ITV

Category: Movies

  • UTV lines up four films for 2010 first quarter

    MUMBAI: Backed by the success of three genre-defining blockbusters of 2009 in Kaminey, Wake Up Sid and Dev.D, UTV Motion Pictures has announced an aggressive line up of four films for the last quarter of the fiscal (January to March 2010).


    Take a look:


    Chance Pe Dance, directed by Ken Ghosh starring Shahid Kapoor and Genelia D‘souza. The film will have a worldwide release on 15 January.


    India‘s official entry to the Oscars this year, Harishchandrachi
    Factory will hit the screens on 22 January. This Marathi film directed by Paresh Mokashi is a co-production of UTV with Paprika Media and Mayasabha.


    Peter Gaya Kaam Se, directed by John Owen stars Rajeev Khandelwal and Lekha Washington. The film is scheduled for a March 2010 release.


    Finally there is Paan Singh Tomar directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia. The film stars Irrfan Khan and Mahie Gill. It will also be released in March 2010.


    Says UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur, “While 2009 has been a low year for the film industry in general, we released some interesting films which etched themselves in the minds of the audience.


    “Dev.D, Kaminey and Wake Up Sid created new benchmarks for what can now be perceived as commercial cinema. Our slate for 2010 promises to be a very entertaining mix and we are very excited to be bringing audiences such a wide array of interesting cinema.”


    The New Year will also have UTV releasing films like Prakash Jha‘s Raajneeti, Sanjay Leela Bhansali‘s Guzarish, Anees Bazmee‘s Thank You, Rajkumar Gupta‘s No One Killed Jessica, Vishal Bhardwaj‘s Ek Bataa Saat, Aamir Khan Productions‘ Delhi Belly and Peepli Live.
     

  • Tarantino, Cotillard among Palm Springs honorees

    MUMBAI: Quentin Tarantino and Marion Cotillard have been added to the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala.


    While Cotillard will receive the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award, Tarantino will receive the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.


    This will be Cotillard‘s second festival award. She received the Breakthrough Performance Award in 2008 for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose.She is currently starring in Rob Marshall‘s Nine.


    This year Tarantino came into the limelight in Inglourious Basterds. He has also done films like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Reservoir Dogs.


    Honorees whose names have been previously announced are Jeff Bridges, T Bone Burnett, Mariah Carey, Morgan Freeman, Anna Kendrick, Helen Mirren, Jason Reitman and Jeremy Renner.


    The festival runs from 30 December to 18 January.
     

  • Peter Jackson named a New Zealand knight

    MUMBAI: Writer, director Peter Jackson, whose widely-appreciated Lord of the Rings trilogy bagged as many as 17 Oscars, has been conferred with a knighthood in New Zealand.


    He becomes Sir Peter Jackson for what the annual list honoring the country‘s worthy citizens simply calls “services to film.”


    New Zealand knights and dames, among the nation‘s highest honors, are sanctioned by Britain‘s Queen Elizabeth II, New Zealand‘s head of state.


    The Lord of the Rings triology showcased New Zealand‘s unique natural scenery as writer J.R.R. Tolkien‘s fantasy land, filled with sword-swinging warriors, elves, wizards and hairy-footed hobbits.

  • Robert Pattinson may reap in a bonanza

    MUMBAI: The 22-year old Robert Pattinson may end up with a multi-million pound share of earnings from his latest project, the hit Twilight series.


    Pattison, who plays vampire Edward Cullen, was said to be set for a double treat from the series based on books by Stephanie Meyer.


    Reports say that Summit Entertainment is mulling splitting the final novel Breaking Dawn into two parts after the latest film, New Moon made nearly 300 million pounds in just two weeks of its opening.


    Said a source, “It‘s an extraordinary cash cow and the company wants to keep it going for as long as possible. They‘re giving very serious consideration to the idea.


    “A lot of cheque-waving and glad-handing would have to happen if the plan goes ahead. No one is locked into a fifth movie so the key talent could be looking at multi- million pound pay days,” the source added.

  • Amy Adams’ Leap Year releasing on 8 January

    MUMBAI: Oscar-nominated Amy Adams‘ latest film Leap Year is set for release on 8 January.


    In the Anand Tucker-directed movie, Adams plays Anna, a frustrated New Yorker who decides she can‘t wait to be asked the marriage question, so she heads to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend (Adam Scott) on leap day.


