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Tag: Oscar Awards

  • Oscar.com to unleash content ahead of the Academy awards

    Oscar.com to unleash content ahead of the Academy awards

    MUMBAI: With the prestigious Oscar Awards a few weeks away, Oscar.com, the official site for the 79th Academy Awards, will provide movie fans with a lot of video.

    This includes behind-the-scenes content, a sneak peek into Oscar preparations, as well as online sweepstakes and interactive games. In india the oscars will air on Star movies on 26 February.

    During Oscar Week, 19-24 February 2007 Oscar.com will feature behind-the-scenes video diaries from the host Ellen DeGeneres as she prepares to host the telecast.

    Hosted by Allyson Waterman and Greg Vaughan (star of US broadcaster ABC’s General Hospital), Road to the Oscars will cover the events that take place during the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards, including footage from pre-Oscar events, interviews and post-show coverage. Road to the Oscars will feature four weekly shows and a daily show from 19 -26 February 2007.

    New to Oscar.com this year is a Q&A section with the nominees in which they answer questions. Fans can get to know the stars better. Also new is the Thank You Cam, where fans can see the first exclusive comments from the winners as they leave the stage with their Oscar statuette.

    Tom Julian, Oscar.coms official fashion trend analyst, will give fans a look into red carpet style with exclusive one-on-one visits with fashion designers. Julian will also take fans back in time with the Evolution of Style page.

    In addition Oscar.com will launch two exclusive promotions, Find the 79s and Predict the Winners. A watch-and-win contest, viewers can tune in during the live show to look for hidden 79s placed throughout the telecast. At the end of the telecast, viewers may log on to Oscar.com and submit a list of where the symbols appeared for a chance to win great prizes. Predict the Winners offers fans a chance to test their skills on their Oscar predictions. On Oscar.com fans may follow along with printable ballots.

    Users can also log on on 26 February 2007 to watch backstage interview footage with the winners of the 79th Academy Awards.

    Furthermore Oscar.com also has interactive games, including Your Perfect Oscar Date. This allows players to determine which celebrities would make their perfect Oscar night date. Which Character Are You? aims to keep players guessing about which memorable movie character they are most similar to.

    The challenge for the Academy though will be viewership. Apart from The Departed which made over $100 million the other four films nominated for best picture have not made much money at the box office. Their combined box office take is only slightly more than what last year’s nominees had made which was the lowest ever.

    In fact Clint Eastwood’s Letters From Iwo Jima a second world war film told from Japan’s perspective has made only a little over two million dollars. The Queen which stars Oscar favourite Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II made a modest $35 million. Babel made a little over $ 23 million.

  • Star Movies to come back on Mumbai’s airwaves from Monday

    Star Movies to come back on Mumbai’s airwaves from Monday

    MUMBAI: This should spell good news for English film buffs. After having been off air for nearly five months, Star Movies will be back on air in Mumbai from Monday, 5 February.

    The channel has submitted an application before the Mumbai High Court stating that it will only air films with a U or a U/A certificate. It might be recalled that archrival HBO had also been off air for some time. However it came back on air in November after submitting an application.

    Star Entertainment India executive VP Ajay Vidyasagar stated, “We are happy that Star Movies is back on air in Mumbai. All the titles that will be showcased, have been cleared as per the rules of the High Court. We look forward to entertaining our viewers in the New Year with exciting properties and titles and sustain the excitement, further strengthening our position in the English movie entertainment category.”

    Star Movies’ big event for this month is the 79th edition of the Oscar Awards which will air on 26 February 2007. This year there should be more interest than normal as Deepa Mehta’s Water is competing in the foreign film category.

    Before that on 18 February 2006 at 8 30 pm host Terence Yin presents the preview show Opening Night. It will have scenes from Dreamgirls which got eight oscar nominatiobns but surprisingly did not get a best picture nomination.

    It is a story of loyalty, fame and betrayal that tracks the struggle of a music group of African Americans carrying their sound into mainstream America. The Broadway phenomenon has been made into a film with Oscar nominees Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson and Oscar winner Jamie Foxx.

    In addition to this, the channel will be premiering some big blockbusters like The Myth, Hotel Rwanda and Proof.

