MUMBAI: The world will have to wait another year for its Independence Day 2. Fox has announced that it is moving the long pending sequel from 3 July 2015 – a date it had announced in June – to 1 July 2016.
That means the Roland Emmerich-helmed pic will arrive exactly 20 years and one day after the blockbuster original, which made a movie star of Will Smith. The sequel will go up against another bombing-themed movie Sony’s Angry Birds.
MUMBAI: Sony has just confirmed that the fourth installment of the Men in Black (MIB) franchise is definitely on the way. It was revealed that the studio has hired a writer to pen the fourth film, said The Hollywood Reporter.
The sci-fi quadrilogy is still in its early stages, so there’s still no word on Will Smith’s association yet. Last year, Sony released the third installment in their hit MIB franchise, MIB 3 which went on to gross a franchise best $624 million and received warm reviews.
Oren Uziel, who is also penning the sequel to 21 Jump Street, has been hired to write MIB 4. 21 Jump Street already has a release date of 6 June 2014.
Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are back reprising their roles as underachieving cops and so are Phil Lord and Chris Miller as directors.
MUMBAI: Will Smith and son Jaden Smith will be seen together on screen in M Night Shyamalan‘s next film titled After Earth.
The father-son duo was recently seen interacting with fans at the Tokyo premiere of the movie. In India, After Earth is slated to release on 7 June.
In After Earth, a crash landing leaves teenager Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his legendary father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth 1,000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity‘s escape. With Cypher critically injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help, facing uncharted terrain, evolved animal species that now rule the planet, and an unstoppable alien creature that escaped during the crash. Father and son must learn to work together and trust one another if they want any chance of returning home.
The movie is presented by Columbia Pictures presents and produced by Smith‘s Overbrook Entertainment/Blinding Edge Pictures. The screenplay is by Gary Whitta and Shyamalan, whereas the story is by Will Smith.
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.
MUMBAI: Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones’ latest film Men In Black III, that opened across 592 screens in Australia took $ 5.001 million for a screen average of $8,449, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.
The third installment of the action comedy – which launched the first in the trilogy in 1997 – is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, who also directed the previous two. The film took just over $5m in its first weekend at the box office.
The film displaced Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator from the number one spot. The Dictator took $2.452 million across 344 screens for a screen average of $7,130, taking $9.669 million to date.
In third place, The Avengers remained firm in its fifth week taking in $2.262 million across 480 screens for a $ 4,714 average. The result takes the comic book heroes to $ 46.986 million and 8th place on the all time box office record.
Costume drama Bel Ami that stars Robert Pattinson and directed by Declan Donnellan, that also released this week, took $0.264m at the box office and was placed 6th.
MUMBAI: Upon release, Men In Black 3, took over the reigns of the foreign box office grossing $132 million opening at 22,435 venues in 103 territories. Thus it dislodged The Avengers as the No. 1 film overseas.
Co-starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, the film premiered at No. 1 in 101 markets with China leading the list with $20.6 million drawn from 6,073 screens while Russia came in second with an intake of $18.8 million from 1,547 sites.
According to Sony, MIB 3 grossed more than $52.2 million in Asia. Japan ($7.98 million at 980 venues) and South Korea ($8.53 million at 950 spots). In the UK, the film‘s intake was $4.96 million from 1,242 locations while in France, the film roped in $5.64 million from 889 situations.
IMAX screens playing MIB 3 drew $6.1 million from 195 screens through Monday, said IMAX senior vp worldwide distribution, Phil Groves. IMAX‘s international box-office total is expected to be $7 million.
MUMBAI: Will Smith’s Men in Black 3 is expected to garner anywhere around $80 million-$90 million in the domestic circuit. Sony is looking to dominate the Memorial Day holiday weekend with Men in Black 3.
The big-budget 3D film costing close to $230 million is widely expected to topple The Avengers from the top spot at the domestic box office with a solid four-day gross. MIB 3, which also opens around the world, is predicted to clear $200 million globally till Monday.