    The only thing that doesn‘t co-operate with Anna‘s plan is the Irish weather. So when her flight on the way to Dublin is re-directed to Cardiff, Wales, she ends up on a boat across the stormy Irish Sea to Ireland. Then she sets out on a cross-country trek to Dublin, aided by Declan, a cynical innkeeper (Matthew Goode) who‘s been paid to get her there by 29 February.


    Said Adams, “In the beginning, I play the modern woman who thinks she knows where she is going,” notes Adams of her character. Then she loses control, but by doing so, she finds out who she is and what she wants.”


    Adams earned her second Academy Award nomination for her nun portrayal opposite Streep‘s stern Sister Aloysius in Doubt. And the 35 year old actress might pick up another Oscar nod for her Julie Powell to Streep‘s Julia Child in the year‘s well-received comedy, Julie and Julia.
     

  • Reliance Big Pictures looks for a big 2010

    MUMBAI: 2009 proved to be a good year for Reliance Big Pictures. Paa and 3 Idiots turned out to be two of the successes of the year. Now Reliance Big is hoping that 2010 will turn out to be a bigger year. It has lined up a mixed bag of offerings ranging from mainstream masala to regional and art house films.


    Take a dekko at its slate for 2010:


    Kites, produced by Rakesh Roshan and directed by Anurag Basu starring Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut and Kabir Bedi, will have its release in Hindi and English simultaneously.



    Well Done Abba, produced by Big Pictures in association with Sahyadri Films and directed by Shyam Benegal stars Boman Irani, Minissha Lamba, Sammir Dattani, Ila Arun, Sonali Kulkarni, Ravi Kishen, Rajit Kapur, Ravi Jhankal and Yashpal Sharma. It is slated for a January 2010 release.


    • Mani Ratnam’s Raavan in which Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be seen together on screen for the first time is a modern day adaption of Ramayan. The film is being readied in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu for a 10 August release.



    The Vinay Shukla-directed Mirch stars Konkana Sen Sharma, Raima Sen, Shahana Goswami, Shreyas Talpade, Rajpal Yadav, Boman Irani, Sushant Singh, Arunoday Singh and Prem Chopra among others. The film, scheduled to release in 2009 got stuck because of the multiplex strike and is to release later this year.
     


    Says Big Pictures CEO Sanjeev Lamba, “2009 was a challenging year for us. We had targeted to release 18 films in 2009 in late 2008. Who knew that we would have to face a long multiplex strike then. We released only 11 films while the rest got delayed for several reasons.


    “But, on the whole, the year 2009 was a year of satisfaction for us and we are very happy. With Kites, Well Done Abba, Raavan and other films which would be releasing till the middle of next year, we are hopeful that next year too would be an equally good year for us.”


    Big Pictures also has eight regional languages that would release next year.


    Prominent among them are Shaji Karun’s Malayalam film Kutty Srank starring Mammooty, Kamilini Mukherjee, Padmapriya and Meenakumari. Then there is Rituparno Ghosh’s Bengali film Abohomaan starring Dipankar De, Mamata Shankar, Ananya Chatterjee, Jishu Sengupta and Ria Sen.


    They are followed by Buddhabed Dasgupta’s Bengali film Janala starring Tapas Paul, Swastika Mukherjee and Indraneil Sengupta. Then we have the M S Sathyu directed Ijjodu starring National award- winning actress, Meera Jasmine and Anirudh in the lead roles. Finally,there is a Tamil film titled Singam directed by Hari starring Surya and Anukha. It will release in the second quarter of next year.
     

  • Capri fest honours Mariah Carey

    MUMBAI: Mariah Carey was recently honored at the 14th Annual Capri Hollywood International Film Festival when she was given an award for her performance in Precious.


    She won the award as the best supporting actress for her role as Miss Weiss, a social worker.


    Said Capri festival program director Pascal Vicedomini said in a statement “This special award goes to an extraordinary and extremely gifted artist who has sold more than 200 million records worldwide making her the most successful female artist of all time.”


    Precious has received high praise for its portrayal of a troubled 16-year-old dealing with poverty and sexual abuse.


    Carey is set to begin her first North American tour in more than three years set to kick off on New Year‘s Eve.

  • Warner Bros set to break own global box-office record

    MUMBAI: Warner Bros Pictures Group is set to reach global box-office industry record of $3.99bn for 2009. It thus surpassed its own previous industry mark of $3.66bn that it set in 2007.


    According to its own projections, the studio‘s domestic gross will reach $2.13billion surpassing the industry record of $1.789billion set by the studio in 2008.


    Warner Bros Pictures International is projected to reach $1.86bn year-end gross. This will mark the ninth consecutive billion-dollar year for both the domestic and international divisions.


