ITV

Category: Movies

  • Inox’s open offer for Fame at Rs 51

    MUMBAI: Inox Leisure has made an open offer to buy up to 20 per cent of the shares of Fame India for Rs 51 a share, a day after it made an additional purchase of 7.21 per cent at Rs 50.75 a share.


    Earlier, Inox had bought out the entire 43.3 per cent held by the shroff family, the promoting group of Fame, at Rs 44.09 a share, amounting to Rs 664.8 million.


    The offer for 8.23 million shares, or 20 per cent, opens 1 April and closes 20 April. Enam Securities is manager to the offer.


    Shares of Fame ended Saturday at Rs 53.20, higher than the open offer price, prompting analysts to say that subscription to the open offer would depend on whether the scrip falls by then.


    Inox would have to shell out Rs 419.82 million for the 20 per cent open offer subscription. For acquiring 50.48 per cent stake in Fame, which has catapaulted it to the second largest multiplex company, Inox had invested Rs 792.5 million.

  • American Film Market founder Norman Katz dies at 90

    MUMBAI: 90-year-old Norman Katz, a founder of the American Film Market and a former president of Warner Bros. International, died on 25 January.


    Katz joined Warner Bros. in 1953 to complete his 20-year stint with the company.


    Later, he worked as president of Cinema Arts from 1974-79 and American Cinema from 1979-82.


    Katz is survived by wife, Dorothea, children Raissa, Jonathan, Phillip, Theodore and Stacey, 14 grandchildren; and two great grandchildren.

  • Weinstein Co acquires rights to ‘The Tillman Story’

    MUMBAI: The Weinstein Co has acquired the rights to The Tillman Story, a documentary produced by A&E IndieFilms.


    The acquisition was made post the premiere of the docu at the Sundance Film Festival two weeks ago.


    The deal was brokered by Molly Thompson and Robert Sharenow from A&E Network.


    As per the deal, The Weinstein Co will have the North American theatrical, DVD and pay TV rights to the Amir Bar-Lev-directed product.


    The Weinstein Co. also procured all rights in English-language territories for the documentary.

  • Emma Watson highest paid Hollywood actress

    MUMBAI: Emma Watson, of Harry Potter fame, has been named as the highest paid actress and actor for 2009, reveals the Vanity Fair‘s list of 40 top Hollywood earners.


    Watson seems to have earned over $31 million in 2009 and is said to have made more monies than established actors including Angelina Jolie, Sarah Jessica Parker and Cameron Diaz.


    According to the magazine, the 19-year-old actress is the youngest to feature in the list.


    The Vanity Fair list was topped by Transformers director Michael Bay.
     

  • Fox Searchlight gets Baldauf as EVP – marketing

    MUMBAI: Fox Searchlight has roped in Larry Baldauf as executive vice president – marketing.


    As part of his new mandate, Baldauf will jointly manage all aspects of the specialty film unit‘s marketing along with with fellow executive VP marketing Michelle Hooper.


    Prior to this, Baldauf was with advertising agency Acme Trailer. He was the founding partner of Acme Trailer along with Mike Camp, Stephen Grzymala, Bob Thompson and Scott Walls.

  • Inox ups stake in Fame to 50.5%

    MUMBAI: Inox Leisure has acquired an additional 7.21 per cent stake in Fame India through a block deal, executed at BSE today.


    The deal, following the 43.3 per cent stake acquisition from the Shroff family promoting group, makes Inox a majority holder of Fame India with 50.48 per cent stake.


    Inox acquired 2.50 million equity shares for a consideration of Rs 50.75 per share, totaling to Rs 127.7 million.


    Inox had bought out the promoters’ stake for Rs 664.8 million or Rs 44.09 per share, through a block deal on 3 February.


    Inox has made a total investment of Rs 792.5 million to acquire 50.48 per cent stake in Fame. The additional stake has also been funded to Inox by its parent company Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd (GFL). 


    So, will Inox delist Fame? “We have not decided anything at this stage. We will take a final call at the appropriate time. Today’s additional acquisition has been in pursuance of our objective to consolidate our stake in Fame,” Inox Leisure director Deepak Asher tells indiantelevison.com


    Inox will make an open offer for an additional 20 per cent stake in Fame to the shareholders as per the Sebi (Securities and Exchange board of India) regulations.


    “We will be announcing the open offer pricing soon,” Asher adds.


    Inox shares ended Friday at Rs 66.90 on the BSE, down 10.56 per cent from the previous close. Fame shares touched the upper circuit and closed at Rs 50.80, up by 4.96 per cent.