Meawhile, Avengers continues to run riot nearly a month into its run and will become the No. 3 film of all time at the worldwide box office by the end of the weekend or early next week.
The film has acquired a global total of $1.22 billion till last Wednesday putting it at No. 4 behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($1.33 billion).
MIB 3 opens one week after Universal and Hasbro Entertainment‘s big-budget Battleship debuted to a dismal $25.5 million domestically.
The first Men in Black, that released in 1997, was a runaway success earning $587 million worldwide. But the sequel Men in Black II, that opened in July 2002 was a critical disappointment after it gathered $441 million.
MUMBAI: If all goes according to plans,Tom Cruise could again be showing off his singing skills in his next film opposite Beyonce Knowles. The actor is in talks to join the Clint Eastwood-directed film A Star Is Born that has Cruise play a musician who falls in love with Knowles‘ character and helps promote her career as a female artist.
However, it is still unclear whether Cruise would agree to star in the film since he has a pretty busy schedule. A Star Is Born promises an updated version of a romantic relationship between an alcoholic star on his way out and a young female artist on the rise. The project has actually been developed for sometime, but it fell apart before finally coming back together again earlier in 2011. Eastwood‘s movie, meanwhile, is expected to kick off shooting as soon as June.
The actor has just begun filming for Joseph Kosinski‘s Horizons that he will follow up with Doug Liman‘s We Mortals Are. Before Cruise, several others like Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Will Smith were approached for the male lead part.
It is still unclear whether Cruise would agree to star in the film since he has a pretty busy schedule.The actor has just begun filming for Joseph Kosinski‘s Horizons and he will follow it up with Doug Liman‘s We Mortals Are. Eastwood‘s movie, meanwhile, is expected to kick off shooting as soon as June.
AIRDATE: FRIDAY 25th AUGUST AT 9:00 PM
STARRING: Will Smith, Eva Mendes
Meet Alex Hitchens (Will Smith), New York City’s greatest matchmaker. Love is his job and he’ll get you the girl of your dreams in three easy dates, guaranteed! And that’s exactly what happens when Albert Brennaman wins the heart of gorgeous society heiress Allegra Cole. So when tabloid columnist Sara Melas (Eva Mendes, Once Upon A Time In Mexico) decides to uncover the secret behind the tubby schlub’s success, she’s shocked to discover that Hitch, the charming young man she’s seeing, is the legendary date doctor himself. Exposed in a front-page scoop, it’s now up to Alex to save Albert and Allegra’s relationship as well as his own
For further information, please contact:
Manisha Manchanda, HBO Asia
Tel: 0124 – 4028888
E-mail: manchanda_manisha@hboasia.com.sg
Vivian Castelino, CMCG India
Tel-: 022 24450991-6
Email: vivian.castelino@cmcgindia.com
MUMBAI: Pix will be launching the Hollywood talk show Inside the Actors Studio (ITAS) on 16 July. The show will be aired every Sunday at 7 pm.
Pix has acquired 47 episodes of this series. Some of the guests interviewed include: Will Smith, Antonio Banderas, Hugh Grant, Charlize Ttheron, Richard Gere, Renee Zellweger, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie and Al Pacino.
Inside the Actors Studio has been on air in the US for more than 11 years and is now broadcast in over 125 countries.
From its origin, Inside the Actors Studio has followed an interesting format in which the show is taped in front of an audience made up of students from the Actors Studio’s Master of Fine Arts program.
The interviewees share intimate and personal experiences that influenced their choice of career and what it is that continues to fascinate them about showbiz. The interview then concludes with a standardised questionnaire of 10 questions that requires candid answers, leading to hilarious and sometimes touching moments on the show.
The channel has also weaved an ITAS contest wherein viewers will have a chance to win Pix goodies. Contestants can SMS ‘JL’ to 2525 and win DVDs of Hollywood movies.
The show has won nominations for Outstanding Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Non-fiction Series, 11 Emmy award nominations, the Cable Ace Award as best talk show and The New York Festival Award for the world’s best talk/entertainment.