ITV

Tag: Motion Pictures

  • TV18 results show upturn for Q1-2014

    BENGALURU: Indian media and entertainment company TV18 Broadcast Limited (TV18) turned in a profit of Rs 5.9 crore after tax for the quarter on the back of a significantly deleveraged balance sheet as compared to a loss of Rs 23.5 crore in the previous year.

    Income from operations for Q1-2014 stood at Rs107.37 crore, with other income contributing another Rs 2.25 crore to arrive at a net operating income of Rs109.62 crore, lower than the net operating income of Rs136.91 crore reported for Q1-2012 and significantly lower than the net operating income of Rs147.06 crore reported for Q4-2014. TV18’s net profit was Rs 8.91crore for Q1-2014 as against a net loss of Rs 7.79 crore for Q1-2013, but much lower than the net profit of Rs 20.95 crore for Q4-2013.

    Let us take a look at the unaudited Q1-2014 figures

    Q1-2014 revenues from its media operations stood at Rs 383.4 crore, while those from its motion picture business were Rs 18.8 crore. Reduction of inter-segmental revenues of Rs 6 crore resulted in reported revenues for the television and motion pictures business, including IndiaCast revenues of Rs 147.9 crore (75 per cent for the current year) at Rs 396.2 crore for the quarter.

    Reported operating profit for Q1-2014 stood at Rs 23.8 crore, up 57 per cent over the Rs 15.5 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Overall, the company’s motion picture business dragged operating profits down. The company says that the losses from the Motion Pictures business were primarily on account of the tepid audience response received by its movie Bombay Talkies.

    In the current quarter, its release Bhaag Milkha Bhaag has been a critically acclaimed, runaway hit.

    For Q1-2014, motion picture business with revenues of Rs 18.8 crore reported an operating loss of Rs 8.4 crore, bringing down the operating profit of Rs 14.7 crore from the News and Entertainment segment and the Rs 15.2 crore operating profit from the Entertainment – Television business and the Rs 2.3 crore (75 per cent current year) from Indiacast.

    Comparatively, losses from the Motion Picture business were much lower at Rs 2.4 crores during Q1-2013, while during Q4-2013, the Motion Picture business had actually returned a profit of Rs 3 crore during the previous quarter (Q4-2013).

    Advertising Revenues grew 5.5 per cent year for Q1-2015 at Rs 227.5 crore as compared to Rs 215.6 crore the company reported in Q1-2013, but were significantly lower by Rs 50 crore (18 per cent) than the Rs 277.5 crore the company reported for the pervious quarter (Q4-2013).

    Net Distribution Income grew 32 percent sequentially to Rs 34.9 crore for Q1-2014, swinging from a loss of Rs 16 crore during Q1-2013 and higher than the Rs 26.4 crore reported during the previous quarter Q4-2013.

    IndiaCast is a 50-50 joint venture between TV18 and Viacom18 and has been consolidated as such. IndiaCast came into operation on 1 July 2012 and as such, is consolidated only from Q2 FY13. Also for the previous year it was consolidated as a 100 per cent subsidiary. TV18 moved to the Net Distribution Income methodology of accounting for carriage and subscription from Q2FY13. Q1FY13 results have been regrouped to ensure comparability. For Q1FY13, gross subscription and carriage numbers are included in the audited results of FY13. From the current year; we have stopped reporting new operations separately given their vintage. Segmental numbers are based on management accounts and are not audited.

    Effective 1 July 2012, IndiaCast has been managing TV18‘s and Viacom18‘s distribution operations. operating profits Net Distribution Income may be understood as subscription revenues earned by the company minus carriage/placement fees or any promotions/commission paid.

    News and Infotainment Operations

    The summary for this segment shows three streams – General News, Business News and Infotainment (AETN18). For Q1-2014, operating profits from Business News of Rs 17.5 crore were eroded by the Rs 1.4 crore loss reported by General News and another Rs 1.4 crore loss by Infotainment to arrive at a net operating profit of Rs 14.7 crore.