    In 2009, Warner Bros released nine films like Gran Torino, He‘s Just Not That Into You, Friday The 13th,Watchmen, 17 Again, The Hangover, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, The Final Destination, and Where The Wild Things Are. 


    Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince was the key driver for the year, earning $632 million overseas and $302 million domestically. It was the biggest film of the year globally and ranks as the second highest Harry Potter release in North America and the third highest internationally.


    Four other films crossed $100m internationally in 2009. They were Yes Man on $132m, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button on $205m, Gran Torino on $121m, and The Hangover- the highest R-rated comedy in history in North America and overseas – on $190m.


    Four other films crossed $100m domestically: Watchmen on $107m, Terminator Salvation on $125m, The Hangover on $277m, and The Blind Side, which has reached $185m and will cross $200m. Sherlock Holmes opened on December 25 and is a sure bet to cross $100m based on its early pace.


    Warner Bros‘ 2010 releases include New Line‘s Valentine‘s Day starring Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Jamie Foxx; Clash Of The Titans starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes; New Line‘s Sex And The City 2; Christopher Nolan‘s Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio; and Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1.

  • Render and Layer are DGA assistant exec directors

    MUMBAI: The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has promoted Regina Render and Lisa Layer as assistant executive director.


    Render has been with the Guild since 2001 as a special assignments executive focusing on diversity, contracts and immigration issues. In her new role, she will serve as the guild‘s chief diversity executive and liaison to city and county government.


    Layer joined the DGA in 1997, serving in the Guild‘s Chicago office while she earned a master‘s degree in labor relations. In 2004, Layer transferred to L.A. headquarters as a field representative and was then promoted to special assignments executive in 2008.


    Said DGA national executive director Jay D. Roth, “I am proud to announce the promotions of Regina Render and Lisa Layer, two long-time DGA executives who have served the membership with excellence and dedication.” 


    “As assistant executive directors, they now take on additional duties as part of the DGA‘s senior management team. Regina and Lisa are skilled and capable executives and I know that they will do a great job in their new positions.”


    Prior to her tenure at the DGA, Render was a senior representative at the L.A. County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, before becoming a business rep at the International Cinematographers Guild.


    After graduating from NYU, Layer worked in New York City as an agent‘s assistant at ICM. In her new DGA position, she will work primarily in the areas of independent film and reality television.

  • Avatar adds $153m to Fox Int’l kitty in second week

    MUMBAI: Avatar grossed much more in its second weekend than Fox International originally estimated. It added $152.8m to $413.2m after 12 days of release.


    The result propelled the studios annual box-office tally to an industry-high of $2.28bn overtaking Warner Bros Pictures International‘s $2.24bn record from 2007.


    The James Cameron film played on 14,686 screens in 108 markets. Combined with the $212.7m North American take Avatar has grossed $625.9m worldwide.


    International business was driven by impressive holds and Fox‘s highest non-franchise launch in Japan on $14.5m from 749 screens, which was also Fox‘s fourth highest launch behind the Star Wars franchise. The 283 3D screen count comprised 38% of the entire count and accounted for 75% of box office.


    In the second weekend, Avatar grossed a further $21.8m from 1,114 in France for $51.7m, $13.6m from 1,329 in Russia for $44.2m, $12.8m from 1,138 in Germany for $34.2m, $12.5m from 800 in Spain for $28.8m, and $6.5m from 735 in South Korea for $23.4m.


    The film added $6.1m from 496 in the UK for $28.4m and $5.6m from 1,478 in Mexico for $15.1m and is now the second highest industry release of 2009 behind Ice Age 3.


    Elsewhere, Avatar added $5.3m from 654 in Brazil after a 5 per cent climb to stand at $13.9m following the highest second weekend in industry history and added $2.8m from 71 in Hong Kong following a 44 per cent rise to stand at $6.9m.
    It is the third highest Fox release ever and the seventh highest industry release after 11 days.


    Latest figures put Taiwan at $7.8m, Holland at $6m, India at $10.7m, Sweden at $5.3m, Switzerland at $4.4m, and Singapore at $4.2m, where Avatar is the second highest Fox release ever behind Titanic on SGD 5.3m.


    Avatar overtook Titanic in Malaysia to become the highest Fox release in history on $3.5m, and overtook Ice Age 3 in Indonesia to become Fox‘s biggest release ever on $2.9m.


    The film grossed $3.367m on IMAX screens in a new IMAX record. So far Avatar has amassed $11.3m internationally and should overtake the $15m record within two or three days. The global IMAX take for Avatar stands at $35m.