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Monga and Johar Team-Up On ‘Intouchables’ Indian Makeover
36 minutes ago
Berlin– Guneet Monga and Karan Johar, the Indian power duo behind Cannes sensation “The Lunchbox,” are set to team up on the local remake Gaumont’s “Intouchables,” the French comedy blockbuster which grossed $426.6 million worldwide.
While negotiations on the U.S. remake are still being finalized with The Weinstein Co., Gaumont has moved forward on green-lighting international makeovers of the 2011′s French blockbuster, which was directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano.
“From ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ to ‘The Lunchbox,’ I’ve always believed that Guneet’s company was by far the most creative and trustworthy producer when it comes to delivering crowd-pleasing Indian films with a strong identity that can play well at festivals and beyond,” said Gaumont’s deputy head of sales Yohann Comte, who handled the negotiation.
Monga, the winner of last year’s Industry leadership Award at the L.A.-set Indian Film Festival, is a power »
- Elsa Keslassy
Ken Ziffren to Replace Tom Sherak as L.A. Film Czar
4 hours ago
Veteran entertainment attorney Ken Ziffren will be named Los Angeles’ next film czar, succeeding Tom Sherak, sources confirmed.
Ziffren, who supported Mayor Eric Garcetti in last year’s election, is considered to have the stature in entertainment and political connections to lead the city’s drive to address runaway production.
Like Sherak, Ziffren would be taking a part-time position that nevertheless will entail being the face of the city’s push for increased state tax incentives, with legislation expected to be introduced soon in Sacramento.
Ziffren, who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, is co-chairman of the UCLA School of Law Board of Advisors, and chair of the Entertainment & Media Law Program.
He was a partner of Ziffren & Ziffren from 1967 to 1978, and, in 1979, became the founding partner of the successor law firm of Ziffren Brittenham.
Sherak died last month at the age of 68. Garcetti tapped the veteran »
- Ted Johnson
Berlin Film Review: ‘Ice Poison’
7 hours ago
Simple, direct and involving, “Ice Poison” shows how the desire to escape harsh economic and social circumstances slowly drives two young Burmese people toward selling and using life-wrecking drugs. Continuing his examination of the big picture in his homeland through intimate portraits of those affected by displacement and poverty, helmer Midi Z. (“Return to Burma,” “Poor Folk”) has delivered his strongest work to date. Though some of the director’s trademark long takes here could still do with a nip and tuck, the pic is assured of a lengthy fest run and is worth the attention of specialty broadcasters. “Ice” will break into the commercial realm upon its mid-July release in Taiwan.
The film is set is Lashio, a market town with a large Chinese population in Shan state, where the overwhelming majority of Myanmar’s opium poppies are grown. In the hills outside Lashio, an unnamed young vegetable farmer »
- Richard Kuipers
Berlin Film Review: ‘Beloved Sisters’
9 hours ago
Nearly a decade on from his last theatrical feature (2006’s “The Red Cockatoo”), prolific Teuton TV helmer Dominik Graf makes an overdue and very welcome return to the bigscreen with “Beloved Sisters,” an enthralling, gorgeously mounted depiction of the complicated relationship between the post-Enlightenment writer and philosopher Friedrich Schiller and the sisters Charlotte von Lengefeld (who would become his wife) and Caroline von Beulwitz (his eventual biographer). Retaining the novelistic narrative density offered by television while taking full advantage of cinema’s larger, more enveloping canvas, Graf has created an unusually intelligent costume drama of bold personalities torn between the stirrings of the heart and the logic of the mind, while casting his revealing gaze upon Western Europe’s bumpy transition from the 18th to 19th century. Premiered at Berlin in a 170-minute director’s cut, the pic is also being offered for sale in a 140-minute “theatrical” edit, though »
- Scott Foundas
Berlin: John Travolta, Salma Hayek Join ‘A Three Dog Life’
10 hours ago
John Travolta and Salma Hayek are to star in “A Three Dog Life,” a drama based on the memoirs of Abigail Thomas.
Thomas reinvented her life to live near her husband, who suffered major hallucinations after a near-fatal car accident.
The film is written, produced and directed by Nick Guthe. J. Todd Harris (“The Kids Are All Right”) and Clark Peterson (“Monster”) also produce.
Sales outside the U.S. are by the Solution Group, while CAA and Wme co-represent the film in the U.S.
“Nick has adapted Thomas’ heart-wrenching memoir flawlessly, capturing the intimate details of how her marriage is put to the test following a life-changing accident,” said the Solution’s co-founders and partners, Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel. “John and Salma are the perfect pair to portray this couple’s journey over the course of several years.”