    Overall revenues for this segment were lower at Rs 119 crore for Q1-2014 as compared to the Rs 127 crore for Q1-2013 and significantly lower (by 25 per cent) than the Rs158.3 crore during the last quarter (Q4-2013). Even the revenues from the Business News stream were significantly lower (by 38.6 per cent) at Rs 57.3 crore for Q1-2014 as compared to the Rs 93.3 crore for Q4-2013, but were about six per cent higher than the Rs 54.2 crore reported for the corresponding quarter of the previous years (Q1-2013).

    General News and Infotainment streams revenues were lower for Q1-2014 at Rs 55.2 crore (General News) and Rs 6.5 crore (Infotainment) as compared to the Rs 62.1 crore (General News) and Rs 10.7 crore (Infotainment) for Q1-2013. During Q4-2013, General News reported revenues of Rs 56.1 crore and Infotainment Rs 8.9 crore.

    Entertainment Business

    Q1-2014 revenues for Viacom 18 stood at Rs 408.3 crore as compared to the Rs 340.8 crore for Q1-2013 and Rs 404.8 crore for Q4-2013. Operating profits stood at Rs 15.2 crore as against Rs 2.4 crore in Q1-2013.

    Broadcasting revenues for Q1-2014 were Rs 303.6 crore. The company says that

    operating profits from its broadcasting business grew by 35 per cent over the previous year.

    ETV News and Entertainment (Non-Telugu)

    Figures reported on a 100 per cent basis for this stream are as follows:

    ETV News revenues for Q1-2014 were Rs 27.8 crore with EBITDA of Rs 8.9 crore while revenues from ETV Entertainment stood at Rs 57.5 crore and a negative EBITDA of Rs 42.5 crore.

    Said Network 18 managing director Raghav Bahl, “The macroeconomic environment continues to be challenging and growth prospects remain uncertain. Given this backdrop, our broadcasting operations turned in a steady performance aided by the roll out of digitisation in 42 cities. However, there were pockets of weakness and we are committed to improving segments that are not meeting expectations. We have a strong portfolio of channels and remain confident of unlocking their value for our stakeholders.”

    Added Group CEO B Saikumar, “We continue to turn in steady operating profits from our television businesses. Motion pictures have seen losses this quarter and the management is confident of stemming them in the immediate term. While our news and infotainment businesses have seen distinct softness in advertising, our entertainment businesses led by Colors have performed well on this front. Net Distribution Revenues from IndiaCast are on a strong growth trajectory and we continue to be enthused by its growth potential. The industry is going through several important changes on both the advertising and distribution fronts. We believe that these changes are positive and will lead to a stronger industry structure. We remain confident of delivering a strong year ahead.”

  • Viacom18 sets up unit for brand solutions across the network

    MUMBAI: Viacom18 has started a new division by the name of Integrated Network Solutions (INS) which will look at partnering with clients to create large format IPs and brand solutions across the network’s brands.

    The INS team will work with teams across the network from the television to motion pictures business and explore ways to best optimise their relationship with their clients. The division had a soft launch around a month back and the first project it worked on was the MTV Video Music Awards India (VMAI) where it partnered with cell phone manufacturer and marketer Micromax.

    INS is headed by Jaideep Singh in the role of Viacom18 – Integrated Network Solutions SVP and business head. Singh has been with Viacom18 for nearly six years now and has contributed extensively in developing MTV as a brand in India.

    Singh says, “Over the past five years or so, the individual brands of Viacom18 have established their presence with the audiences and the advertisers. We thought it was now time to leverage the strength of the individual brands at the network level.”

    Singh reveals that the network has relations with nearly 400-500 clients and the intent is to identify 20-30 like minded ones and create IP properties with them so that the network and the client benefit.

    INS will conceive and deliver strategic, creative solutions that will leverage the Network’s media assets and expertise from both a creative and business perspective. The scope of INS’ portfolio spans across live events, broadcast properties and digital and mobile media.

