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Tag: Sony Pictures Entertainment

  • MTV US, Sony Pictures Entertainment join forces for the Film ‘This Is the End’

    MTV US, Sony Pictures Entertainment join forces for the Film ‘This Is the End’

    MUMBAI: MTV US Real World: Portlandshow has partnered with Hollywood studio Sony Pictures Entertainment to create a mini-episode to promote the film This Is The End, which hits theaters across the US on 12 June 2013. The film‘s stars Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, James Franco, Craig Robinson, and Jay Baruchel star in the short-form episodic titled, The Real World: This is the End Edition, which will air in a four-part story arc on MTV during the Real World: Portland finale and reunion on 12 June.
     
    An uncensored and extended webisode is currently available on ThisIsTheEnd.MTV.com. Viacom Media Networks executive VP integrated marketing Dario Spina said, "MTV‘s Studio Integrated Marketing and Production team continues to deliver entertaining and truly custom, co-branded content for our partners; and our collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment demonstrates that capability by seamlessly uniting the hilarious This is the End cast, within the themes characterised in MTV‘s longest running franchise, The Real World.

    "This creative and comedic content is not only entertaining, but travels across many platforms to connect with audiences where they are."
     
    In support of the film‘s opening week, The Real World: This is the End Edition‘ campaign will air spots on MTV and MTV.com supported by social promotion across MTV‘s Facebook, MTV‘s Twitter, and MTV‘s Tumblr.
     
    Inspired by the film‘s End of the world theme, the cast will face off in a real world setting with Averey-Lee Jane and Joi Niemeyer from the Real World: Portland cast. The Real World: Portland takes place in a city known for expressing individuality and the roommate‘s bring their own unique personalities into the house.
     
    Similarly the This Is The End actors "stop being polite and start getting real," exposing all their quirky behaviours under one roof – paying homage to moments and surprises that people have come to expect from the MTV franchise.
     
    This Is The End follows six friends trapped in a house after a series of strange and catastrophic events devastate Los Angeles. As the world unravels outside, dwindling supplies and cabin fever threaten to tear apart the friendships inside. Eventually, they are forced to leave the house, facing their fate and the true meaning of friendship and redemption.

  • Rovio’s angry birds feature film nests at Sony pictures entertainment

    NEW DELHI: Sony Pictures Entertainment has won the exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the much anticipated Angry Birds animated film, making it one of the most high-profile deals of the year.

    The 3D film is being developed, produced, and financed by Rovio Entertainment and will be released worldwide by Sony Pictures on 1 July 2016. Several major studios pursued the global film rights in recent weeks, with Sony Pictures Entertainment emerging as the winner.

    Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Michael Lynton, Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and Rovio Entertainment CEO Mikael Hed jointly announced their partnership today. John Cohen and David Maisel – producer of Despicable Me and executive producer of Iron Man, respectively – are both on board for the new Angry Birds feature film. Cohen will serve as producer and Maisel is executive producer.

    Commenting on the announcement, Mikael Hed said, “Sony impressed us with their great attitude, determination, and professionalism. They convinced us that we have found the right partners and team to help us market and distribute our first motion picture. Michael, Amy, Jeff Blake, Sony’s marketing and distribution head, and their teams will be the best possible collaborators as we get set to take our franchise to the next level.”

    Lynton and Pascal said, “Every studio in town would love to add Angry Birds to their slate. There are few titles out there that bring this kind of excitement, brand awareness and built-in audience to the table. We’re thrilled to be distributing this film and we hope this is just the beginning of what will be a long relationship with Rovio as we look for ways to work on future projects together.”

    David Maisel and John Cohen said, “We are very excited to join with Sony Pictures in presenting this movie to the world in 2016 and we will have many more announcements as we begin production in the coming months.”

    Angry Birds is one of the world’s biggest entertainment franchises, starting in 2009 with the original mobile game that remains the number one paid app of all time. Angry Birds has expanded rapidly into entertainment, publishing, and licensing to become a beloved international brand.

    Angry Birds has been praised for its great value and simple, casual gameplay. Players use a slingshot to launch birds at green pigs in an attempt to get their eggs back, with the game setting the model for what is possible in terms of game development and commercial success. To date, the Angry Birds and Bad Piggies games have been downloaded more than 1.7 billion times across platforms and versions.

