Tag: Warner Bros.

Titanic storms China; grosses $88.2 million overseas

MUMBAI: Going by the grand opening of Titanic 3D in China, the film took on the role of No. 1 box office champ in the foreign theatrical circuit. It grossed $88.2 million from 9,889 venues in 69 overseas territories covering more than 100 countries.
In fact, the film tally of $58 million drawn from 3,500 sites in China accounted for the lion‘s share of the total weekend intake thus giving its distributor 20th Century Fox‘s its biggest opening gross in the market ever.

According to 20th Century Fox , the film‘s six-day China bow was 32 per cent more than the total market gross of the original Titanic in China in 1998 of $44 million.
The epic love story with the background of the Titanic, now in its second round of foreign release also chalked up notable numbers in Russia ($2.75 million from 972 sites).
A No. 2 second weekend in the UK drew $2.9 million from 508 locations, while Italy contributed $2.7 million from 389 sites and France drew $2.6 million from 362 spots. Germany came in with $2.2 million from 497 locations.
The foreign gross total for Titanic 3D stands at $146.4 million over two rounds, which, when combined with the original‘s overseas run, puts the offshore total tally at $1.4 billion. Worldwide, Titanic has pushed past the $2 billion mark.
Opening at just about half the total of Titanic 3D was Universal‘s Battleship based on a Hasbro naval combat game about sea warfare with an alien armada. Debut weekend take from 26 offshore markets came to $58 million collected from 4,950 situations. The film ranks No. 2 on the weekend.
Also opening on the foreign circuit on the weekend was Lionsgate‘s The Cabin In The Woods. Playing at some 800 situations in four markets, the horror film grossed an estimated $3.4 million with a No. 3 bow in the UK providing $2.5 million from 412 screens.
Third on the weekend was Warner Bros.‘ Wrath of the Titans, the foreign circuit‘s box office champ for the prior two weekends. This time the 3D action fantasy co-starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes grossed $16 million from some 9,000 screens in 63 markets.

April 16, 2012
Warner Bros. Pictures teams up with and Legendary Pictures for Hangover III

MUMBAI: Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures are once again teaming up with Todd Phillips for The Hangover Part III, the third installment in the record-breaking comedy franchise.

The Hangover Part III will star Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis, who will reprise the roles of Phil, Stu and Alan, collectively known to moviegoers as the Wolfpack. In the previous two films, the three friends‘ attempts to plan a celebration have resulted in disaster for them, but led to a combined billion-dollar success at the worldwide box office.

The announcement was made Warner Bros. Pictures Group by President Jeff Robinov. Said Robinov, “We are extremely pleased to have Todd Phillips and the guys back together again for another ‘Hangover,‘ and we look forward to collaborating with them on another great movie.””I‘m so excited to embark on another ‘Hangover‘ film with Bradley, Ed and Zach. We‘re going to surprise a lot of people with the final chapter we have planned. It will be a fitting conclusion to our three-part opera of mayhem, despair and bad decisions,”Phillips noted.

A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Legendary Pictures, The Hangover Part III will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

The film is set to go on the floors in September and is slated for release on 24 May, 2013.

March 23, 2012
Colin Farrell to play Sir Lancelot

MUMBAI: Colin Farrell is in talks to play mythological British knight Sir Lancelot in a fantasy film adaptation of King Arthur legend. Warner Bros has revived the film after initially putting the film on the backburner over budgetary concerns.

The 35-year-old Farrell, known for his films like Phone Booth and In Bruges, is slated to star in the movie as King Arthur‘s most trusted knight, while David Dobkin will helm the period drama.

It may be remembered that Joel Kinnaman was initially cast as Lancelot opposite Kit Harrington.

Arthur & Lancelot isn‘t the only Warner Bros movie focused on the King Arthur era. Filmmakers Guy Ritchie and Bryan Singer are also working on their own adaptations of the British history.

March 16, 2012
Warner picks rights of Bolivar

MUMBAI: Warner Bros. has picked up the making rights of Sean Rubin’s upcoming graphic novel Bolivar from Archaia Entertainment. The film will be produced by Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster under their Weed Road banner.