  • PVR launches new property in Raipur

    MUMBAI: Mutiplex chain PVR has launched a new multiplex property in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.


    The propety consists of four mainstream digital audis with a total seating capacity of 1350 seats. 


    The new multiplex has 2k digital cinema, compliant with DCI technology, advanced sound, and picture quality and digital technology slated to bridge the demand supply gap.


    The opening of the new multiplex at Raipur takes PVR‘s screen count up to 112 at 27 locations across 15 cities in ten states and one union territory.

  • Mumbai police raids movie pirates, seizes discs worth Rs 265,000

    MUMBAI: Mumbai Police, along with SS Branch and AA Khan & Associates, raided two locations in Mumbai and seized over 4,500 pirated DVDs and CDs of recently released movies worth Rs 265,000.


    In the first raid, conducted at Andheri West railway station, a western suburb in Mumbai, the team seized around 2000 pirated CDs and DVDs. The catch included Ram Gopal Varma’s Rann (released last week), Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 3 Idiots, Vishal Bharadwaj’s Ishqiya and and Salman Khan starrer Veer. The pirated DVDs also consisted of yet-to-be released English movie Law Abiding Citizen and Marathi movies Jhenda and Natrang. The total amount of confiscated goods was around Rs 127,000.


    The next raid carried out near Matunga West railway station uncovered 2,730 pirated CDs and DVDs worth Rs 142,000.


    Says former IPS officer and Ex ATS chief AA Khan, “Piracy is a serious offence and one which is rampant within major parts of the city. We along with Mumbai Police are dedicated to the cause of arresting the increase of such activities. However, the job of the police is nullified since the common man goes and purchases movies from such pirates. People need to remember that besides denying the creators of the content their fair share, the proceeds from such sales fund several illegal activities including terrorism in India and abroad.”


    Four people have been arrested during the raids – Salimuddin Khan, Raju Prakash Teli, Dinesh Amrutlal Gupta and Santosh Kumar Sahu. The accused were booked under sections 51, 52(A), 63, 68(A) of the Copyright Act of 1957.


     

  • iiNet wins battle against Hollywood Studios

    MUMBAI: Perth-based Internet service provider (ISP) iiNet has finally won its long legal battle against a group of Hollywood studios after the Federal Court established that the ISP was not liable for the downloading habits of its customers.


    The group of Hollywood studios was represented by AFACT which held iiNet users responsible violating the copyright act. The studios argued that the ISP didn‘t take proper steps to curb piracy and was in turn encouraging this act.


    However, post listening to both the parties and investigating into the case further, the Federal Court reached the conclusion that iiNet did not have control on the peer to peer file sharing system called BitTorrent and therefore, couldn‘t be held responsible.


    The judge dismissed the case and asked the group of Hollywood studios to pay the court the costs.

  • Crest, Lionsgate’s 3D animated stereoscopic film to hit screens in October

    MUMBAI: After a long period of restructuring, stress and graduation, Crest Animation Studios is readying to open the global theatrical gates to its first co-production film project in October.


    Christened Alpha and Omega, the 3D animated stereoscopic film directed by Anthony Bell and Ben Gluck from the Crest Animation Studios-Lionsgate stable, is expected to release across 2,200 screens worldwide.


    The movie is part of the three-film deal between Crest Animation Studios and Lionsgate that was signed in 2005.


    For Alpha and Omega, Crest Animation is handling the production process of the movie and will also take care of the project‘s distribution and marketing in India.


    In a bid to exploit the licensing and merchandising (L&M) opportunities from the film, Lionsgate has tied up with publishing house Scholastic for launching a variety of books based on the movie.


    As part of the film‘s marketing and promotion initiative, the film‘s trailers will be released in spring followed by various promotional activities beginning September till November.


    Alpha and Omega has been produced through the special purpose vehicle (SPV) route, thereby helping in derisking Crest Animation.


    Meanwhile, the two companies have also announced the co-production of their next film, Norm Of The North, that is due for release in October 2010.


    Said Lionsgate Family Entertainment EVP, USA Ken Katsumoto, “Our partnership with Crest has gotten off to a terrific start with Alpha and Omega and Norm of the North is an ideal follow-up. In its range of characters, locations and narrative, Norm of the North offers a bounty of riches for family audiences.”


    Norm of the North is written by Steven and Daniel Altiere. Katsumoto will oversee the production for Lionsgate while Crest Animation production president Richard Rich will oversee for Crest.


    The third offspring from Crest and Lionsgate is in the early development stage.


    Shares of Crest closed Thursday at Rs 69.70 on the BSE, up 4.03 per cent from the previous close.