    The upcoming movie marks Rovio Entertainment’s first foray into feature films, although fans have already been introduced to the Angry Birds world with the weekly Angry Birds Toons animated series. Rovio launched the series in March through its Angry Birds apps as well as on select video-on-demand channel providers, Smart TVs, connected devices, and on select TV networks around the world. Paving the way for a full-length feature film, Angry Birds Toons has been a massive success for Rovio clocking in over 150 million views from the Angry Birds apps alone within the first six weeks.

    While known for distributing world renowned motion picture franchises such as Spider-Man, Sony Pictures has been building a strong reputation in contemporary animation through its house production unit, Sony Pictures Animation, and hit films including Hotel Transylvania, The Smurfs, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Surf’s Up, Open Season, and Aardman’s Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

  • Quvenzhane Wallis to play title role in adaptation of Annie

    Quvenzhane Wallis to play title role in adaptation of Annie

    MUMBAI: Though she couldn‘t take home an Oscar for Best Actress in Beasts of the Southern Wild, Quvenzhane Wallis has sufficient reason to celebrate after Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that the nine year old has been cast in the title role of a new film adaptation of Annie.

    “Quvenzhane Wallis is a true star and we believe her portrayal as Annie will make her a true worldwide star,” the president of production for the studio said in a statement. “She is an extraordinary young talent with an amazing range, not only as an actress but as a singer and dancer, and we can‘t wait for audiences to further discover her,” he added.

    The little girl made history this awards season by becoming the Oscars‘ youngest-ever actress nominee.

    The film, to be produced by Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Jay-Z will be directed by Will Gluck.

  • Sony to spend Rs 1.5 bn on marketing during festive season

    MUMBAI: Sony India has set aside Rs 1.5 billion or 33 per cent of its total marketing budget for the festive season as it seeks to achieve a sales turnover of Rs 28.5 billion, an increase of 50 per cent over the previous festive season.

    Last year, the Japanese electronics major had spent Rs 1 billion towards advertising and promotion during the festive season to boost sales.

    Sony will undertake multi-media campaign for Bravia, Cyber-shot, Xperia Tipo and Handycam. This will include ATL and BTL activities such as print and television commercial, cinema, outdoor, Web and PR activities during the October-November period.

    The Japanese electronics major, which is going through a rough patch due to dwindling sales, has launched products cutting across product categories such as Television, Digital Imaging and IT products, during this festive season in the Indian market.

    Sony‘s product launch for festive season includes: Bravia KD-84X9000, Personal 3D Viewer HMZ-T2, DSLT a99, DSC-RX100, and Vaio with Touch-screen.

    Sony India MD Kenichiro Hibi said, “This festive season with our revolutionary product portfolio and compelling offers, we are confident of achieving 50 per cent increase over our last year’s festive season sales, taking it to Rs. 2850 crores (Rs 28.5 billion) this year.”

    The company had earlier ramped up its marketing budget by 25 per cent to Rs 4.5 billion for the current fiscal and had set a target of 30 per cent growth in sales. Its marketing spend in the previous fiscal was Rs 3.6 billion while sales stood at Rs 63.13 billion, up from Rs 54.46 billion in the trailing fiscal.

    India, one of the fast growing markets for Sony, currently stands at 6th position in contribution to global sales and plans to gain the fifth position by end of fiscal.

    As part of its marketing initiative for the festive season, Sony has also tied-up with Sony Pictures Entertainment for the much awaited James Bond action thriller ‘Skyfall‘ in order to gain a higher mind share during the festive season.

  • Releases in July and Sepember

    Releases in July and Sepember

    MUMBAI: Two months of this year, July and September, would be unique in their own way. While July, termed as a lucrative month, will have releases of four big Bollywood films, the month will see releases of three big Hollywood films. September, on the other will release three big women centric films.

    The Hollywood invasion in July starts with Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Amazing Spider-Man 3D, which releases on 3 July. Next in line is Fox Star Studios’s Ice Age 4: Continental Drift on 13 July and Warner Bros’s Dark Knight Rises on 20 July. All these Hollywood movies are likely to be released in 400-500 screens in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages, going by what was done when Titanic 3D released on 6 April.

