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Tag: Warner Bros.

  • Russel Brand to star in own production

    Russel Brand to star in own production

    MUMBAI: 36-year-old Russell Brand will play a hippie in The President Stole My Girlfriend that he will also produce.

    Acoording to Brand, the film has been inspired by a meeting he had with the Warner Bros studio‘s president. “In this movie, the president steals the girlfriend of a sexy hippie. It was inspired by the night I naively invited Warners president Jeff Robinov for dinner,” Brand said.

    The actor will also be seen in a musical titled Rock of Ages that features actors Tom Cruise and Mary J Blige.

  • Warner Bros. acquires filming rights of Unholy Night

    Warner Bros. acquires filming rights of Unholy Night

    MUMBAI: Warner Bros. has acquired the rights of Seth Grahame-Smith‘s new book Unholy Night for approximately $2 million.

    Grahame-Smith will also produce the film with partner David Katzenberg through their KatzSmith Productions in association with David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford‘s Heyman Films.

    Unholy Night retells the birth of Jesus as an adventure story centered on the three kings in the nativity story who travel to Bethlehem to witness his birth. In Grahame-Smith‘s version, the three kings are thieves on the run who are forced to help Mary and Jesus escape to Egypt. Along the way they battle magical biblical creatures and encounter figures like Pontius Pilate and John the Baptist. Grand Central will publish the book on April 10, 2012.

    Grahame-Smith pioneered the current trend of literary mash-ups with the surprise 2009 bestseller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. He followed that up with this year‘s hit Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. He also wrote the screenplay of the movie adaptation named Abraham Lincoln that is set to release in June 2012.

  • Warner Bros to release New Year’s Eve on 9 December

    Warner Bros to release New Year’s Eve on 9 December

    MUMBAI: Warner Bros is all set to release director Garry Marshall‘s New Year‘s Eve on 9 December.

    The film, shot entirely on location in and around New York City, celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, in the intertwining stories of couples and singles on the most dazzling night of the year.

    New Year‘s Eve stars Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Academy Award nominee Abigail Breslin, Chris Ludacris Bridges, two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron and Hector Elizondo among others.

    The film, produced by Mike Karz and Wayne Rice, has cinematography by Charles Minsky, editing by Michael Tronick and costume design by Oscar-nominated costume designer Gary Jones.

  • Summit, Lionsgate resume merger talks

    Summit, Lionsgate resume merger talks

    MUMBAI: Two of Hollywood‘s biggest independent producer/distributors Summit Entertainment and Summit Entertainment have resumed talks about a merger.

    The two film distributors have had several merger talks in the past but things didn‘t proceed as issues of how much each was worth and who would end up in charge of the combined company could not be worked out.

    While both of them are among the strongest independent film distributors who compete with major studios like NBC Universal, Warner Bros. and Disney, the two companies differ on many issues.

    Summit, which is privately held, has been in the domestic distribution business since 2007, when former Warner Bros. and Paramount executive Rob Friedman joined the company.

    Summit has had a mixed record with its movies except for the Twilight franchise, which produced more than $1 billion in box office sales even before the current release. Part 2 of Breaking Dawn is scheduled for release in November 2012.

    Lionsgate is a publicly traded company based in Vancouver with offices in Santa Monica, California. While it is active in movies, including The Expendables and a series of Tyler Perry films, it has also had considerable success in television.

    Lionsgate also has a much larger film library than Summit, with about 13,000 film and TV titles that have helped it achieve about 8 per cent of the domestic home entertainment market.

  • Twilight saga collects $ 283.5 mn globally

    Twilight saga collects $ 283.5 mn globally

    MUMBAI: Summit Entertainment‘s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn opened to a massive opening garnering $139.5 million in its first weekend domestically and $283.5 million globally.

    The domestic total now happens to the second-best debut weekend for the franchise after the $142.8 million opening that the 2009 film The Twilight Saga: New Moon collected. The new film did more than half of its business of $72 million when it opened on Friday.

    Opening in 54 overseas markets, Breaking Dawn roped in $144 million internationally, according to a studio estimate. The film opens in India on November 25.

    On the other hand, Warner Bros.‘ Happy Feet 2 could rope in just $22 million in its opening weekend; half of what the first film in the animated franchise earned in its 2006 debut. It stood at the second position.

    Last weekend‘s No. 1 film Immortals, Relativity Media‘s action tale, dropped to the third position collecting $12.3 million.

  • Spielberg to helm Gods and Kings for Warner Bros

    Spielberg to helm Gods and Kings for Warner Bros

    MUMBAI: Warner Bros is in talks with Steven Spielberg to direct Gods and Kings, a new religious film that follows the Biblical story of Moses from the Old Testament.

    The script of the film charts the prophet‘s life from birth to death and focuses on his quest to free the Jewish people from the oppression of the Egyptian civilisation.