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- Patrick Frater
‘Alone Yet Not Alone’ Finds New Life at Movieguide Awards
11 hours ago
Composer Bruce Broughton has been outspoken in his disappointment over the Academy board of governors disqualifying his Oscar nomination for “Alone Yet Not Alone.” Yet he says that fans are having the last say.
“Once they rescinded the nomination, everyone asked about it, and as a result, the song is doing very well,” said Broughton. “You couldn’t buy that publicity.”
The Academy made its decision after Broughton, a former governor and current music branch executive committee member, emailed members of the branch to seek out the song, as it was featured in a very under-the-radar indie faith-based film.
Broughton noted that subsequent sales of the song on iTunes and Amazon.com have pushed it to hit number 19 on the Billboard Christian music chart this week. He spoke while in attendance at the 22nd annual Movieguide Faith and Values Awards, honoring redemptive and uplifting storytelling in film and TV, held Feb. »
- Susanne Ault
Box Office: ‘Lego’ Building Toward $60 Million-Plus Bow
12 hours ago
Though it may be about toys, “The Lego Movie” isn’t playing around this weekend and looks to make slightly north of $60 million in three days.
In line with the film’s reported $60 million budget, and outdoing its pre-weekend bet by $15 million, the bow is a great start for the new, demo-spanning franchise (a sequel is already in the works). The 3D toon earned $17.1 million domestically Friday.
Sony’s “The Monuments Men” is off to a fine start with $7 million Friday and a $20 million projected bow that is at the dead center of pre-weekend predictions. While hitting the mark is good news itself, observers predicted it could overperform up to $24 million, a possibility made less likely by the buzz coming off its very mixed reviews.
The Weinsten Co. bowed “Vampire Academy” Friday to $1.4 million, with a dismal maybe $4 million on the horizon for the weekend for probably seventh place overall at the domestic marketplace. »
- Michael Sullivan
Berlin: Sundance Winner ’52 Tuesdays’ Gets U.S. Distribution
12 hours ago
Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. rights to Sophie Hyde’s “52 Tuesdays,” which won a directing prize at Sundance, from Visit Films.
Kino Lorber plans to release the Australian film in the second half of this year on a limited basis nationwide. “52 Tuesdays” has also been sold to Praesens for Switzerland and Edko for Hong Kong ahead of the film’s Berlinale festival premiere.
The film is shot chronologically on one day every week for a year. The story follows a 16-year-old, whose path to independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans to gender transition and limits their time together to one afternoon a week.
“52 Tuesdays” won the best director award in the World Cinema Competition at Sundance.
Visit Films also has Benjamin Naishtat’s “History of Fear” screening in competition at Berlin.
Geoff Berkshire gave “52 Tuesdays” a positive review for Variety at Sundance.
»
- Dave McNary
Berlin Film Festival Review: ‘Gueros’
13 hours ago
“To be young and not a revolutionary is a contradiction,” reads a protest banner in “Gueros,” a feisty Mexican indie in which two brothers — one dark-skinned, the other pale — idly fritter away a few days while those around them stage a massive student demonstration. Such politics exist on the periphery of Alonso Ruizpalacios’ playful yet realistically grounded debut, which poses as a road trip (or, for the more generously inclined, a lackadaisical “chase movie”) in which the siblings conceivably discover their place in society while searching for an elusive folk singer. Pic faces modest returns, but foretells a promising career.
By contrast with a more arthouse-friendly strain of Mexican cinema — whose helmers “grab a bunch of beggars and shoot in black-and-white,” as one character here self-reflexively notes — this microbudget offering focuses on relatively privileged middle-class types (which it also shoots in black-and-white, and in the Academy ratio). The slang title »
- Peter Debruge
Berlin: ‘Watermark’ Set for Key Distribution Deals
14 hours ago
Water documentary “Watermark,” directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky, has been sold to major territories ahead of its screening at the Berlin Film Festival.
Sales by eOne Films International include eOne for the U.S., Madman for Australia, Cineart for Benelux, Senator for German speaking Europe, Soda Pictures for the U.K. and Pictureworks for India.
“Watermark” will screen Sunday in the Berlinale Special section. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September.
The documentary focuses on the uses of water and the consequences of that use. It includes massive floating abalone farms off China’s Fujian coast; the construction site of the Xiluodu Dam, the biggest arch dam in the world; the barren desert delta where the Colorado River no longer reaches the ocean; and the water-intensive leather tanneries of Dhaka.
