MUMBAI: The world will have to wait another year for its Independence Day 2. Fox has announced that it is moving the long pending sequel from 3 July 2015 – a date it had announced in June – to 1 July 2016.
That means the Roland Emmerich-helmed pic will arrive exactly 20 years and one day after the blockbuster original, which made a movie star of Will Smith. The sequel will go up against another bombing-themed movie Sony’s Angry Birds.
MUMBAI: Dan Stevens, the Downton Abbey star, may soon join Ben Stiller and Robin Williams in Fox’s Night at the Museum 3, according to reports.
After leaving Downton Abbey, the actor has been busy with Adam Wingard’s, The Guest and Liam Neeson’s, A Walk Among Tombstones. In Night at the Museum 3, the actor will play the role of Lancelot, which was a negative character in the film.
The action is set in London this time as it sees Stiller return as security guard Larry Daley, Williams return as Teddy Roosevelt and Shawn Levy returning to the director’s chair. The series has grossed close to a billion dollars in the past.
MUMBAI: The latest teaming of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio will hit theaters just in time for an Oscar run. Paramount‘s The Wolf Of Wall Street is opening December 25.
It originally was scheduled for 15 November. The studio cleared the Christmas Day slot last week when it moved the Chris Pine starrer Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit to 17 January.
It’ll be a busy holiday at the megaplex, with Wall Street going up against openers including Universal’s Keanu Reeves actioner 47 Ronin, Warner Bros’ aging-boxer comedy Grudge Match, Ben Stiller’s take of The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty for Fox, Open Road’s Justin Bieber docu Believe and the Weinstein Company’s August: Osage County.
MUMBAI: Doug Liman is in talks with Fox and producers Ridley Scott and Simon Kinberg to direct Narco Sub, the script by David Guggenheim. The plot: After a captain’s son is kidnapped by a drug cartel, he is blackmailed into piloting a broken down rebuilt sub from South America to the US, carrying 20 tons of cocaine.
It sounds a bit like Captain Phillips. Scott and Michael Schaeffer will produce with Kinberg. Resolution is working on Liman’s deal.
MUMBAI: Paramount’s Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, in which Johnny Knoxville punks strangers while in character as senior citizen Irving Zisman.
The previous three Jackass films grossed $79mn, $84mn, and $170mn worldwide for Paramount – but they also kept to the show’s signature disconnected shocks and pranks vs. a Borat-esque hidden camera narrative.
Bad Grandpa is scripted by Knoxville, director Jeff Tremaine, and Spike Jonze, and will open on 25 October against Fox and Ridley Scott’s The Counselor with no other major competition.
MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch’s compensation for the latest fiscal year dropped 3.7 per cent to $28.9 million.
He had made $30 million the previous year, but saw a slight decline in the latest period ended 30 June, according to a regulatory filing Friday.
The filing was made by his entertainment conglomerate 21st Century Fox, which was created along with new News Corp in a split mid-year. The pay for the latest year was for Murdoch’s work as chairman and CEO of the pre-split News Corp.
The fiscal-year pay for former News Corp and now 21st Century Fox deputy COO James Murdoch, the media mogul’s son, rose 1.2 per cent from $16.84 million to $17.04 million.
Chase Carey, president and COO of the pre-split News Corp and now 21st Century Fox, made $27.05 million in the latest year, up 9.2 per cent from $24.76 million in the fiscal year ended 30 June 2012.
Rupert Murdoch’s salary for the latest year was unchanged at $8.1 million, his stock awards rose from $3.51 million to $5.16 million, and he also received a $12.5 million non-equity incentive payout, a form of bonus he received instead of the bonus that he had gotten a year earlier. His other compensation included $274,531 in personal use of the corporate aircraft and $15,694 in personal use of a corporate car. The conglomerate’s stock rose 46 per cent in the most recent fiscal year.
James Murdoch’s salary was unchanged at $3 million, his stock awards rose from $5.26 million to $7.48 million, and he got $6 million in non-equity incentive compensation. Among his other compensation was $283,035 in personal use of the corporate aircraft and $8,925 in personal use of a corporate car. The executive oversees the company’s international operations.
Carey’s salary was also unchanged at about $4 million, his stock awards rose from $8.77 million to $12.91 million, and his non-equity compensation amounted to $10 million. His other compensation included $60,067 in personal use of the corporate aircraft and $14,400 in personal use of a corporate car.
MUMBAI: The 65th Primetime Emmys telecast is still more than a month away but plans already are afoot for next year’s show.
According to media reports the 66th Primetime Emmys will be broadcast not in September, as in most years, but rather in late August 2014 to avoid a conflict with NBC’s Sunday Night Football. According to sources the TV Academy has fixed 24 August for the awards.
The move is not a surprise. Each of the big four broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC – get to air the Emmys once every four years. Next year is NBC’s turn, and the network has scheduled the show in August each of the last two times it hosted. (NBC aired the Emmys on Aug. 27, 2006 and Aug. 29, 2010; every other Emmys ceremony since 2002 has aired in Sept.)
The reason for NBC’s preference for earlier air-dates is that, in 2006, the network acquired rights to air Sunday Night Football, and it does not want to have to pick between the two ratings magnets (the NFL season always kicks off in early Sept.). During the 2012-2013 season, SNF was the highest-rated, most-watched show on TV, according to Nielsen.
