in 3D, that shows the oldest known images created by humans from within the Chauvet caves of southern France will also have a world premiere.


    Other films to be show at the fest include Errol Morris (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line),Kim Longinotto’s Pink Saris, Bjorn Lomborg’s Cool It, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer by Alex Gibney. The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical,
    Inside Job and Armadillo by Denmark‘s Janus Metz.