Written and illustrated by Rubin, the graphic novel centres on a young girl named Sybil who moves to New York and finds out her neighbour is Bolivar, the last living dinosaur. Despite Sybil‘s persistent efforts, Bolivar refuses to befriend her.

The dinosaur is somewhat of a recluse, tucked away from the world Sybil so desperately wants him to explore with her. He soon realizes how much she means to him and that he would risk everything for her.

Bolivar, intended to be an animated feature, will be written and directed by Irish filmmaker Kealan O’Rourke.

The graphic novel is due out in May next year.

March 6, 2012
Nolan quits talent agency CAA

MUMBAI: Christopher Nolan, director of films like The Dark Knight and Inception has exited talent agency CAA.

It is said that the move comes in the wake of the abrupt departure of Nolan‘s longtime agent Dan Aloni from the agency on Wednesday. Aloni‘s assistants also were fired, according to the source.

Aloni is said to have been blindsided by the move, though he had clashed with other CAA agents and is believed to have worked against colleagues in certain circumstances. Till late Wednesday it was not clear as to where would Aloni head to but other top agencies will pursue the agent to join them, it is believed.

Nolan is also a producer on Warner Bros.‘ in-development film Superman, a reboot Man of Steel.

March 1, 2012
With no fight Journey 2 stands high

MUMBAI: Devoid of any serious competition, Warner Bros.’ Journey 2: The Mysterious Island maintained its No. 1 box office position for the third consecutive weekend by collecting $18.5 million from 8,500 screens in 48 offshore territories.

A No. 1 opening in Italy, the film contributed $2.4 million from 418 screens and edged out French comedy blockbuster Intouchables that also made its debut in the market. The New Line/Walden Media family adventure has till yet grossed $159.2 million, $16.2 million more than foreign gross of the film’s 2008 predecessor Journey To The Center of the Earth.

Foreign grosses for best-picture nominees at the Oscar like The Artist ($48 million versus $29 million domestic); The Help ($42 million versus $169.7 million domestic); The Tree of Life ($49 million versus $13.3 million domestic); Midnight in Paris ($98 million versus $56.5 million domestic); War Horse ($62.7 million versus $79 million domestic); Hugo ($46 million of which Paramount-handled markets account for $39.9 million, versus $69.4 million domestic); Moneyball ($34 million versus $75.6 million domestic); The Descendants ($77.7 million versus $79 million domestic); and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close ($8.5 million versus $31.2 million domestic).

No.2 on the weekend was Safe House, Universal’s thriller starring Denzel Washington, opened in 11 territories and roped in $13.6 million on the weekend overall from 3,389 sites in 46 markets. Standing out was the film’s No. 3 bow in the U.K., which drew $3.6 million from 425 locations. Openings in Italy, Korea, Mexico, Panama and Indonesia are on tap this week.

February 27, 2012
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close to release on 2 March

MUMBAI: Warner Bros. is all set to release its upcoming film, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, on 2 March.

Adapted from the acclaimed bestseller by Jonathan Safran Foer, the film is a story that unfolds from inside the young mind of Oskar Schell, an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker whose discovery of a key in his deceased father’s belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open.

A year after his father died in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls “The Worst Day,” he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears.

Now, as Oskar crosses the five New York boroughs in quest of the missing lock – encountering an eclectic assortment of people who are each survivors in their own way – he begins to uncover unseen links to the father he misses, to the mother who seems so far away from him and to the whole noisy, dangerous, discombobulating world around him.

The film has been directed by three-time Academy Award nominee Stephen Daldry from a screenplay by Academy Award winner Eric Roth based on a novel written Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel.

Produced by Scott Rudin along with Eli Bush and Tarik Karam, the film stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock along with newcomer Thomas Horn in the role of Oskar.

February 23, 2012
Warner Bros installs screening room at US Embassy, Paris

MUMBAI: Warner Bros. has installed a renovated screening room at the US Ambassador’s Residence in Paris. The studio installed a digital screening room complete with 3D technology at the residence of current American ambassador to Paris Charles Rivkin.

