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Tag: HBO

  • HBO strengthens movie library with 2014 Oscar winners

    HBO strengthens movie library with 2014 Oscar winners

    MUMBAI: The Home of Box Office (HBO) is all set scorch television sets this summer with some of the best award winning movies of 2013.

     

    The channel has acquired Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club, The Great Gatsby and many other path-breaking 86th Academy Award winning movies and will be premiering them on its 100 per cent Ad-Free HBO premium channels HBO Defined and HBO Hits.

     

    The 86th Academy Award celebration was a spectacular affair, and saw many unexpected, unbelievable wins. Hence, the mesmerising event has now escalated the Oscar fever more than ever and has got everyone clamouring to watch the award-winning movies. HBO is giving its viewers the best movies that swept the most number of Academy Awards.

  • First Footage of Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken released

    First Footage of Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken released

    MUMBAI: Complimenting the current ongoing Sochi Winter Olympics, Universal Pictures has just released the first footage of the upcoming feature film adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s bestseller, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.

     

    Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie directs and produces Unbroken, an epic drama that follows the incredible life of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini, played by Jack O’Connell (Skins) who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII—only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.

     

    Adapted from Laura Hillenbrand’s enormously popular book, Unbroken brings to the big screen Zamperini’s unbelievable and inspiring true story about the resilient power of the human spirit.

     

    Starring alongside O’Connell are Domhnall Gleeson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 & Part 2) and Finn Wittrock (All My Children) as Phil and Mac—the airmen with whom Zamperini endured perilous weeks adrift in the open Pacific—Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy) and John Magaro (Not Fade Away) as fellow POWs who find an unexpected camaraderie during their internment, Alex Russell (Carrie) as Zamperini’s brother, Pete, and in his English-language feature debut, Japanese singer turned actor Miyavi as the brutal camp guard known only to the men as “The Bird.”

     

    The film is produced by Jolie, as well as Matthew Baer (City by the Sea), Erwin Stoff (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and Clayton Townsend (This is 40). Leading the accomplished behind-the-scenes crew is 10-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins (Skyfall).

     

    Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) rewrote the screenplay from earlier drafts by William Nicholson (Les Misérables) and Richard LaGravenese (HBO’s Behind the Candelabra). 

     

    The following preview of the film that marks Jolie’s sophomore entry into film direction includes new footage from the film along with commentary by the 96 year old Olympian himself, Louis Zampereni and narration by Tom Brokaw, the former NBC Nightly News anchor.

     

    Click here to watch the inspiring footage: Unbroken – Olympics Preview

  • Sky and HBO extend content partnership deal

    Sky and HBO extend content partnership deal

    MUMBAI: The Home of Box Office certainly wants to live up to its name. In a recent development Sky and HBO have extended their original drama commitment and output deal to at least 2020.

     

    Under the new agreement, BSkyB and HBO will work together to develop and produce new drama series for broadcast on their networks in the UK, Ireland and US. Their goal will be to identify projects with the potential to run for multiple seasons and to commission these shows, with production to be jointly funded by the two companies.

     

    The collaboration includes an extended content output deal to ensure that Sky Atlantic remains the exclusive home of first-run HBO programmes in Britain and Ireland through 2020.

     

    The co-production agreement builds on the partnership that Sky and HBO have enjoyed since 2010. With the extended output deal, new HBO programmes – including True Detective and Looking – will continue to premiere exclusively on Sky Atlantic along with the return of award-winning shows such as Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire and Girls.

     

    Sky Atlantic has become one of the strongest channel brands in British television in just three years since its launch and is currently rated among one of the top three must-have pay TV networks according to Sky customers.

  • ‘True Detective’ gets off to a great start

    ‘True Detective’ gets off to a great start

    MUMBAI: Early buzz suggests that HBO’s brand new original series True Detective, which premiered in India on HBO Defined on 19 January, may well turn out a winner.

     

    With all eight episodes penned by novelist Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Fukunaga, the opening season of the crime drama examines a grisly Louisiana crime through the eyes of the detectives who handled the case.

     

    Matthew McConaughey – who just won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role for his turn in the Oscar-nominated Dallas Buyers Club – and Woody Harrelson play detectives Rustin ‘Rust’ Cohle and Martin Hart, respectively, as they recall the gruesome murder of former prostitute Dora Kelly Lange, whose body is found with a symbol painted on the back and a ‘crown’ of deer antlers on the head. With the narrative yo-yoing between the 90s when the crime actually took place and present-day, flashback is extensively used.