    Bollywood has lined up big releases that month. The list includes Golmaal remake Bol Bachchan on 3 July, UTV Motion Pictures’ Barfee and Deepika Padukone starrer Cocktail (both 13 July) and U, Me aur Mein on 27 July.

    September, in contrast, will see three major releases of three top actresses. The process may have been triggered by successes of women centric films like Kahaani, The Dirty Picture and Ishqiya.

    The first film to release would be UTV and Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine. The film revolves around female protagonist Kareena Kapoor, a struggler who wants to make it big in Bollywood. Her struggle and rise to stardom take the plot forward. The film looks set for box office as well as critical acclaim because of Bhandarkar’s prophecy in handling women centric scripts.

    The film following next is Preity Zinta’s Ishk In Paris. The film features Zinta in a role of a strong headed lady who falls in love with a man but then how they handle complications of their lives and love in urban settings of Paris form the rest part of the story. The film seems to be an urban romantic drama that can work at box office.

    And the last of the lot is Viacom18’s Rani Mukerji, Prithviraj-starrer Aiyya. The film is a quirky love story between a Marathi girl and a Tamil boy. The central theme of the film is about a woman who finds a man desirable because he smells good. The film is expected to do well at the box office.

  • James Bond’s Skyfall on 2 November

    James Bond’s Skyfall on 2 November

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures India will release the latest James Bond film Skyfall on 2 November.

    Skyfall, the 23rd film in the James Bond series, will be Daniel Craig‘s third film as Ian Fleming‘s James Bond. Also in the cast are Javier Barden, Ralph Fiennes, Berenice Marlohe, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw with Albert Finney and Judi Dench .

    Made under the banner of Albert R Brocoli‘s EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn -Mayer and Sony Pictures Entertainment, the movie will initially release in UK and Ireland on 26 October.

  • Weaver is California Film Commision chairman

    Weaver is California Film Commision chairman

    MUMBAI: The California Film Commission has elected Keith Weaver as its chairman of for its 2012 term. Weaver replaces IATSE official Michael F. Miller, Jr. who will continue as a board member.


    “Keith brings a powerful blend of public affairs and entertainment industry experience that will help advance our mission of increasing production and creating jobs in California,” California Film Commission executive director Amy Lemischhas been quoted to have said. “He‘s as much at home in Sacramento as he is in Hollywood, and he knows how to get things done.”


    Weaver‘s day job is executive vp of worldwide government affairs for Sony Pictures Entertainment, where he has worked for over a decade. He has been on the board of the film commission since 2008.
     
    Before he joined Sony in 2002, Weaver was staff director for the California State Redistricting Office; and was manager of community and government relations for Kaiser Permanente.
     
    Besides Weaver, Steve Dayan, business agent for Teamsters local 399, was elected vice chairman while Hilary Armstrong, a documentary producer was elected secretary.


    There are 21 members of the commission‘s board. They advise the commission on movie and TV related policies, and oversee the state‘s annual grant of $100 million in tax breaks to keep productions in the state.


    Members of the board are appointed by the governor, president of the state Senate and speaker of the state Assembly.

  • ‘Pix’s growth has upset the balance in the English movie genre’ : Pix business head Sunder Aaron

    ‘Pix’s growth has upset the balance in the English movie genre’ : Pix business head Sunder Aaron

    The English movie channel space has seen a shake-up. The power centre has been upset with the growth of Pix and the onslaught of new entrant Movies Now. From being a two-horse race, now there are four – Star Movies, HBO, Movies Now and Pix.

     

    Having acquired the library of its parent Sony Pictures Entertainment, Pix is making a bigger push in a market that is getting more competitive.

     

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Ashwin Pinto, Pix business head Sunder Aaron talks about the rise of the channel, the challenges the genre faces and the opportunities to grow the market.

     

    Excerpts:

    What have been the focus areas of Pix this year?
    To capture moré and more good content, given the competitive nature of the market; to ensure that the channel is distributed on the right networks and in the right position; and to create an environment for viewer stickiness.

