ITV

Category: Movie Channels

  • Kirk Douglas finances new Motion Picture & TV Fund facility

    Kirk Douglas finances new Motion Picture & TV Fund facility

    MUMBAI: In celebration of legendary actor Kirk Douglas’ 99th birthday, Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) has announced plans to build a $35 million state-of-the-art care facility, to be named the Kirk Douglas Care Pavilion (KDCP), on its Woodland Hills campus.

     

    MPTF Foundation chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg said, “We are grateful to Kirk and Anne for making this leadership gift of $15 million. It will kick the design and planning of this incredible new facility into high gear.”

     

    Katzenberg added, “It is in keeping with Kirk’s philosophy of giving back to the entertainment community that he is the one giving us the gift on his birthday instead of us lavishing one on him. And with their recent commitment to MPTF, Kirk and Anne Douglas are some of the largest donors in the history of MPTF giving, with over $40 million of lifetime philanthropy. We will never be able to thank them enough for all that they have done.”

     

    Douglas said, “Anne and I created Harry’s Haven in 1992 because we wanted to help families in the entertainment community struggling to care for and comfort their loved ones who have Alzheimer’s. What MPTF has done at Harry’s Haven over the past 25 years never ceases to amaze me. We wanted visitors as well as patients to experience a warm and loving environment, and MPTF has fulfilled our wishes admirably. He added: When Jeffrey Katzenberg explained the urgency of enlarging the current facility to accommodate more patients, we had to say yes! Jeffrey knows it is our philosophy to provide funding where it is needed most. The Kirk Douglas Care Pavilion is going to help a lot of families in our community.”

     

    “The KDCP will allow MPTF to expand its care to more industry members with Alzheimer’s and those needing skilled nursing care,” said MPTF president and CEO Bob Beitcher. “The first floor of the KDCP will be the new home of Harry’s Haven, our nationally recognized Alzheimer’s unit.” Beitcher added: “Kirk was visionary when in 1992 he recognized the implications of dealing with Alzheimer’s not only for those directly impacted but for their family members as well. MPTF is honored to be a part of the legacy of caring for our own that Kirk Douglas embodies by his words and his actions.”

     

    The KDCP is expected to break ground in late 2016. It will be a two-story home for 80 industry members struggling with Alzheimer’s as well as long-term skilled nursing care needs. Residents of the KDCP will thrive in small ‘neighborhood’ environments that look and feel more like home as opposed to the typical ‘hospital setting.’ The KDCP will also include a wandering garden and other contemporary amenities and programs for its residents.

     

    To celebrate his birthday, Douglas and Katzenberg officially launched the KDCP website: www.mptf.com/kirkdouglas where visitors can take a virtual tour of the new building and learn how they too can participate in funding its design and completion. Katzenberg presented Kirk with a model of the KDCP, designed by Zakian Woo Architects in Culver City.

  • Movies Now brings back 100 Mania

    Movies Now brings back 100 Mania

    MUMBAI: Movies Now is all charged up to bring back its official property 100 Mania to India with the best Hollywood movies. The channel’s initiative starts from 12 December, 2015 and will be aired in the prime time slot of 9 pm.

     

    This step by Movies Now for the Indian viewers will feature some of the biggest blockbusters titles like Fast & Furious 6, Man of Steel, Jack the Giant Slayer, Pacific Rim, Croods, Bean’s Holiday and Journey 2 the Mysterious Island.

     

    Viewers will also get an opportunity to win prizes like cars, bikes, iPhone 6s, digital cameras, HD TVs and laptops amongst others by participating in a contest wherein all they need to do is give a missed call on the number displayed on the screen during the 9 pm movie. The channel will be giving out a total of 100 prizes; one prize per day of the 100 day marathon fest of these Hollywood entertainers.

  • B4U Media Ventures to handle sales duties of Housefull Movies

    B4U Media Ventures to handle sales duties of Housefull Movies

    MUMBAI: The new 24×7 Free-To-Air (FTA) Hindi movie channel Housefull Movies launched by Triumph Media Vision Private Limited, has assigned its sales responsibilities to B4U Media Ventures.

     

    The channel has achieved almost four per cent viewership share in the northern market within a span of eight weeks since its launch and competes with the likes of Zee Classic, Zee Action and UTV Action.

     

    Housefull Movies MD Harish Patil said, “Being a new player with a content mix similar to the likes of second line Hindi movie channels and strong distribution, we aim to place Housefull movies as a full on filmipanti movie channel in the mind of the viewers and advertisers. The collaboration with B4U Media Ventures will aid in monetising our advertising inventory better, as we have seen the team’s ability to position the B4U group of channels in India within the minds of advertisers in a way that benefits both the advertisers and the channel.”