     

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com about the new series, HBO India managing director Monica Tata said that all HBO originals – series and movies made for HBO by HBO – were classified as premium content and were aired only on HBO Premium channels, that is HBO Hits and HBO Defined, without being punctuated by advertisements or breaks.

     

    “HBO Originals are path-breaking content made for HBO by HBO, which is what makes them premium. Watch these award winning dramas, with stellar performances from the biggest names in Hollywood, 100 per cent ad-free, only on the HBO Premium Channels,” informed Tata. “Apart from being ad-free and break-free on HBO premium channels, HBO originals are available within a week of the US premiere, which sets them apart from competition on other English GECs. As True Detective will be airing on the HBO Premium channels, no ads or breaks will be seen during the show. Each episode is close to 60 minutes in length, which TV lovers can watch on HBO Defined 100% ad-free and break free.”

     

    Asked if the series is suitable for prime time viewing, Tata replied: “HBO is known for its award-winning and critically acclaimed HBO original series and movies that air at prime time on HBO Premium channels, within a week of the US premiere. HBO originals are a key driver of our programming strategy for our premium channels and give consumers 100% ad-free entertainment.”

     

    So how many seasons of True Detective do they plan to air? “The only TV series that HBO airs on its channels are HBO and Cinemax originals. Our content rights are for all commissioned seasons. As and when new seasons are added, rights for the same are acquired for the region,” she said.

     

    Given the dark nature of the series, were there a lot of cuts? “All content that airs on our linear channels in India is edited to meet the expectations and requirements of the Indian market. Our content team takes great care to edit content in ways such that we can align these expectations without compromising on the viewing experience. Our target audience is in the age group of 15-44,” she responded.

     

    What was the marketing strategy? “Our overall marketing message is focused on promoting HBO originals as cornerstones of the HBO experience. For the same, we have adopted a 360-degree approach that communicates with prospective subscribers of HBO premium channels from all directions and across long periods of time,” informed Tata.

     

    So will audiences see more such gripping and compelling dramas now that True Detective is already on air? “HBO premium channels air a wide range of HBO original content. Starting with True Detective, viewers will get to see Hollywood’s biggest names in TV series and movies made by HBO for HBO. HBO originals have been a key part of the programming strategy for HBO premium channels since their launch in 2013. New seasons and series’ premieres for 2014 begin airing mid-January onwards. In 2014, not only will HBO Premium Pack subscribers get to watch the latest HBO original series such as True Detective, the year will also be filled with new seasons of existing popular HBO original shows such as Game of Thrones, The Newsroom, Boardwalk Empire, and many more,” Tata answered.

     

    She emphasised that since HBO premium channels are completely ad-free and break-free there is no sponsorship or on-air advertising. They are available for subscription on all major DTH and cable platforms across India, with a reach of approximately 30 million homes. The primary viewership, like other English movie channels, comes from metro audiences. The rights to broadcast all HBO original content rest with HBO Asia.

  • HBO Defined and HBO Hits now on Tata Sky

    HBO Defined and HBO Hits now on Tata Sky

    MUMBAI: Turner International India has launched HBO Defined HD and HBO Hits HD on Tata Sky.

     

    With this the two advertising-free movie channels will be available across 11 DTH and digital cable platforms in India.

     

    Turner is committed to continue bringing compelling content inside homes of consumers in India and on any device they own. HBO Defined and HBO Hits signify a new era of television viewing for the Indian consumer. We have received a very enthusiastic response from all platforms and are happy to have, Tata Sky, one of India’s leading DTH platforms partner with us,” said Turner International India MD Siddharth Jain.

     

    HBO Defined and HBO Hits feeds will be on Tata Sky channel numbers 358 and 360 respectively at a price of Rs 99 per month.

     

    “Tata Sky is committed to offering the best picture quality, sound and digital viewing experience to its subscribers and HBO Defined & HBO Hits are great examples of this,” said Tata Sky chief content & business development officer Poalo Agostenelli . “We’re pleased to provide an experience of accessing a wide variety of world class movies with the prestigious HBO original series in pure High Definition which is delightfully ad-free for our subscribers. This is truly a movie and TV series fans’ dreams come true.”

