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Tag: Hollywood

  • SRK ties up with HomeShop18 for Ra.One merchandise

    SRK ties up with HomeShop18 for Ra.One merchandise

    MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan has tied up with Homeshop18, to showcase Ra.One merchandise on a special series on the home shopping channel.

    With the deal in place, exclusive offers and gift hampers on the original merchandise will be available on the channel‘s website.

    As official shopping partner of Ra.One, HomeShop18 will sell the original movie merchandise through both its 24 hours home shopping channel and ecommerce portal, www.homeshop18.com.

    Khan said, “I would like everyone to watch the movie and bring home G.One. It gives me immense pleasure to collaborate with HomeShop18 as the association would help us reach out to the masses with our super-movie. Through this association, we are trying a new form of movie marketing in India, much like the practice in Hollywood. We want our audiences to not only get entertained by Ra.One but also get a chance to own a piece of the movie as they shop in the comfort of their homes.”

    “HomeShop18‘s retail setup is a significant boost to the movie industry and we look forward to partnering with them for our future projects,” he added.

    HomeShop18 founder and CEO Sundeep Malhotra added, “We are excited to partner with Red Chillies for the biggest release of this year, Ra.One as its shopping partner. SRK wanted to take the merchandise to families across the country and we are happy to provide him with the platform. Ra.One merchandise and toys would make for an excellent gifting option along with our ongoing Diwali Dhamaal promotion,”

    The merchandise includes gift hampers like Ra.One action figure, G Balls, Ra.One Frisbee, pencil box, lunch box, stationary set, notebooks, sipper set, exam board, coin bank, toy laptops, fridge magnets, wristbands, key chains and car danglers.

  • Universal Pictures International to launch standalone theatrical

    Universal Pictures International to launch standalone theatrical

    NEW DELHI: Universal Pictures International is to launch a standalone theatrical distribution operation in India and expects to bring some major hits next year.

    “With 2012 bringing us arguably Universal‘s best slate in several years, we have high aspirations for the market,” said Universal President (International) David Kosse, adding that distributing in India had always been an ambition for Universal Pictures International.

    The new unit will be headed by managing director Sarabjit Singh, who previously spent more than a decade with Paramount Films of India as general manager.

    He is credited with overseeing the release of 276 films from Universal and Paramount and of pioneering the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu dubbed release of Jurassic Park, a move which proved a hit with Indian audiences and caused most other Hollywood films to release films with local language voice tracks.

    “Sarabjit has been instrumental in UPI‘s success in India. His experience in setting up distribution operations in the market will be invaluable as we build our team,” said UPI President of Distribution Duncan Clark.

  • Avatar most downloaded film

    Avatar most downloaded film

    MUMBAI: According to a study by TorrentFreak, James Cameron‘s 3-D blockbuster Avatar has been the most pirated film in the history of Hollywood.

    The film has been downloaded some 21 million times since it was released in 2009.

    It may be remembered that Cameron once touted 3D filmmaking as the entertainment industry‘s best hope for combating piracy, but there has been no respite and the 3D spectacle could not escape the wrath of torrent sites, it is said.

    Avatar‘s 21 million downloads beat out 19 million downloads apiece for The Dark Knight and Transformers. The Leonardo DiCaprio starrer Inception and Todd Phillips‘ Hangover ranked fourth and fifth respectively in the most pirated list.

    Following them were Star Trek, Kick-Ass, The Departed, The Incredible Hulk, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World‘s End to round off the top ten.

    All of the films on the TorrentFreak‘s all-time list of “most pirated movies” did quite well at the box office.

  • San Sebastian fest honours Glen Close

    San Sebastian fest honours Glen Close

    MUMBAI: The 59th San Sebastian International Film Festival has honoured actress Glenn Close with the Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award.The award was handed to her by director Rodrigo Garcia.
     
    “It‘s a spectacular career that speaks for itself with some characters that have become historic,” Garcia said in his introduction of Close. After receiving the award, Close has been quoted in a remark, “This is the first lifetime achievement award I‘ver received. And what I am thinking of is the army of people I have collaborated with over the course of my career. They have inspired me, challenged me.”
     
    Calling actors the “alien nation,” Close said that actors make people believe. “Everyone wants to believe something. And we can remind people how connected we are. That, to me, is a priviledge. I pledge to continue to find stories that I hope you will love and characters that you can find a common thread of humanity with.”
     
    Talking to reporters about her work in Rodrigo Garcia‘s film Albert Nobbs, Close recounted how difficult it was to find work as an over-35 woman in Hollywood. Incidentally, the actress has written, produced and starred in the film.

  • Amitabh Bachchan refuses fees for The Great Gatsby

    Amitabh Bachchan refuses fees for The Great Gatsby

    MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan has said that he will act for free in his Hollywood debut film, The Great Gatsby, that stars Leonardo DiCaprio.

    Bachchan declared that he had waived his fee as he was making a “mere one scene appearance”. The actor will play Meyer Wolfsheim, a Jewish man described as a gambler in F Scott Fitzgerald‘s classic novel.

     
    The Great Gatsby is the story of 1920s high society in the US, the golden age of excess before the ‘Depression‘.

    The $126 million film is currently being shot in Australia.

  • New York Film Academy to launch India outfit in 2012

    New York Film Academy to launch India outfit in 2012

    New Delhi: The New York Film Academy, along with the AMR Group, is set to launch its first branch in India in 2012 with its first campus being set in Greater Noida.