     

    B4U Media Ventures director Sandeep Gupta added, “With B4U Media Ventures we focus on creating a value proposition for the broadcasters and advertisers. We are proud to officially announce our first account and have faith in our team that they would be able to create new success stories. We are looking forward for a successful growth of the new association.”

     

    B4U Media Ventures CEO C. F. Moses said, “We are pleased to have Housefull Movies’ revenue mandate, which will be a strong contender in the movie genre in the coming months. Besides the exciting growth plan of Housefull Movies, the collaboration would help them in leveraging our domain knowledge, revenue management skills, and our industry relationships making it mutually beneficial.”

     

    B4U Media Ventures business head Amar Dixit said, “Despite the clutter in the movie genre, viewers have welcomed new launches last year. The robust content strategy of Housefull Movies, wide spread distribution and the consistent BARC numbers will give good returns to the advertisers and help in benefiting the channel revenues. Housefull Movies has tremendous potential and we are glad to be associated with it.” 

  • Zee Cinema bags four awards at Indian Brand Convention

    Zee Cinema bags four awards at Indian Brand Convention

    MUMBAI: Zee Cinema has recently bagged four awards at the Branding, Advertising, and Marketing (BAM) awards ceremony held by the Indian Brand Convention 2015 in New Delhi, for its constant innovative branding and communication efforts. The Convention was a learning, networking conference and an awards ceremony for branding, marketing, design, communications, advertising, sales and creative professionals in India.

     

    Amongst many other brands that participated, Zee Cinema was a front runner at the convention and the awards won by the channel include best corporate social responsibility campaign for November 2014 Children’s’ day Masti Ki Paathshala’ activity. It also bagged the best integrated marketing campaign for October 2014 campaign for promoting world TV premiere of entertainment, the best mobile innovation for May 2015 for the mobile activity done on world TV premiere of Lingaa. The channel has also roped in the best digital marketing campaign for May 2015 for the digital & social media promotion for world TV premiere of Lingaa.

     

    Masti ki Paathshala, was an initiative that the channel organized for the children of selected orphanages across Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad to mark the celebrations of Children’s Day 2014. Over 300 children were engaged with fun activities like movie screening, antakshari and fun games with a view to give them a memorable special day and let them know that they are valued and loved.

     

    The promotion campaign for the world television premiere of the film, Entertainment provided its viewers an exclusive opportunity to interact with Johnny Lever for the first time on Zee Cinema’s twitter handle. One of the comic actors from the film Krishna Abhishek was also made available for the media market visit in Lucknow which also ensured the visibility of the brand in the prime market. The channel also used a unique platform of airline branding (special branding inside the aircraft in Air-India) for marketing the movie innovatively. The film was extensively promoted via engaging and interactive activities conducted across social media platforms with the movie’s merchandise were given to winners.

     

    The promotion campaign for Lingaa included an extensive digital campaign and also an exclusive mobile campaign Rajnikanth phone call ad wherein participants received a pre-recorded call from Rajnikanth urging them to watch Lingaa on Zee Cinema. The mobile campaign had a reach of a gigantic 8.2 million.

  • MSM ropes in Red Chillies for TV and digital content

    MSM ropes in Red Chillies for TV and digital content

    MUMBAI: It was hardly a couple of  months or so ago that Multi Screen Media (MSM – rebranded earlier this month as Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt Ltd – SPNIL)   announced that it was getting into bed with global sports broadcast major ESPN in India to launch a few sports channels and sports initiatives.

     

    Now MSM has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Badshah of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment. The duo is entering into a strategic alliance under which the two will explore opportunities in co-produced- television, digital and film content. 

     

    MSM   has also acquired the TV rights of the film Dilwale which is expected to have a fabulous run at the box office as it heralds the return of the hit nineties on-screen couple SRK and Kajol. Directed by Rohit Shettyy, it also has Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon in pivotal roles.

     

     “Over the last 20 years that we’ve been in the industry, we’ve served some of the best cinema and general entertainment to viewers worldwide,” says MSM CEO NP Singh says “As a network, our focus remains aligned to becoming the first choice in television and digital entertainment. Towards that end, this alliance of MSM and Red Chillies is expansive and pans a spectrum of co-produced content not only across television and digital but also films. Moreover, this partnership adds to MSM’s already extensive library of blockbuster films.”

     

    Adds Red Chillies Entertainments CEO Venky Mysore: “We haves consistently pushed the boundaries across the spectrum, creating and producing entertaining content and ensuring it engages audiences worldwide on all the different platforms. In a first for us, we are entering into a partnership with MSM, that will explore content production across different platforms – TV, digital and films.”