     

    The channels are also available on Dish TV, Airtel Digital, Hathway, GTPL, Manthan Digital, ABS Star Digital, DDC, JPR Network, Den Satellite (Mumbai) and Seven Star Digital.

  • Game of Thrones is the most pirated show of 2013

    Game of Thrones is the most pirated show of 2013

    With 2013 nearing its end TorrentFreak (TF) has released the list for their Top 10 Most Pirated Shows and Game of Thrones takes the crown again this year followed by Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. Game of Thrones holds the honour of becoming the most downloaded TV-show for the third year in a row.

    With 5.9 million downloads via BitTorrent, the 2013 season finale beat the competition by a landslide. More than half the downloads happened in the first week after the show aired and apparently the total exceeds the number of traditional viewers in the US.

    Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead complete the top three with an estimated 4.2 and 3.6 million downloadsa are est respectively. The datimated by TorrentFreak based on several sources, including download statistics reported by public BitTorrent trackers.

    It doesn’t come as a surprise that Game of Thrones topped the charts as the show has broken two piracy records already this year, with over 170,000 people sharing a copy of an episode simultaneously.

    There are a wide variety of reasons why people download TV-shows, but to a certain degree one could claim that HBO is to blame for the massive piracy of Game of Thrones. The network prefers to keep access to the show exclusive and even Netflix wasn’t able to buy the rights no matter what they offered.
    Interestingly enough, TF also learned this year that the huge number of unauthorised downloads don’t bother the show’s makers much. Game of Thrones director David Petrarca previously  admitted to TorrentFreak that piracy generated much-needed “cultural buzz” around his show.

  • HBO receives 13 screen actors guild award nominations

    HBO receives 13 screen actors guild award nominations

    MUMBAI: It seems to be a proud moment for HBO as it has bagged the maximum number of nominations in the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The nominations for the 20th Annual SAG Awards was announced in Los Angles recently and HBO tops the nominations tally with 13 nominations, more than any other network and almost thrice the next closest network.

     

    The American fantasy drama series Game Of Thrones has managed three nominations in its kitty for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (Peter Dinklage)”; “Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Drama Series”; and “Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series”.

     

    Boardwalk Empire, the period drama series set in the Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era too has got three nominations. The show stars Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, who has been praised for the portrayal. It doesn’t come as a surprise then that the actor has been nominated for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (Steve Buscemi)”. The other nominations are “Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Drama Series”; and “Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series”.

     

    The previous season of the comedy series, Veep starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, has already won quite a few Emmy nominations. Even now, it has got two SAG nominations of “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)’; and “Outstanding Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Series”.

     

    Michael Douglas, who with his role as Liberace in Behind The Candelabra, won worldwide critical acclaim with Matt Damon starring as the later singer’s lover Scott Thorson has also been nominated .

     

    Behind The Candelabra has two nominations: Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries (Matt Damon and Michael Douglas).

     

    Phil Spector, a drama centered on the relationship between Phil Spector and defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden while the music business legend was on trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson, has also won two nominations: “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries (Helen Mirren)”; and “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries (Al Pacino)”.

     

    And it isn’t a surprise at all to know that Jeff Daniels, who has already been appreciated for his portrayal of Will McAvoy in The Newsroom, has been nominated for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series”.

  • John Oliver to host International Emmy Awards gala in New York

    John Oliver to host International Emmy Awards gala in New York

    MUMBAI: The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has got comedian/writer John Oliver on board to host the 41st International Emmy Awards Gala, on 25 November at the Hilton New York Hotel.

     

    The man who made his mark as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and sat in for him in the hosting chair over the summer, will host the event for the first time.

     

    “We’re delighted to have John Oliver and his unique comedic talent headlining our Gala this year,” said International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences president and CEO Bruce L. Paisner. “We are delighted John is following up his very successful hosting of the Daily Show with the International Emmys.”

     

    After being a writer and correspondent for the Daily Show with Jon Stewart since 2006, Oliver filled in Stewart’s seat as guest host this summer for two months. Oliver has been nominated as a writer for both Emmys and Writers Guild Awards and has won the Breakout Award at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. His most recent credits also include hosting four seasons of his own stand up series for Comedy Central, John Oliver’s New York Stand Up Show. Along with Andy Zaltzman, he also writes and hosts the weekly podcast The Bugle.