    How far has Pix gained from the output deal with parent Sony Pictures Entertainment?
    The perception about Pix among viewers and advertisers has changed as we have moved from a library to a contemporary movie channel. It is easier to change attitudes and perceptions of younger audiences as they do not have an inherent commitment to another channel like HBO or Star Movies.

     

    Among our target audience, we have beaten HBO since January. The aim is to become No. 1 eventually. We will continue to focus on getting the right content and building distribution.

    Could you talk about how Pix has evolved since launching five years back?
    The appearance has really evolved since we launched the channel with library content. The channel went through a massive packaging overhaul in May-end. Our promos look a lot more younger. We are playing bugs; we also give trivia information for some of our key titles.

    What are the changes you have brought on the programming front?
    We were the first ones to create a single ad break movie slot. We also realised that the afternoons and late nights are the non primetime hours where the viewership is growing.

     

    Younger audiences come in during the 12:30 pm-4 pm time band. Our programming is geared towards addressing that audience who are mainly college going.

     

    In the last few weeks, two new things have happened. One is ‘Awesome Saturdays‘ where we have lined up the evening with popular movies. And on Sundays we focus on the 12 pm-4 pm time slot with an initiative called ‘Sunday Breakout‘. This is how we are pushing the weekends.

     

    We are doing the Dynamite Diwali festival, which takes place on weeknights at 11 pm. In November, we will have an even bigger stunt. It will probably be called ‘Big Guns of Hollywood’.
    ‘The perception about Pix among viewers and advertisers has changed as we moved from a library to a contemporary movie channel. The output deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment has helped in this‘

    What about thematic blocks?
    We had started this when we launched five years back, but have moved away from this as we evolved. When your channel does not have a strong identity or presence, you need to build points which can draw in viewers. However, we continue to do festivals.

    When Pix launched, it skewed towards 25+ audiences. Now where do they come from?
    We focus on 15-34 SEC A,B, across six metros. But from a programming perspective, we are inclusive in nature. Older viewers also watch us. We continue with properties like ‘Hand Picked‘which consist of movies that have a strong drama quotient.

    Is this genre seeing more of appointment viewing than say two years back?
    My suspicion is that it is not there. When HBO had groundbreaking series like ‘Sex And The City‘, this was there. Also, when Star Movies had ‘Avatar’ people probably made a point to come in, but they have shown it 30 or 40 times. So you don’t have to make an appointment to view it. I don’t think that it is possible to build it any longer.

     

    People watch movies in different ways – DVDs, online, on their ipad. So why would you have to make an appointment at 9 pm to sit in front of a channel to watch a film? I don’t think that channels compete on this basis anymore. Competition is on the basis of content, perception and profile.

    Is channel loyalty falling?
    Yes, but this is the case across television and is not something specific to the English movie genre. There is more programme than channel loyalty. There is a residual brand presence in the consumers mind at the same time.

    Has the market dynamics for the genre changed dramatically?
    HBO and Star Movies were the leaders. Pix has grown, which has obviously upset the balance. Then Movies Now came in and upset the balance even more.

    Movies Now has made an impact by focussing on popular films. Does that mean that premieres have lost a bit of their value?
    I think that Movies Now has been clever and there have been elements to their success. One is that they selected films that are widely known and recognizable. Another big factor is that they got the distribution right; they invested a lot in positioning themselves properly. The third factor is that you cannot underestimate the value of the Times support.

     

    But I wouldn‘t say that it diminishes the value of premieres. It does show that Indian audiences still have an appetite for movies that are familiar to them. But when Pix showed ‘The Karate Kid‘, it was a premiere and propelled us to the No. 1 spot.

    Is there going to be more focus on original shows like ‘Gateway’?
    Yes! But there is a challenge as it is costly. We are talking to sponsors about bringing back ‘Gateway’ in a different form that will be even more exciting. Currently, we do specials from time to time. ‘Chicks on Flicks’ does things on premieres. We will do new series in a couple of months.
    How is the deal with the NBA working out?
    It is working out well. The big challenge, though, is that the NBA is in a lockout; they have not started the season. The players’ union has not come to an agreement with the owners to start the season. The season will get delayed.
    Are you looking at more sports properties to build reach?
    We are careful. The NBA is enough; if we put more, it will look like a sports channel.