    INS operates under two verticals – Viacome18 Live which deals with the experiential part of business, and BE Viacom18 (globally known as BE Viacom) which will look at broadcast side of things. Further, BE Viacom18 has been divided into three function areas – motion pictures, multichannel IPs and international business.

    Under Viavom18 Live, the division plans to develop nearly 20 properties across the youth, comedy, kids and regional verticals. In case of youth and comedy, INS has already zeroed in on events like concerts and comedy festivals. “For the kid’s genre, the idea will be to leverage on the huge brand presence that Nick has in terms of Dora the Explorer and Spongebob Squarepants. We want to bring the Dora theatricals to India. We have already started work on bringing the Nick Kids Choice Awards, which are a huge success in the US, to India.”

    For the regional aspects, Singh believes that while award shoes remain the strongest prospect, there is huge potential in the culture music and art across India. INS, thus, will focus on creating events like cultural festivals, folk music events and art exhibitions.

    BE Viacom18’s motion picture vertical will look after the brand association for films produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures. “The idea will be to identify brands that are willing to associate with our movies and then integrate the brand into the movie through placement, promotion and on ground activities. If the fit allows, we may even look at embedding the brand in the movie’s script,” explains Singh.

    The team will also work on creating properties which can be telecast across channels on the network (like Big Boss). Apart from this, INS will work with the global team to bring international properties to India and also take a few Indian properties to the global stage.

    “With MTV VMAI, we have accomplished out first project. We hope to continue doing good work through INS so that our clients and audiences benefit. For now, our goal is to make a scalable and sustainable business out of the brand network solutions initiative and I am glad things have taken off on the right note,” concludes Singh.

  • Viacom18’s Inkaar gets Siyaram’s Mistair as style partner

    Mumbai: Mistair, a division of Siyaram Silk Mills, has associated with Viacom 18 Motion Pictures‘ next ‘Inkaar‘ as a style partner.

    Mistair has launched special collection called “Powerplay” in association with the movie that is set to release on 18 January.

    Siyaram Silk Mills managing director and chairman Ramesh Poddar said, “We are very happy to be associated with Viacom 18 motion pictures movie ‘Inkaar‘ as their Style Partners. This gave us an opportunity to display our corporate collections by Mistair from the house of Siyaram Silk Mills for the New Age fashion conscious youth who opts for stylish formal wear to create an impression in their workplace.”

    The entire range of Powerplay is available at select retail outlets. Keeping in mind the young age segment that Mistair caters to, Powerplay has been offered in vibrant colours, thereby making it a complete techno-commercial collection, the company said.

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures chief operating officer Vikram Malhotra said, “Inkaar is a story set in Corporate India. The story revolves around the relationship and aspirations of two characters, Rahul and Maya, played by Arjun Rampal and Chitrangda Singh, who work in the same office. The film, like its lead stars, is contemporary, chic, glamorous, hard-hitting and powerful. We are pleased to be associated with a brand like Siyaram‘s Mistair which reflects the same values and talks to the target audience of Inkaar”.

    The association between Mistair and ‘Inkaar‘ was facilitated by Carat Fresh Integrated, an experiential marketing agency of Aegis Media India Group.

  • Kareena Kapoor-starrer Heroine gets eight brand associations

    MUMBAI: Kareena Kapoor, who plays a stellar role in UTV Motion Pictures‘ Heroine has become favourite of different brands. In other words, it can also be said that she leads the brand race.

    After The Dirty Picture and Kahaani, women-centric films have been garnering all the right attention, not just for being glamorous, but with great content and author-backed role, they are also collecting a moolah at the box-office.

    But Kapoor has gone ahead and has managed to get maximum brands for her upcoming film Heroine. Trade pundits say she is ‘leading and coming at par with her male colleagues in the industry‘. Her much-awaited film has managed to get over eight brands on board. This is by far the most for any heroine-oriented film. Besides Lakme, Head and Shoulders and Monarch Universal for whom Kapoor already endorses, other brands like Cera, Rupa, Jealous 21 and the likes have also associated with the film for in-film integration and various media associations.