     

    “MSM under NP Singh seems to be getting into higher gear over the last few months,” There’s a new buzz of energy going through the organization.,” says a media observer. “The ESPN partnership and now the Red Chillies alliance are clear indicators that the network has put the troubles of the past – like the ill-timed Sony Pal launch, and the lack of big fiction or nonfiction shows on its main GEC Sony – behind it. A new leadership has been brought into Sony –the mother GEC very recently. The alliance with Red Chillies, especially to create televised as well as digital content could provide it with that magic sauce that it badly needs to get Sony into the front runner status amongst Hindi entertainment channels. The fact that Red Chillies has had limited exposure to television and digital content could mean it could bring in fresh thinking into the programming.”

  • Prem Ratan Dhan Payo…

    Prem Ratan Dhan Payo…

    Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is about palace intrigue, conspiracy and, as is the wont with Rajshri movies, reconciliation and happy endings. Despite being based on a royal background, the essence remains the same as all SoorajBarjatya films: family and values. This is also the costliest venture Rajshri has produced.

    Salman Khan aka Prem is a street-smart Rambhakta in Ayodhya and loves to perform the role of Ram during Ram Leela. As in most films, Prem has a sidekick in Deepak Dobriyal. Salman Khan aka Vijay Singh is the crown prince of faraway place calledPritampur and due for his Rajyabhishek (crowning).

    Vijay has royal bearings and makes sure he shows it. One of the routines he follows is to have a sabre dual with his step brother, Neil NitinMukesh. Neil is much influenced negativelyin the palace by ArmaanKohli, a sort of major domo. Also, at odds with Vijay are his two step sisters, SwaraBhaskar and Ashika Bhatia, who want a share in the royal property. Swara ekes out a living as a teacher while Ashika is a student and good at playing football.

    Neilconspires with Armaan to remove Vijay from the scene so that he can usurp all the property; he has also been made to believe by Armaan that all his bills are to be sanctioned by elder brother Vijay. Vijay always clears all the bills but Armaan makes Neil believe otherwise thus creating a rift between brothers.

    Though about royalty, the film takes a contemporary approach. But we don’t know why Vijay travels in an old style stagecoach while the rest of the people use limousines. That is probably to make it easy for Armaan and Neil to bump him off! So, the coach rider jumps off the coach locking Vijay inside and the coach falls off a cliff.

    In comes Prem, put in place by the only loyalist, AnupamKher, a diwan from Vijay’s father’s time. Vijay has survived but is badly hurt. While he is being treated by doctors in some secret hideout, thanks to AnupamPrem is asked to pretend to be Vijay. Prem has a reason to accept because he has secretly fallen in love with Sonam Kapoor, a princess from another state, who is due in Pritampur for the occasion since she is the fiancé of Vijay.

    Sonam wants out of the impending marriage because she and Vijay are poles apart.Prem takes it upon himself to correct her misgivings about Vijay by being very nice to her. After all, he is the Rajshri hero who only has other people’s best at heart even if he has to make sacrifices. He also uses his goodness to win over the estranged stepsisters promising them equal share in all the royal wealth. No matter it does not belong to him!

    It is time to contend with the evildoers, Armaan and Neil, who have kidnapped Vijay from the hideout. For whatever reason, they take Prem to the spot where Vijay is captive. Armaan is now ready to betray even Neil and plans to let Vijay and Neil get into sabre fight till one is killed.

    Sonam’s job meanwhile is to sing songs with Salman and help him play the replacement Vijay with conviction by reminding him of her and Vijay’s past encounter. Of course, by now Sonam has also fallen in love with Prem and become demonstrative in expressing her love for him. All the negative feelings of various character are neutralized by Prem and he gets the trophy.

    PremRatanDhanPayo is unnecessarily long. The first half is as good as irrelevant as nothing interesting happens and the leisurely narrative coupled with loose script make the process slow and boring. The film shows some promise in the latter parts of the second half but again becomes predictable with a routine climax. The SoorajBarjatya touch is missing here and one also notices a few glitches here and there. There is an overdose of songs which are placed at random. However, the film has generally good score. Four of the songs have popular appeal. Sets are good and are well exploited by the cinematographer.

    The film is all about Salman and he dominates the screen throughout. Though the Vijay part is brief compared to Prem, Salman juxtaposes both parts very well. What ails the film is the total lack of chemistry between Salman and Sonam and the latter’s limitations as an actor, the fact which makes the romance hard to believe. Anupam lends credibility to his character of a loyal diwan. Neil has a smaller role and limited scope. Deepak, Swara and Ashika are okay. Armaan fails to make a mark.

