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Tag: Timur Bekmambetov

  • Screenlife partners with Graphic India & Reliance Entertainment

    Screenlife partners with Graphic India & Reliance Entertainment

    MUMBAI: Russian director and producer Timur Bekmambetov, whose creation of the innovative Screenlife format has spawned hit movies such as Profile and Unfriended, is setting his sights on India by striking a partnership with local players Graphic India and Reliance Entertainment.

    Bekmambetov and Graphic India founder Sharad Devarajan will team up to develop a slate of original local-language films leveraging the Screenlife genre in India. The deal will commence with three films from up-and-coming Indian filmmakers, the first of which is aiming to go into production early next year.

    Bekmambetov’s Screenlife format has seen Unfriended gross $65M globally, off a $1M budget, and Searching take more than $75M. In the US, he has a five-picture deal with Universal. He is also looking to shoot the world’s first vertical format blockbuster.

    This year, Bekmambetov has continued to develop and produce throughout the pandemic, with a Screenlife adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, R#J, set to premiere at Sundance, as well as a sequel to Searching. He also founded tech startup Screenlife Ltd, which is partnered with Microsoft and is developing products and services powered by artificial intelligence and neural networks to boost mainstream production of Screenlife content.

    “Screenlife films are universally relatable to people around the world, and audiences intuitively understand this storytelling language, because it’s how we live. I believe our devices can reveal more about a person than they would ever say out loud, because we never lie to our screens,” said Bekmambetov.

    “India is one of the world’s leading fastest-growing entertainment economies. We are delighted to partner with Timur and Sharad to bring Screenlife, a new digital onscreen filmmaking language, to India and provide a new and powerful platform to showcase talent of Indian writers and directors,” said  Reliance Entertainment group CEO Shibasish Sarkar.

    “I have been fortunate to learn so much from Timur over the past few years, and his unbounded creativity and disruptive thinking is an inspiration. At Graphic India, we strive to push the boundaries of storytelling with new genres and experiences, and this wonderful partnership with Reliance Entertainment will give us an amazing opportunity to showcase some of India’s pioneering filmmakers and creators,” added Devarajan.

    Devarajan’s Graphic India is the company behind numerous Indian superhero IPs, spawning film and TV adaptations as well as a series of short motion comics which have been hugely successful on TikTok India. Devarajan is also the creator of Baahubali: The Lost Legends, the long-running original TV animated series which is part of the hugely successful Baahubali franchise.

  • The new Alisa`s adventures: the Russian animated series will be presented at MIPJUNIOR

    The new Alisa`s adventures: the Russian animated series will be presented at MIPJUNIOR

    MUMBAI: The new Russian children’s animated series by Bazelevs, (Riki grou) and Studio Moskva Alisa Knows What To Do! based upon the Kir Bulychov`s series Alisa’s Journey will be presented at the world’s showcase for kids programming MIPJUNIOR, which will take place in Cannes, France, on October 11-12, 2014.
    The animated series will be presented as a part of Russian Animation stand, organized by the Cinema Fund with the support of the Ministry of culture of the Russian Federation.

    In March of this year, Alisa Knows What To Do! was marked by a special award of the XIX Open Russian animation festival in Suzdal as the animated series with the highest international potential. The nomination was established by Reed MIDEM, the organizer of world`s markets of audiovisual programming – MIPJUNIOR and MIPCOM in Cannes (France). As a prize, the project team was awarded by an offer for the world`s showcase for kids programming in Cannes in October 2014. Here, the creators of “Alisa” are going to present to foreign buyers not only the animated series, but the full-length animation feature as well.

    Timur Bekmambetov, producer: “We hope the story about adventures of a common Moscow schoolgirl Alisa will be close and understandable for children from all over the world. There is no secret Kir Bulychov`s books have been translated into many languages and published in millions of copies. This story is about that age when kids hardly differ from each other. Therefore, to my mind “Alisa” undoubtedly has a great potential to make an immediate appeal to viewers in other countries. It’s really important for us the project to become a significant phenomenon both in Russian and around the world. And for this reason story must be highly amusing, funny, touching and sincere, what we are seeking”.

     

    Anton Malyshev, head of the Russian Cinema Fund: “A high valuation of the Russian project by international professional community will give an opportunity to draw attention not only to the concrete project, but also to the modern Russian animation in general. The Russian animation has already gained certain achievements at international markets and one of the strategic priorities of the Cinema Fund is supporting Russian full-length animation feature projects, which give to the Russian studio an opportunity to reach a new qualitative level and to draw the youngest kids` audience to cinemas, thus to generate sustained interest for a qualitative Russian animation programming”.

     

    Alisa Knows What To Do! series tells a story about fantastical adventures of Alisa and her four friends – 12-year-old schoolchildren, placed in the near future, in the year 2093. The series is filmed in 3D graphics. The first season is completed. It consists of 24 episodes. Currently the second season is being created. Co-production of the series by Bazelevs, the RIKI Group and Animation Studio Moskva with the support of the Ministry of culture of the Russian Federation. The artistic head of the project is the famous Russian-American director of animation cinema Igor Kovalev. Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, Ilya Popov, Elena Malenkina. Production of the full-length animation feature has started this autumn and is provided with the support of Cinema Fund on the terms of partially refundable financing. The release is scheduled for spring 2016. Producers: Timur Bekmambetov, directors: Olga Baulina and Viktor Gluhushin.

     

     

  • Jack Hudson to play title role in ‘Ben Hur’

    Jack Hudson to play title role in ‘Ben Hur’

    NEW DELHI: Jack Hudson has landed the role of the Biblical character Judah in MGM and Paramount Pictures remake of the 1959 classic Ben Hur that had gone on to become a box office hit.

     

    Timur Bekmambetov, who earlier made Wanted is directing the classic. Scripted by the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave scribe John Ridley and Keith Clarke, the film is expected to be released on 26 February 2016.

     

    The film is based on Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel ‘Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ’, and follows a falsely accused nobleman who survives years of slavery to take vengeance on his best friend who betrayed him. It was also made in 1925 as a silent film.

     

    Huston is best known for his role in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire as Richard Harrow and recently signed on to co-star in the adaptation of Pride Prejudice and Zombies.

     

    Paramount Pictures has already seen success from this genre with the movie Noah, Darren Aronofsky’s take on the story of Noah’s Arc starring Russell Crowe. That film grossed $359 million worldwide, including more than $100 million domestically.

     

    Fox and Chernin have just wrapped production on their latest film Exodus: Gods and Kings about Moses, which is slated to release in December and stars Christian Bale. The studio is also developing a King David film produced by Ridley Scott. 

     

    The 1959 Ben-Hur was directed by William Wyler, produced by Sam Zimbalist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Hugh Griffith and Haya Harareet.  It had the largest budget at $15.175 million and the largest sets built for any film produced at the time. This was followed by a $14.7 million marketing effort. It was the fastest-grossing as well as the highest grossing film of 1959, in the process becoming the second-highest grossing film in history at the time after Gone with the Wind. It won a record 11 Academy Awards.