    How are you pushing distribution?
    We are attempting to go beyond the six metros. DTH has shown how we are consumed in other markets as well. We are looking forward to cable digitisation.

     

    I don‘t want to rely so much on ad revenue. But we don‘t get our due in terms of subscription income. Carriage fees rise every year while subscription revenue is not keeping pace with it.

    Between the different mediums, how is your spend split?
    It is defined by the film and not by the city or medium. Flexibility is needed in planning. For instance, if we use radio this month, then next month we may or may not use it at all.

     

    I would say that online is a very effective medium. It is highly flexible.

    Could you give me a couple of examples of innovative campaigns that have been done this year?
    We did the ‘Hollywood is Here‘ campaign where we used clustered outdoor. In Chowpatty (in Mumbai), we took six to seven hoardings together. In Delhi, we used a cluster of 10 mobile vans standing in one line. We showcased our positioning and the new titles that were coming up.

     

    For ‘The Social Network‘, we could not use Facebook as a medium. So we used radio and hoardings. People knew Mark Zuckerberg but not the film’s star Jesse Eisenberg. The thought for the campaign was the sexiest man alive; this created an intrigue.
    How are you growing consumer contact initiatives like the Pix Movie Club?
    We have touched 10,000 members. We are in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and we want to take it further down next year. We haven‘t decided on whether or not to rope in advertisers for this.
    Are you looking at more marketing initiatives?
    We are looking at doing something online. We are working on the details. For me, online marketing is about an idea and not just taking out a bunch of banners across sites.
  • John Calley expires

    John Calley expires

    MUMBAI: Producer of The Da Vinci Code John Calley died on Tuesday. He was 81. His death was announced by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

    Calley – three-time studio chief, confidant of Stanley Kubrick rose to Hollywood‘s highest ranks by making gut-level bets on directors and writers and by gently and quietly steering them.

    Stints at leading studios like Warner Brothers, United Artists and Sony gave Calley his A-list status in Hollywood‘s executive ranks, but it was his approach to those jobs that made him stand out.

    Like any studio boss, he had his share of failures and purely commercial hits. While The Towering Inferno was a hit, he also directed films like Clockwork Orange (1971), The Exorcist (1973), Chariots of Fire (1981) and As Good as It Gets.
    “When he believed in someone, he trusted and supported him,” Mike Nichols, who collaborated with Calley in films like Catch-22 to Closer, said in a statement.

    John Calley was born on 8 July, 1930, in Jersey City, the son of a car salesman, and, after serving in the Army, worked at 21 as a mail clerk for NBC in New York. After climbing a few rungs on the network‘s ladder, he left to join an advertising firm before giving film producing a try at Filmways, a production company mostly known for TV comedies like The Beverly Hillbillies.

    In 1996, Calley took the reins of Sony‘s movie operation and delivered hits like Jerry Maguire with Tom Cruise, but his biggest contribution to the studio involved restoring stability: Columbia, Sony‘s major arm, had four presidents come and go from 1991 to 1996.

    He stepped down in 2003 but kept producing films for Sony that included The Da Vinci Code.

    Calley‘s survivors include his daughter, Sabrina Calley, and three stepchildren, Emily Zinnemann, David Zinnemann and Will Firth, from his marriage to the actress Meg Tilly that ended in 2002.

  • Brad Pitt-starrer Moneyball to close TIFF

    Brad Pitt-starrer Moneyball to close TIFF

    MUMBAI: Baseball film Moneyball, produced by Bennet Miller will close this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) on 30 October.

    Based on the 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, the film starring Brad Pitt as Oakland Athletics’ general manager Billy Beane tells the true story of how Beane attempted to compete with richer teams by ignoring much of baseball’s conventional wisdom in analyzing players.

    The film that was to have been directed by Steven Soderbergh, who was later replaced by Miller. Aaron Sorkin was also brought in to rework the script. Sorkin also wrote the script for The Social Network, TIFF’s opening film last year.

    Moneyball, that also features Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright, will be released in Japan by Sony Pictures Entertainment on 11 November.

    TIFF will have double opening films this year with Jackie Chan’s 1911 and The Three Musketeers will be screening at the TIFF on 22 October.