     

    Over 1,000 international media and entertainment executives convene on New York each year for the International Emmy Awards Gala. In addition to the presentation of Emmy Awards for programming, the Academy will present two special awards.

     

    Film and television creator/writer/director J.J. Abrams will come to New York to receive the 2013 International Emmy Founders Award. RTL Group Co-CEO and RTL CEO Germany Anke Schäferkordt will receive the 2013 International Emmy Directorate Award.

     

    This year’s Gala partners are: Phoenix Satellite Television, TV Globo, Microsoft, Dori Media Group, Ernst & Young, Deluxe, Mipcom, Sofitel Luxury Hotels and Variety.

  • Old Spice deo ‘Smell Mantastic’ campaign for another 8 weeks

    Old Spice deo ‘Smell Mantastic’ campaign for another 8 weeks

    BENGALURU: Old Spice is one of the few brands that most Indians have grown up with. Procter and Gamble India (P&G) recently added a line of deodorants to the brand that has essentially been associated with shaving until now.  

    An online campaign ‘Smell Mantastic’, starting with what P&G calls the ‘North video’ created by Old Spice’s global creative agency Wieden+Kenedy starring model and marathoner and Old Spice’s Indian face Milind Soman, that was launched on 15 October has already garnered 20 lakh (2 million) views on YouTube.  

    Subsequently, an ‘East Video’ was launched in Kolkata that has been followed by a ‘South Video’ in Bengaluru today. P&G says that both the East and South videos have had over nine lakh views already. Another video – the ‘West Video’ is slated for launch somewhere around 19 November. In the Old Spice videos, Soman has donned different avatars of an Indian man across geographies.

    “This campaign will continue for the next two months,” revealed a source at P&G 
    A fifteen second TVC is also being aired on niche channels such as HBO and the Star Network’s movie channels amongst others. Tomorrow, a radio chat with Soman will be aired in Mumbai on Radio One informed the source.

    Sonman with Vidyut Jammwal unveiled the Old Spice deo range in New Delhi, in Kolkata the range was unveiled by Soman and Rahul Bose and in Bengaluru, P&G had Soman and Diganth on the stage for the unveiling. “We have not yet decided on the person who will be unveiling the range with Soman in Mumbai on 19 November as yet,” revealed the source further. 

    MediaCom handles the conventional media buying duties, while Interface Business Solutions (IBS) handles the online media duties for P&G’s Old Spice brand.

  • Netflix becomes bigger than HBO

    Netflix becomes bigger than HBO

    NMUMBAI: Orange is the New Black may have helped make Netflix the new HBO with investors.

     

    On Monday, Netflix reported a U.S. paid subscriber leap, which according to analysts, puts the streaming service squarely ahead of Time Warner’s HBO.

     

    The advances by Netflix spotlight a winning formula around original programming to attract new membership. Original titles such as Orange is the New Black and the Emmy-winning show, House of Cards, were big attractions for subscribers. Binge viewing of these titles have turned Netflix into a hit maker for the new generation.

     

    Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos remarked that the only reason to adapt the forecast model for the second season of Orange Is the New Black was because they were highly confident in the model and the quality of the show.

     

    Netflix’s U.S. paid subscribers jumped to 29.9 million in the third quarter, up from 28.6 million in June, passing HBO’s 28.7 million, according to market researcher SNL Kagan.

     

    Wall Street investors applauded Netflix’s programming results. Shares of Netflix rocketed 10 percent, at $391.39, in after-hours trading on the news. Overall membership at Netflix soared in the quarter from last year. It also reported more than 33 percent jump in members from last year, at 40 million compared with less than 30 million in the prior period.

     

    Since Orange has been a great success for them, Netflix wants to do more content like Orange.

     

    Netflix quarterly results beat estimates, top to bottom, according to a survey of forecasts from Thomson Reuters. Company net income popped 315 percent, at $31.8 million, compared with a year ago. Revenue nudged past estimates by $6 million on just over $1.1 billion in the quarter. Earnings per share of 52 cents beat analyst forecasts for 49 cents in the period.

     

    Netflix’s international audience jumped by 1.4 million new members from a year ago, driven by Nordic and Netherlands expansion efforts, the company said.