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- Dave McNary
Berlin Film Review: ‘The Turning’
14 hours ago
With its interlocking nonlinear narratives and obliquely recurring characters, Australian author Tim Winton’s 2005 short-story collection “The Turning” is already something of an artistic tangram; brought to the screen by 18 different filmmakers who scatter its unifying literary voice to the winds, it’s even harder to parse. Commendably ambitious and clocking in at three hours, this unwieldy portmanteau pic boasts a handful of standout contributions — none more striking than the writing-directing debut of actress Mia Wasikowska — amid a surfeit of gauchely literal ones in a composite meditation on forgiveness, family, firearms and the persistence of memory. Nothing if not a conversation piece, speckled with such famous faces as Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Rose Byrne, “The Turning” has been successfully marketed Down Under as a full-scale cultural event; away from home, it’s destined more for isolated repertory screenings, while its patchwork format is ideally suited to ancillary.
In a short space of time, »
- Guy Lodge
George Clooney Tells Britain to Return Greek Art Treasures
14 hours ago
Berlin — George Clooney said the U.K. should return Greek art treasures in its possession, during a press conference for his film “The Monuments Men” at the Berlin Film Festival Saturday.
Asked by a Greek journalist whether Greece should claim its historic monuments back from Britain, he said: “I think you have a very good case to make about your artifacts. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing if they were returned.
“I think that is a good idea. I think that would be a very fair and very nice thing. Yeah, I think it is the right thing to do.”
The possession by British museums of Greek artifacts — such as the Elgin Marbles, which were taken from the Acropolis in Athens — has long been a bone of contention between the two countries. The question fitted nicely with the theme of Clooney’s film, which follows the attempt by »
- Leo Barraclough
Berlin: Salma Hayek’s ‘Everly’ Gets U.S. Distribution
15 hours ago
Dimension and Radius-twc have acquired U.S. rights to Salma Hayek’s action-thriller “Everly,” and plan a fourth-quarter release.
Directed by Joe Lynch, the film co-stars Togo Igawa, Masashi Fujimoto and Hiroyuki Watanabe. Sierra/Affinity is handling international sales at Berlin.
Hayek portrays a woman who’s down on her luck and forced to fend off waves of assassins sent by her ex — a dangerous mob boss — while trying to save her estranged mother and daughter.
Hayek came on board the project, based on Yale Hannon’s Black List script, at Cannes last year.
The film was produced and financed by Singapore venture Vega, Baby! and produced by Adam Ripp and Rob Paris’ Crime Scene Pictures. Luke Rivett of Anonymous Content and Andrew Pfeffer also produced. Rizal Risjad, Ricky Budhrani and Paul Green are the exec producers. and Brett Hedblom is the co-producer.
Hayek will be seen next in “Muppets Most Wanted. »
- Dave McNary
Berlin: Scandi outfit LevelK Scores Sales On Cate Blanchett starrer ‘The Turning’
16 hours ago
Berlin– LevelK has closed some territories on “The Turning,” a collection of Australian short films starring Cate Blanchett, in the run-up to the pic’s Berlin Gala unspooling scheduled on Sunday (Oct. 9).
Blanchett stars alongside Rose Byrne, Miranda Otto, Richard Roxburgh and Hugo Weawing in the shorts, which are all based on Tim Winton’s bestselling book.
Pic centers around the lives of Vic Lang and those around him. Directors capturing each life-changing moment, regret or resolve, include Warwick Thornton, Robert Connolly, Mia Wasikowska, David Wenham and Justin Kurzel
Deals were inked with Russian Report (Russia/Cis), FilmFreak Distribution (Benelux) and Cinesky Pics (world airline).
“Turning” bowed in Australia on Sept. 26, where it was released by Madman Entertainment and CinemaPlus as a 3-hour “event.” It’s now grossed $1.3 million in Australia. Byrne won the best actress nod at the recent Aacta awards.
Produced by Connolly and Maggie Miles for Arenamedia Australia, »
- Elsa Keslassy
Berlin: Bow Films Taps Frank Dillane To Topline Jarvis’ ‘Maestro’
19 hours ago
Frank Dillane (“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”) is set to topline Catherine Jarvis’ “Maestro,” based on Peter Goldsworthy’s eponymous novel.
Daniel Harvey and Bow Street Films partners Joe Jenckes and David Dickson are producing.
“Maestro” turns on Paul, a talented pianist (Dillane), who moves to an exotic outpost of 1960′s Northern Australia and is forced to learn from the only piano teacher his father can find – the enigmatic Herr Keller, a Viennese refugee with a shadowed past, known to the locals as ‘Maestro.’
“We were immediately inspired by the universal themes brought to life in Catherine’s screenplay, particularly how she frames the story within this very powerful music,” said Bow Street Films’ Joe Jenckes and David Dickson. “Frank’s amazing talent and screen presence coupled with Lang Lang’s unparalleled skill as a pianist will appeal to audiences worldwide.”
The pic’s original score will feature Craig Leon »
- Elsa Keslassy
Chinese New Year B.O. Bounces Back
20 hours ago
Berlin – Box office in China over the busy Chinese New Year period exceeded last year’s figures by more than 80%.