    While Lakme is launching Heroine-branded makeup under the Absolute range endorsed by Kapoor, apparel brand Jealous21 will soon be launching a special clothing line inspired by the clothes worn by her in the film. Industry sources estimate at least Rs 15-20 crores of brand spends to be blocked for promotions around Heroine.

    “My director Madhur Bhandarkar and producer UTV‘s vision is finally ready and I am glad I could live through Mahi the character. It‘s been an exhilarating experience and Madhur has pushed the envelope to bring out a strong performance from me. Heroine is a women oriented film and I am happy that brands today are open to associate with such films which was never the case before. The trend is changing and I‘m glad to have instigated it,” said Kareena Kapoor.

    Heroine has an author-backed role for Kareena and Madhur‘s zeal to make it the way he had envisioned has prompted many brands to see an opportunity worth associating. Even though it‘s a heroine led film, because of its sheer content and Kareena‘s strong brand recall, we have successfully managed to have key brands on board. The product placement is integrated with the film‘s storyline in a manner that is inherent to the narrative and accelerates the story further.” Observed Disney UTV executive director – marketing, studios, Shikha Kapur.

    It may be interesting to learn that the Vidya Balan-starrers Kahaani, The Dirty Picture and No One Killed Jessica had no brands associated with them, while the Priyanka Chopra-starrer Fashion had brands like Sunsilk, Lenovo, Reebok and Kimaya associated with it and the Sonam Kapoor-starrer Aisha had Loreal, Christian Dior Couture and DLF Emporio associated with it.

  • PVR to release Chaurahen on 16 March

    PVR to release Chaurahen on 16 March

    MUMBAI: PVR Cinemas is gearing up to release director Rajshree Ojha’s film, Chaurahen (Crossroads), across Delhi Gurgaon, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore on 16 March.

    The film is based on short stories penned by author Nirmal Verma. An urban film about relationships and set in three cities, the film shows a Mumbai couple going through ups and downs in their relationship, an extra-marital affair in Kolkata and a father coming to terms with his son’s death in Kochi.

    Chaurahen stars Zeenat Aman, Victor Banerjee, Roopali Ganguly, Soha Ali Khan and Shayan Munshi in pivotal roles.

    Interestingly, Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter Kiera has an important role in the film. She plays Lea, who has an extramarital affair in Kolkata.

    Explaining how she got Kiera on board, Ojha disclosed, “She had watched my first film Moment (1999) which I made as a student in America. It fetched me a Student Academy Award (an Oscar competition for student films initiated by Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences). After that she evinced interest in working with me. I informed her that I was shooting in Mumbai. She said she had no issues and that’s how she came on board.”

  • DAR, Nikhil Advani to co-produce Mehrunisa

    DAR, Nikhil Advani to co-produce Mehrunisa

    MUMBAI: Nikhil Advani‘s Emmay Entertainment has decided to produce Sudhir Mishra‘s dream project Mehrunisa along with DAR Motion Pictures, the filmed entertainment division of DAR Media.

    Announcing the co-production DAR Capital Group Chairman Arun Rangachari said, "Mehrunisa is today among one of the most anticipated movies within the industry being propelled and helmed by some of the best in the business. This apart the movie perfectly matched our sensibilities of what we would define as good commercial cinema and we had absolutely no hesitation partnering in this project."

    Set in the beautiful locales of Lucknow, the Sudhir Mishra film is a romantic drama with light hearted moments that track the enmity of two bitter rivals and their past romance. Alternating between the present and the past, the story deals with their actions when the love of their life returns to their world.

    Commented Mishra, "Mehrunisa has lived with us for a very long time, and having a partner like DAR on board is an added strength. A project of this stature needs a strong foundation; DAR & Emmay provide exactly that & more."

    It may be noted that earlier UTV was to co-produce Mehrunisa. That was the reason why Amitabh Bachchan was hesitating to sign for the film. But now with UTV out of the scene, Mishra has acquired the veteran star‘s approval.