    PremRatanDhanPayo may interest audiences away from metros with multiplex crowd soon tapering out. The film has opened to full houses all over and is expected to cross 40 crore mark on day one (released on Thursday), but it faces an uphill task with a price tag of 135 crore.

    Producers: Kamal Kumar Barjatya, Raj Kumar Barjatya, Ajit Kumar Barjatya.

    Director: Sooraj RBarjatya.                       

    Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, AnupamKher, Neil NitinMukesh, SwaraBhaskar, ArmaanKohli, Deepak Dobriyal, Samaira Rao.

  • ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ on Star Gold sixth most watched movie premiere on TV

    ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ on Star Gold sixth most watched movie premiere on TV

    MUMBAI: Even as Star Gold emerged as the number one channel in Hindi movie genre with the premiere of Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan, the movie has popped up in the sixth spot on the elite list of the Top 10 world television premieres from 2010 – 2015 as per TAM Media Research.

     

    Going by the Top 10 world television premieres, it is clear that the Khans indeed rule the roost… be it on the big screen or the small. Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots with 10.88 TVR leads the top ten list followed by yet another Salman movie – Bodyguard with 9.95 TVR in the second spot. Shah Rukh Khan’s Chennai Express with 9.50 TVR stands in the third spot, while Salman’sDabangg is on fourth spot with 9.19 TVR. In the fifth position is the Ajay Devgn starrer Singham with 8.72 TVR.

     

    As per TAM, Bajrangi Bhaijaan received 6.8 TVR, which is 0.2 TVR above the blockbuster hit movie – PK starring Aamir Khan, which premiered on Sony with 6.6 TVR and is in the eight spot, just behind Ra.One’s television premiere on Star Gold, which garnered 6.72 TVR. PKshone as the best world television premiere for 2015… up until this week before it was dethroned by Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Akshay Kumar’s Entertainment movie premiere raked in 5.49 TVR on Zee Cinema and was in the ninth spot. In tenth place was the premiere of R… Rajkumar on Colors with TVR of 5.45.

     

    In comparison, SRK’s Happy New Year premiere on Zee Cinema received 4.4 TVR, while Devgn’s Action Jackson on Star Gold bagged 3.1 TVR. ABCD 2, which aired on Sony grabbed 2.8 TVR.

     

    What’s more, Star India is also planning to telecast Bajrangi Bhaijaan on its general entertainment channels (GECs) in the near future. “The movie will go from Star Gold to Star Plus as part of our strategy,” Star India Hindi movie business executive vice president and general manger Hemal Jhaveri tells Indiantelevision.com.

     

    In week 42 of TAM Media Research data, Bajrangi Bhaijaan received approximately 14.6 million TVTs and the entire movie was sampled by nearly 40 million audiences that account to approximately 18.4 per cent of the entire TV owning audiences in the Hindi Speaking Market (HSM). It received a heavy time spent by viewers of 78 mins.

     

    While as per BARC India data, the film garnered a whopping 25 million TVTs (HSM CS 4+ Urban and Rural), and 74.5 million people, across the country, tuned into the premiere, which is close to three times the number that watched it in the theatres.

     

    Star Gold gained a massive 40 GRPs in this week, which is 53 per cent of the average of last four weeks, majorly owing to Bajrangi Bhaijaan according to TAM ratings.

     

    Jhaveri said, “We are very happy by the responses we have received from Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The film’s ratings are a strong validation that our strategy is aligned with the viewers’ demands. It was completely a 360 degree marketing plan and the content that worked for us. Salman Khan is clearly a star loved across the nation and the movie itself is iconic in every possible manner. The content was awesome and I am very confident that we will do better for years.”

     

    In most cases, channels acquire rights for 10 years from the production house for every film. Talking about the criteria of acquiring telecast rights of films, Jhaveri informed that the selection process is complex as it contains a lot of things while finalising the movie for the world television premiere. “It’s a combination of everything including actors, stories, performance and timing. It entails understanding of the content, some degree of popularity of actors and the production house. So it’s complex as it’s unpredictable whether a particular film will work or not. Over the past two years, we have become very selective in our acquisition process and are not as aggressive as we were earlier. And that is the trend that we will be following,” he said.

     

    After the world premiere television of Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Star Gold is now prepping up to telecast other recent releases in the coming days. “We have many films in the pipeline. Our next deliverable will be Drishyam followed by Hero,” Jhaveri said.

     

    As a part of its content strategy, after its premiere on television, Star also made availableBajrangi Bhaijaan exclusively on its over the top (OTT) platform Hotstar.