  • American Idol, Superbowl, Oscar Awards top viewership in US

    American Idol, Superbowl, Oscar Awards top viewership in US

    MUMBAI: American Idol, the Superbowl, the Oscar Awards and the dance based reality show Dancing With The Stars topped the list of most viewed television shows, according to Nielsen which looked at the most popular media trends among Americans during 2006.

    This is the first time the Nielsen companies have released a compilation of “Top 10’s” for the Nielsen brands.

    . CSI, Desperate Housewives, Without A Trace, Deal Or No Deal and Grey’s Anatomy also made the cut.

    In terms of films Pirates Of The Caribbean 2, Cars, X-Men 3, The Da Vinci Code and Superman Returns were the top grossers. An Inconvenient Truth featuring former US VP Al Gore was the top grossing documentary film. Cars, Ice Age 2 and Over the Hedge were top grossing animation films. In terms of DVD sales Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire came out on top followed by The Chronicles Of Narnia, Cars and Pirates Of The Caribbean 2. In terms of web brands Yahoo!, MySpace, Google and eBay were the top four.

    The top advertisers were Procter And Gamble, GM, AT&T, Ford, Daimlerchrysler and Time Warner. In the online space the top advertisers were Gus, Vonage Holdings, Netflix, NexTag and Verizon. In terms of product placement on television the top brands were Coca Cola, Chef Revival Apparel, Nike, 24 Hour Fitness Clubs and Chicago Bears.

    In terms of books sold in the US the top five were For One More Day by Mitch Albom, Beach Road by James Patterson, horror writer Stephen King’s Cell, James Patterson’s The 5th Horseman and Janet Evanovich’s Twelve Sharp. Going forward this informatio

  • HDTV a threat to Canadian culture: Book

    HDTV a threat to Canadian culture: Book

    MUMBAI: Two university professors in Canada say that the country’s push for HDTV programming could ultimately threaten its cultural identity.

    Bart Beaty and Rebecca Sullivan have come out with a book Canadian Television Today. Media reports state that they argue that while HDTV is offered as part of an expanded choice for consumers, the selection of programming using digital over analogue technologies is almost exclusively American.

    They say that Canada’s integration of HDTV would limit the amount of traditional programming. This is because smaller local programme providers will be passed over for US offerings.

    Traditionally television is transmitted in analog format and while HDTV is transmitted in digital. The US wants to end analogue by 2009, but Canada’s media regulatory body The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has not set a date. The authors in reports have also questioned The CRTC attempt to rush to catch up with the American demand for HDTV even though Canadian consumers and broadcasters are lukewarm about the technology.

    The CRTC will begin hearings in Quebec, today 27 November 2006 and, among other things, will “examine options for the most effective means of delivering Canadian digital/HD television to Canadians,” according to a CRTC notice.

    While HDTV offers a better quality picture the monitors are pricey and there are still a limited number of channels and programmes available. The authors point out that while with HDTV you can see exactly how thick the makeup is at the Oscar Awards the question is whether or not it is worth the price.

  • Ellen DeGeneres to host the Oscar Awards next year

    Ellen DeGeneres to host the Oscar Awards next year

    MUMBAI: American television personality Ellen Degeneres will host the most prestigious event in Hollywood, the79th Annual Academy Awards or the Oscars as it is known. The award giving function will be held in Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on 25 February next year.

    This marks the fourth presenter in as many years for the show. In India the show will air on Star Movies while in the US it will air on ABC.

    The Association of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) has been desparately trying to appeal to a younger demographic. The three previous hosts were Steve Martin, Chris Rock and Jon Stewart. The feeling in some quarters though is that in a Tivo environment a lot of viewers do not want to spend over three hours watching a show.

    DeGeneres is the host of the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which this year won its third Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show and earned DeGeneres her second Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host.

    The announcement of DeGeneres as the host was made by producer Laura Ziskin. DeGeneres says, “When Laura Ziskin called, I was thrilled. There are two things I have always wanted to do in my life. One is to host the Oscars. The second is to get a call from Laura Ziskin. You can imagine that days diary entry.”

    DeGeneres has twice hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast, and co-hosted the show in 1994. For her first solo Emmy stint, which took place shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, she received high praise.

    Ampas president Sid Ganis says, “She just sparkles. She is such a pleasure to watch. Her wit cuts to the truth of things, but in a wonderfully warm-spirited way. I think she’ll be a fantastic host for this show and we’re extremely pleased that she’s agreed to do it.”