    Meanwhile, it is learnt that British actor David Oyelowo has joined the cast of Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln, a biopic of the 16th President of the United States that stars Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. Oyelowo will play a cavalryman in the film based on definitive Lincoln biography ‘Team of Rivals‘ by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

  • Immortals tops b-o with $ 32 mn intake

    Immortals tops b-o with $ 32 mn intake

    MUMBAI: Of three films that released on November 11, Relativity’s Immortals topped the box-office by garnering an estimated $32 million.


    The stylized VFX-packed R-rated sword-and-sandal actioner from the producers of 300 and director Tarsem Singh was expected to open in the $25 million-to-$30 million range.But though the filmopened better than expected, it still fell short of the $61.2 million opening of Warner Bros.’ Clash of the Titans or the $70.9 million debut of 300.


    It is learnt that 66 per cent of the weekend gross for the Tarsem Singh film came from premium-priced 3-D theaters. It was the third-highest opening this year for an R-rated film. Globally, Immortals opened in over 35 territories and generated an estimated $36 million that brings the worldwide total to an estimated $68 million.


    The overall box-office was helped this weekend by two Friday holidays, Veterans Day and Remembrance Day in Canada, giving a boost to Thursday evening shows as well as Friday. Sony’s PG-rated “Jack and Jill,” the latest comedic outing from Adam Sandler collected an estimated $26 million to be at the second spot better than anticipated but less than his previous two films.


    Warner Bros.’ awards-bound “J. Edgar,” helmed by Clint Eastwood and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, generated $11.5 million to take the fifth slot with an intake of $11.6 million since its limited opening on Wednesday. On the other hand, Jack and Jill collected around $20 million. Sandler‘s loyal fan base makes his comedies somewhat “critic proof”; his best-performing projects are sometimes his worst reviewed.


    After two weekends at number one, DreamWorks/Paramount’s animated Puss In Boots moved into the third spot with an estimated $25.5 million intake.


    On the other hand, Universal’s Tower Heist fell to the fourth spot with a gross of an estimated $13.7 million. The Ben Stiller-Eddie Murphy starrer has taken in an estimated $43.87 million in 10 days.

  • Edwards, Boreinstein attached for Godzilla remake

    Edwards, Boreinstein attached for Godzilla remake

    MUMBAI: Gareth Edwards, who had directed the indie sci-fi movie Monsters has been taken on board to direct the remake of creature feature Godzilla, centered on the giant city-destroying and monster-fighting lizard that is being developed at Legendary Pictures.


    While the film is being produced by Legendary‘s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni along with Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Brian Rogers, Warner Bros. will the film.


    On the other hand, Max Borenstein has been tapped to write the remake of the film. Borenstein, who just turned in his script for Art of the Steal for Warner Bros is well acquainted with Legendary. He worked on the company‘s in-development Jimi Hendrix biopic, Jimi, and rewrote the outfit‘s supernatural fantasy The Seventh Son. 

  • The Lion King rules North American box office

    The Lion King rules North American box office

    MUMBAI: The 3D re-release of the 1994 made The Lion King has edged out the Steven Soderbergh-directed Warner Bros. film Contagion to be on the top spot of the North American box office on its debut weekend.

    The film has done much better than the studio executives had expected, earning $29.3 million from around 2,330 cinema halls in the US and Canada during the weekend.

    Pixar‘s Toy Story and its 2009 3D sequel held the record earlier when it garnered $12.5 million in its opening weekend. And it so happened that being the biggest blockbuster from the stables of Disney, the film also had two made-for-video sequels, a television series and a Broadway musical.

    The Lion King was reproduced in its 3D version mainly due to the existence of a huge audience in their twenties and families who account for 74 per cent of the viewing public.

    The original Lion King released in 1994 maintains the record of the fifth highest grossing animated film and continues to be the highest-grossing hand drawn animation film ever made.

  • Stuntman launches legal action against Warner Bros

    Stuntman launches legal action against Warner Bros

    MUMBAI: An Australian stuntman, who suffered serious brain injuries while filming Warner Bros Hangover: Part Two in Thailand, has initiated legal action against the studio.

    Scott McLean was doubling for Ed Helms during a car-chase sequence when his head smashed into a moving vehicle, leaving him with a huge gash over the right side of his head and flesh torn from his skull.

    The stuntsman, who according to his legal representatives is likely to suffer “permanent brain and physical injuries”, is suing for unspecified damages, it is understood.

    The clip he was filming shows the movie‘s stars being chased in a taxi by two Russian gangsters on motorbikes. In his lawsuit, the stuntman claims that the action sequence needed “precision and timing” but stunt coordinator Russell Solberg changed the timing just after they had started performing the stunt.

    “Solberg commanded to the driver of the automobile in which plaintiff Scott McLean was a passenger, that the speed of his vehicle be increased significantly to a speed unsafe for the stunt, thus resulting in a major collision,” McLean claimed in his lawsuit.

    In a statement Warner Bros said, “We were shocked and saddened by this accident and have been working closely with Scott and his family throughout his treatment and recovery. We have offered continual support since the accident occurred and we are working together to try and resolve any outstanding issues.”