“The French film industry has always been considered the gold standard,” Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Barry Meyer has been quoted to have said while on a visit to Paris to inaugurate the renovated screening room.

“One of the reasons we did this was to help to cement our long relationship with France. It’s not only a gift to the Ambassador and to the U.S. government, but it’s a gift to the French film industry as well,” he added.

The screening room is located in a former ballroom that is said to have hosted both dances and film screenings when it was a German Officers Club during World War II. After the war, the building was leased to the British Royal Air Force Club then to the United States Government who bought it in 1948 and moved the Ambassador’s residence there in 1966.

Today, the room boasts a state-of-the-art digital projector, custom-made speakers and a screen with built-in 3D technology. Curtain liners were also installed to block out light during daytime screenings. The Ambassador and his team hope the screening room will become a constructive tool to facilitate their public diplomacy efforts in France.

The Embassy plans to sponsor film series focusing on important themes and invite audiences such as students and young leaders to discover the magic of the movies. First on the agenda is a series of election-themed documentaries ahead of the U.S. presidential race.

February 21, 2012
Two films in tug of war for No.1 spot

MUMBAI: In a relatively close race with the Rachel McAdams-Channing Tatum’s The Vow, the Denzel Washington-Ryan Reynolds action film Safe House has grossed $ 24 million in the three-day weekend compared to $23.6 million grossed by the former.

Universal has estimated that Safe House will earn $28.5 million for the four-day holiday weekend, while Screen Gems and parent company Sony are estimating that The Vow will gross $27.4 million.

Both films fared well in their second weekends out doing new entires Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Fox‘s romantic action-comedy This Means War. While the inputs of Safe House fell 40 per cent that of The Vow declined 43 per cent.

Internationally, Safe House grossed $6 million from 35 markets in its second outing bringing its foreign income to $19.6 million and worldwide total to $97.9 million.

The Vow, co-produced and co-financed by Spyglass, has earned $85.5 million in its first five days domestically, becoming the highest-grossing Screen Gems title ever at the domestic box office. Overseas, the film grossed $6.8 million in its second weekend from 24 markets for an international cume of $22.8 million and worldwide total of $108.3 million.

Sony‘s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance grossed $22 million for the three-day weekend to take the No. 3 spot though the film is expected to post a four-day holiday gross of $25.5 million.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, receiving a tepid C+ CinemaScore, was fueled by males, who made up 61% of the audience. Moviegoers under the age of 25 made up 48 percent of the audience. Sony and Hyde Park Entertainment co-produced and co-financed the sequel, which cost $57 million to produce.

This Means War opened at No. 5 for the three-day weekend grossing an estimated $17.6 million. The romantic drama lost the No. 4 spot to Warner Bros. and New Line‘s sequel Journey 2: The Mysterious Island that grossed $20.1 million for the three-day weekend.

February 20, 2012
Fox 2000 makes changes in staff

MUMBAI: Fox Filmed Entertainment has announced that Elizabeth Gabler has renewed her deal as president of Fox 2000 Pictures. The studio has also announced that Jessica Goodman has joined Fox 2000 Pictures as executive vp production and Marisa Paiva has been promoted from creative executive to director of development.

In about 12 years that Gabler has been in charge, Fox 2000 has consistently produced at least one or two sizable hits most years. “For the past 12 years, Elizabeth’s savvy, vision and taste has taken Fox 2000 Pictures to a level of success and accomplishment that exceeded our already high expectations,” Fox said in a statement.

Among the films she has overseen are Walk the Line, The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me and the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies, which the studio says have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

Forthcoming films that would come out of the Fox 2000 stable this year include Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee; Guernsey, directed by Kenneth Branagh and the sequel Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters.

Goodman was recently with Warner Bros. where she was executive vp production overseeing projects such as Contagion, I Am Legend, Oceans 11 (and its two sequels), Michael Clayton and The Informant.

Paiva is working on Life of Pi. Last year, she was creative executive on Water for Elephants.

February 15, 2012