    The Academy has shown keen interest to have Bollywood celebrities as guest lecturers. Said New York Film Academy president marketing and business development Kitty Koo, “Just like we invite guests from Hollywood, we would definitely like to invite guest lecturers from Bollywood because it’s quite inspiring for the students. We approached some of the Bollywood actors, but unfortunately their philosophy is all about money. We follow a philosophy which is giving back and sharing with students. Hollywood celebrities enjoy teaching, they want to share what they have. The fee that Bollywood celebs asked was shocking. “

    The Academy boasts of guest lecturers like filmmaker Steven Speilberg and Kevin Spacey. The Academy hopes to fly them down to India for a lecture at their campus here.

    “We have different guest lecturers in our campuses like Speilberg and Spacey and hopefully when the Delhi school is launched we would happily arrange for their visit based on their itinerary because sometimes they are not easy to get,” Koo added.

    The New York Film Academy started in 1992 in Robert DeNiro`s Tribecca Film Center and started offering innovative curriculum and intensive hands on filmmaking programsme. Later it expanded to Manhattan, Soho, and Los Angeles. It also has its campuses in Abu Dhabi, Brisbane and New South Wales.

  • Amitabh Bachchan set to make Hollywood debut

    Amitabh Bachchan set to make Hollywood debut

    MUMBAI: For the first time in his 40-year career, Amitabh Bachchan will be making his Hollywood debut with Baz Luhrmann‘s The Great Gatsby that will have Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire in lead roles.

    “Amitabh, who is lovingly called Big B in the Indian film industry, is the latest to join the cast of the romantic drama, along with Scottish-Australian actress Isla Fisher. He will play the role of Meyer Wolfsheim,” said an official statement from Warner Bros Pictures.

    The $125 million project is a 3D adaptation of the classic F Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same name. The principal photography of the movie began this week in Sydney.

    “Fitzgerald loved the movies and was a passionate believer in the power of cinema. The Great Gatsby has been adapted for the screen no less than four times. Fitzgerald‘s story defies time and geography. The vision and the goal of our remarkable cast and creative is to do justice to the deftness of Fitzgerald‘s telling, and illuminate its big ideas and humanity. This is our challenge and our adventure,” said Luhrmann.

    Others who can be seen in the film are Joel Edgerton, Carey Mulligan and debutante Elizabeth Debicki.

    The film will be distributed in 3D and 2D by Warner Bros Pictures and in certain territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

  • Israel lures Hollywood filmmakers

    Israel lures Hollywood filmmakers

    MUMBAI: Crying halt to Hollywood filming Jesus‘ crucifixion in Italy and the Crusader invasion of the Holy Land in Morocco, Israel is wooing Hollywood filmmakers to shoot on its locations.

    Israeli officials are promising better tax breaks, terror attack insurance and handouts of up to $400,000 in this connection. By this, they want to cash in on the multibillion-dollar industry and want the real Jerusalem on the silver screen and not Mediterranean stand-ins.

    “It‘s absurd. Movies set in Jerusalem are filmed in Malta, Morocco and Greece,” Yoram Honig, an Israeli film director and 10th-Jeneration Jerusalemite has been quoted to have said.

    He heads the Jerusalem Film Fund, which was set up three years ago to encourage more moviemaking in the city.

     
    For a long time, it didn‘t make financial sense for the producers to shoot in Israel. According to Hollywood filmakers, Jerusalem is too volatile to ensure smooth filming on location.

    While Israel in the 1980s attracted such star-studded productions as Sylvester Stallone‘s Rambo 3 and Chuck Norris‘ The Delta Force, it later lost out to other countries that started giving big tax incentives to producers.

  • Hollywood in turmoil as DVD sales drop

    Hollywood in turmoil as DVD sales drop

    MUMBAI: Hollywood is in turmoil with the news that DVD sales have fallen by more than ?3.5billion. The DVD market, once the industry‘s most lucrative revenue stream, appears to have peaked.


    The decline spells trouble for the industry which is desperate to avoid suffering the same fate as the music business.


    “Previously if films flopped you could make up the difference on DVD. That‘s harder to do now. Business is tougher and people need to be more efficient and adaptable. I think with the decline in DVD sales inevitably Hollywood is getting nervous about the films its making … and we could see a decline in the number of films being made,” said Studio Canal Head of Home Entertainment John Rodden in a report.


    High street rental stores have given way to digital providers and streaming services. But though digital downloads are on the rise, it is not offsetting the drop seen in physical sales.


    The market is worth ?2.6 billion to the UK economy but


    demand for actual discs fell last year by 8.3 per cent.

  • ‘Apes’ makes Rs 59 mn in opening weekend

    ‘Apes’ makes Rs 59 mn in opening weekend

    MUMBAI: Despite not having released in multiplexes, Fox Star Studios said its latest film in the Apes saga: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes has grossed Rs 59 million in its opening weekend.


    According to the studio, the James Franco-Freida Pinto visual effects extravaganza has been running to packed houses across India and has received a bumper opening in not just English but all its regional languages: Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.


    Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh said, ” Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes is a powerful film with a gripping storyline and splendid performances. The film, in fact, has grossed far more than all the other Bollywood releases that opened along with it.”
     
    The films that released along with the Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes are I AM Kalam, Chala Mussadi Office Office, Aagah-The Warning and Chutanki.


    Touted as one of the most entertaining films of this year, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes has already gathered a lot of Oscar buzz in Hollywood for its spectacular special effects by Oscar winning agency Weta Digital, and Andy Serkis‘ performance as Caesar the ape.