MUMBAI: The companies say that Raycom stations will be back on Dish Network “overnight,” and didn’t provide any details about the agreement.
The broadcaster owns or controls 53 stations in 36 markets including ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, and MyNetworkTV affiliates in cities including Cleveland, Toledo, Honolulu, Tucson, Baton Rouge, West Palm Beach, Louisville, and Memphis.
The stations went dark on Dish on 1 August when the previous carriage contract expired. Dish accounts for about 15 per cent of Raycom’s viewers, according to data from SNL Kagan.
MUMBAI: Mumbai based Media Nucleus continued its impressive growth story with its first wins in the African continent.Media Nucleus has clients across India, South Asia, South East Asia, Middle East, I and now Africa.
ANN7 based out of South Africa and TVC News in Nigeria have both chosen Media Nucleus’ flagship product, Broadcast Air Time Scheduler (BATS), to optimise revenues and deliver efficiencies in their broadcasting operations.
The flexibility of the modular structure along with the intuitive features of the software that ensures reduction of human error that delivers accurate billing and programming were key to BATS winning.
Value for money and the comprehensive, high quality yet cost effective were the main features that swayed the decision towards BATS in this case.
These broadcasters join global brands such as Fox and CNBC, top Indian brands such as Star World, India News, Fox Movies, Dhammal, PTC, to name a few along with a growing number of other channels across India,Middle East and now Africa who use BATS to run their entire operational processes or parts of it. The ability of BATS to integrate with industry standard broadcast technology infrastructure as well as ERP products such as Oracle or SAP are some of the features Media Nucleus clients value.
Media Nucleus Operations Director Santosh Nair believes this trend of gaining customers abroad would continue especially from the emerging markets that are undergoing through the digitisation revolution. Africa is the initial target but by no means the only one.
“Africa is a big continent with varied levels of market maturity however technology is proving to be a great equaliser in many respects and “digitsation” would open new opportunities as well as challenges,” he said.
“Our experience in supporting broadcasters and other content owners optimise revenues and deliver efficiencies in their operations and meet the challenges of digitisation in India and Middle East make us perfectly poised to do the same in Africa. “
Although BATS is the flagship, he points out that CAMS (a subscriber management system for Cable and DTV Operators) has also established itself as one of the market leaders in its space. The product was launched timely to aid cable operators and others in the industry to comply with digitisation requirements
The SaaS service model with little infrastructural costs and ease of use are some of the criteria that has made CAMS a success, but Nair believes, it is the comprehensive, high quality innovative nature of the product that defines it success especially as it also delivers quick RoI and results.
Nair goes on to say: “Our commitment to delivering value for money with quality products and services supported by excellent customer services has helped us become a market leader in India and we are confident that we can replicate the same success in other emerging economies.”
Aside from BATS, the company product portfolio also includes subscriber based management system (CAMS), a broadband billing system (BBS) and services that are aimed at optimising revenues and delivering efficiencies for all parts of the value chain in the media and entertainment industry.
This Mumbai company with offices in London and Dubai has set its sight on making an impact in the global media industry by helping clients succeed in a complex and rapidly changing competitive landscape.
MUMBAI: NBCUniversal has secured the exclusive rights to a host of NASCAR races and events starting in 2015 and running through the 2024 season.
The comprehensive agreement between NASCAR and NBC Sports Group covers the exclusive rights for the final 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, final 19 NASCAR Nationwide Series events, select NASCAR Regional & Touring Series events and other live content.
NBC’s 20 Sprint Cup race schedule includes becoming the exclusive home to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s final 10 races of the season. Of the 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup series events, seven will be carried on NBC annually, with 13 on NBC Sports Network. Four of the group’s 19 NASCAR Nationwide Series races will broadcast on NBC, with 15 on NBC Sports Network.
“NBC is known for being an exceptional partner and delivering outstanding production quality and presentation of live sports, as well as its broad portfolio of broadcast and digital properties so we are thrilled with the commitment they have made to NASCAR and its future,” said Brian France, NASCAR’s chairman and CEO. “We know this partnership will yield great value to our entire industry, provide a premium experience to our most important stakeholders, the fans, and help us achieve a number of strategic growth objectives. Our new partnership with NBC and the recent extension by FOX validate the strength of our fan base and the many bold steps we have taken the last several years to provide fans with better, more accessible racing.”
“Acquiring the rights and bringing NASCAR back to NBC comes at an important point in time for NBC Sports Network, NBC, and all of our distributors and affiliates,” said Mark Lazarus, NBC Sports Group’s chairman. “We look forward to working with Brian and his management team, who have brought a renewed focus to NASCAR’s intersection of sports and technology.”
“We are excited about the cross-promotional opportunities NBC provides, especially in the timeframes right before NBC’s NASCAR schedule and during the Chase,” added Steve Herbst, NASCAR’s VP of broadcasting and productions. “We’re confident NBC will utilize its powerful Championship Season lineup, including the NHL Playoffs, Premier League, the French Open, the Kentucky Derby and other events, to build interest and excitement for NASCAR. Those opportunities, combined with the opportunity to lead into the number one show on television-NBC’s Sunday Night Football-for select Chase races, were both very attractive prospects when considering this partnership.”