     

  • 74.5 million tune in to ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ TV premiere on Star Gold

    74.5 million tune in to ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ TV premiere on Star Gold

    MUMBAI: A staggering 74.5 million people across the country tuned into the television premiere of the Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan on Star Gold, which is close to three times the number of people that watched the movie in theatres.

     

    According to the all India data (Urban + Rural) provided by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, Star Gold emerged as the number one movie channel in the Hindi movie genre riding on the back of the world television premiere of Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

     

    Star Gold grabbed the first position in the genre with 486374 (000Sums). The film has garnered a whopping 25 million TVTs (HSM CS 4+ Urban and Rural), an unprecedented number in the history of Indian television. 

     

    Star India Hindi movie business executive vice president and general manager Hemal Jhaveri said, “Staying true to our brand identity, Home of Blockbusters, Star Gold promises to bring the biggest films to its viewers within a short span of their theatrical release. We are overwhelmed by the response on Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The film’s ratings are a strong validation that our strategy is aligned with the viewers’ demands. At Star Gold, we stand committed to our viewers and trade partners in our promise of bringing the biggest blockbusters on television.”

     

    The channel had rolled out a massive marketing campaign for the premiere. After its premiere on television, Star also made available the movie on its over the top (OTT) platform Hotstar.

  • Movies Now plans major marketing push for ‘Fury’ premiere

    Movies Now plans major marketing push for ‘Fury’ premiere

    MUMBAI: English movie channel Movies Now has put in place a robust marketing campaign to promote the premiere of intense and gripping war film Fury starring Brad Pitt.

     

    The channel will premiere the movie on 8 November at 1 pm and 9 pm.

     

    Apart from Pitt, the movie, which is based on the lives of the US tank crews in Nazi Germany, also stars Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena and John Bernthal. It has been written and directed by David Ayer.

     

    Movies Now’s strategic marketing campaign will be across mediums including television, print, outdoor, online, social media and mobile that will reach out to Hollywood film buffs.

     

    An extensive on-air promo plan, and a detailed outdoor campaign that will replicate standout scenes from the film in major cities, along with social media contests for Movies Now followers, plus a print campaign are some of the pillars of the 360-degree marketing campaign.

     

    Fury is a World War II film set in 1945 towards the culmination of the war.

     

    The channel has brought on board HP Pavilion Notebooks as the presenting sponsor for the premiere of Fury.

  • Film & TV exec Vivek Krishnani to head Sony Pictures India

    Film & TV exec Vivek Krishnani to head Sony Pictures India

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures India (also known as SPE Films India) today announced the appointment of Vivek Krishnani as its managing director, come 1 November. He will be replacing industry veteran Kercy Daruwala who is retiring after a long stint at the studio.

     

    Vivek was most recently Senior Vice President – Revenue and Marketing at MSM Motion Pictures. MSM Motion Pictures is the film production arm of Multi Screen Media,  which is a part of Sony Pictures Entertainment Television Network.

     

    Says Sony Pictures Entertainment senior vice-president, international distribution, Asia, Brett D. Hogg: “I’m very pleased to welcome Vivek to Sony Pictures India. He’s a media veteran with very valuable experience in the unique and dynamic Indian market, in both Hollywood and local-language productions. Under his leadership, we look forward to taking Sony Pictures India to even greater heights.”

     

    Sony Pictures Entertainment produces, acquires, and distributes its films under its various film labels: Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Classics, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and Sony Pictures International Productions.

     

    Vivek is excited about his new position. Says he: “I have had a great experience being part of the Sony family and I am now looking forward to a new role with Sony Pictures India. With a legacy of over 80 years since the first Columbia Pictures office opened here, Sony Pictures has over the decades continued to entertain Indian and global audiences. We have our own pipeline through which these products get funnelled. We are committed to further strengthening our distribution network in India and overseas for both Hollywood and local films. “

     

    He points out that the studio has a great slate of films lined up which are going to keep him busy just as he takes over. Among the big ones include the Jack Black starrer GooseBumps (in Hindi, English and Tamil) on 30 October, animation flick Hotel Translyvania 2  (on 6 November), the Daniel Craig (Bond) and Ralph Fiennes starrer Spectre (in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu). “ I’m excited to hit the ground running,” he says.

     

    Apart from the Hollywood pipeline, he is really looking forward to the MSM Motion Pictures-Balaji Motion Pictures  Azhar which is slated for a March 2016 release and also aims to scale up things a notch through  “third party acquisitions for India and overseas for Indian titles to whom we can provide an effective dependable distribution mechanism. We are committed to local product.”

     

    His  vast experience at 21st Century Fox, Fox Star Studios and prior to that with Turner Entertainment Networks should serve him well.