  • AMPTP locks horns with FWICE over ban on Galani

    AMPTP locks horns with FWICE over ban on Galani

    MUMBAI: The Association of Motion Pictures and Television Programmers and Producers (AMPTPP) has slammed the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) over its ban on producer Vijay Galani who is said to be in a dispute with Salman Khan on the latter’s payment issues.

    Galani has been reportedly accused of not paying Khan Rs 150 million for the actor‘s role in his 2010 production. Following Khan’s plaint with the FWICE, it passed a non-cooperation directive against Galani which implies that he cannot make another film in Bollywood until he resolves the dispute with the actor.

    The AMPTP believes that the non-cooperation directive issued by the Federation is illegal. It has alleged that the FWICE had unilaterally announced non-cooperation without holding a joint meeting with producers. "It is illegal and Galani has told us that he will be taking legal action against FWICE," president of AMPTPP Ratan Jain has reportedly said.

    "The producer has told us that he does not owe Salman any money. The actor has not provided any documentary evidence to show that Galani has to pay him Rs 150 million," Jain averred.

  • Golden Globes nominations out

    Golden Globes nominations out

    MUMBAI: The nominations for the 69th Golden Globe Awards 2012 are out.

    Films that have been nominated for Nest Motion Pictures-Drama are: The Descendants, The Help, Hugo,The Ides of March, Moneyball and War Horse.

    Nominations for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama have gone to Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs, Viola Davis for The Help, Rooney Mara for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady and Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin.

    Nominations for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama have been bagged by George Clooney for The Descendants, Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar, Michael Fassbender for Shame, Ryan Gosling for The Ides of March and Brad Pitt for Moneyball.

    Films that have been nominated as Best Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical are 50/50, The Artist, Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris and My Week With Marilyn.

    Actresses who have been nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical are
    Jodie Foster for Carnage, Charlize Theron for Young Adult
    Kristen Wiig for Bridesmaids, Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn and Kate Winslet for Carnage.

    Actors who have been nominated in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy or musical category are Jean Dujardin for The Artist, Brendan Gleeson for The Guard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt for 50/50, Ryan Gosling for Crazy, Stupid, Love and Owen Wilson for Midnight in Paris.

    Directors nominated as Best Director are Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris, George Clooney for The Ides of March, Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist, Alexander Payne for The Descendants and Martin Scorsese for Hugo.

    Other categories for which nominations are also declared are
    Best Animated Feature Film, Best Foreign Language Film,
    Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture,
    Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture,
    Best Screenplay — Motion Picture,
    Best Original Score — Motion Picture and
    Best Original Song — Motion Picture among many others

  • 10 films shortlisted for Oscar VFX category

    10 films shortlisted for Oscar VFX category

    MUMBAI: Members of the Visual Effects Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences have shortlisted ten films for the ‘Visual Effects‘ category.


    Among the films that have been shortlisted are Hugo, The Tree of Life, Captain America: The First Avenger, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Real Steel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and X-Men: First Class.


    All members of the visual effects branch of the Academy will view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on January 19 and vote for five final nominees for the award.


    The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on January 24.
     

  • 15 films in Academy’s visual effects list

    15 films in Academy’s visual effects list

    MUMBAI: Narrowing the race for films in the ‘Visual Effects‘ category, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has declared the names of fifteen films that would view to be among the finalists.

    The films that have been selected are Captain America: The First Avenger,Cowboys & Aliens, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Hugo, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Real Steel,Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Sucker Punch, Super 8,Thor, Transformers: Dark of the Moon,The Tree of Life and X-Men: First Class.

    Going by the quality of the visual effects, films like Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Hugo, Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon and Harry Potter and the Death Hallows, Part 2 would definitely be among the finalists.

    The next step is that in early January, members connected to the Academy‘s Visual Effects, who selected the abovementioned films, will narrow the list to 10. All members of the Visual Effects branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 short listed films on January 19 and after the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

    The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on January 24 next year.