According to Entgroup data, cited by China’s official news agency Xinhua, theatrical receipts between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6 totaled RMB1.39 billion ($228 million), an improvement of 81% on the comparable 2013 score. Some 38.2 million tickets were sold.
Biggest films were Chinese-language titles “The Monkey King” with a gross of RMB612 million ($100 million) and TV derivative “Dad Where Are We Going?” with RMB468 million ($76.7 million). Hollywood animation “Frozen” placed third.
The strong holiday period receipts may be a relief for the industry which saw December 2013 B.O. takings some 20% below expectations.
China now represents the world’s second largest theatrical box office market, with a 2013 score of RMB21.8 billion ($3.57 billion).
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- Patrick Frater
Berlin Film Review: ‘Last Hijack’
20 hours ago
Producer-directors Femke Wolting and Tommy Pallotta, both with impressive credits in features and docus, team up for “Last Hijack,” a semi-animated “nonfiction narrative” that reps a rare cinematic attempt to deal with Somali piracy from a pirate’s side (following hot on the heels of the Sundance prize-winning drama “Fishing Without Nets”). Diving into the vogue for cross-pollinating genres, the helmers mix staged scenes with documentary material and handsome animation by Hisko Hulsing (“Junkyard”), hoping to convey the reasons behind the kind of piracy seen in “Captain Phillips.” Hulsing’s illustrations suggest a depth to pirate Mohamed Nura that remains hidden in the flesh, though fests and possibly Euro arthouses will find subject and form interesting.
Wolting’s producer credits encompass “Meet the Fokkens” and Peter Greenaway’s “Rembrandt’s J’Accuse,” while Pallotta’s include Richard Linklater’s “Waking Life” and “A Scanner Darkly.” Given the amount of media »
- Jay Weissberg
Rotterdam Film Review: ‘Brother’
21 hours ago
Richly toned 35mm lensing and elegant camerawork distinguish Teona Mghvdeladze and Thierry Grenade’s “Brother,” an overly staged drama about the clash between the salve of culture vs. the lure of chaos. Set in 1991 during Georgia’s anarchic break from the collapsing Soviet Union, the pic expresses a mournful nostalgia for the kind of refined culture, especially music, that went hand-in-hand with dignity, interrupted if not lost in the civil unrest. Using the old-fashioned device of two brothers moving in opposite directions, “Brother” is a mildly pleasing work that won’t cause any revolutions, but can sit handsomely in fest sidebars.
A quiet street in Tbilisi is jolted by youths in cars whooping “Long live independence!” as older people mutter that they don’t understand anything now. Upright, kind Maia (Natasha Shengelaia) has two sons, Giorgi (Irakli Basil Ramishvili) and Datuna (Zuka Tsirekidze). Giorgi is on the cusp of manhood, »
- Jay Weissberg
Ace Eddie Awards: ‘American Hustle,’ ‘Captain Phillips’ and ‘Frozen’ Top Films
22 hours ago
“Captain Phillips,” “American Hustle” and “Frozen” took top honors among narrative features as the American Cinema Editors handed out the Ace Eddie Awards Friday evening.
“Captain Phillips” and its editor Christopher Rouse took kudos for dramatic feature, “American Hustle” editors Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers & Alan Baumgarten took the award for comedy or musical feature, and “Frozen’s” Jeff Draheim took home the Eddie for animated feature.
It’s the second major honor for “Captain Phillips” in a week, as the picture won the WGA’s adapted screenplay prize last Saturday.
The timing of the award was fortuitous for the A.C.E., as “Captain Phillips” helmer Paul Greengrass was the org’s Filmmaker of the Year honoree.
Tom Hanks introduced Greengrass, but first congratulated the A.C.E. on its 64 years and for having the largest trophy in show business. “Pardon my language but that thing is fuckin’ huge,” Hanks said. »
- David S. Cohen
Taiwan’s Doze Niu Charged in Film Location Offense
22 hours ago
Berlin — Taiwanese film director Doze Niu has been formally charged with using fake documents to smuggle a mainland Chinese cinematographer onto a Taiwan naval base in June last year. He faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
Niu (aka Niu Chen Zer), who previously delivered hits “Monga,” and “Love,” and Cau Yu entered the Zuoying base near Kaohsiung while scouting locations for Niu’s planned film “Military Paradise.”
He had previously applied for permission to enter with Cao, and been rejected, but in June they sneaked onto the base in a bus and later boarded a navy ship.
Taiwan has long-standing ‘Vital Area Regulations’ that bar Chinese nationals from entering its military facilities.
Deciding to go ahead with the case, prosecutor Huang Yuan-kuang said that Niu and Cao knew they were not allowed to enter, but went ahead anyway, by using a Taiwanese ID card and disguising Cao »
- Patrick Frater
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