2.0 Teaser Starring Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar to Be Released at a Grand Event in Mumbai?

May 04, 2018

Cinema

The film 2.0, starring Rajinikanth as the endearing Robot and Akshay Kumar as the mean villain was slated for a 2017 release. But thanks to delay in VFX process, the film got postponed to 2018. However, there is no clarity as yet on when the film will be releasing. After a grand music launch in Dubai last year, there has been no update from the makers about the release of the film. However, there is something brewing and we cannot wait to know what the team 2.0 has in store for us.

An update on Lyca Productions has us excited. The production house is bankrolling director Shankar’s project and their recent post on Instagram said, “Lyca Productions heads to Mumbai for 2.0.” The post was initially shared by Nish Niruthan, movie production head, at Lyca. This has fans guessing on what brings team 2.0 to Mumbai. Is is a grand audio launch in Hindi or a teaser launch at a grand event in the city?

Incidentally, Lyca is also handling Kaala and there has been no release date to that as well since the Telugu Film Producer Council’s strike. Chances are that even if the 2.0 teaser or trailer is launched anytime soon, we will not have the release date since the makers would want to first release Rajinikath’s gangster film Kaala Kaarikalan and then come out with 2.0. However, there have been rumours that the film will release during Diwali 2018, clashing with Aamir Khan’s Thugs Of Hindostan.

It can be recalled that early March, a rough cut of the 2.0 teaser was leaked online. The clip which was a little over a minute, seemed to be shot using a mobile phone. 2.0 is the sequel to the multi-lingual science fiction film Enthiran (2010) that starred Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as his leading lady.

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Why superfans love Avengers: Infinity War and hate Star Wars: The Last Jed

May 02, 2018

Cinema

They are both from ultra-geeky source material, with Marvel-style humour and box-office takings to shout about … so how come aficionados have given Last Jedi such short shrift?

SPOILER WARNING: Discussion of the films’ content follows, so proceed with caution

Ben Child

 @BenChildGeek

Wed 2 May 2018 11.21 BSTLast modified on Wed 2 May 2018 11.22 BST

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 It’s all gone Benedict Wong … Avengers: Infinity War. Photograph: Chuck Zlotnick/AP

What is the true mark of success for a Hollywood blockbuster ? Its critical score, via Rotten Tomatoes? Its global box office take? A decent tilt at the Oscars in the year following its release?

Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi has passed muster in all three of the above categories. And yet there remains the nagging sense, nearly six months after the movie’s release, that the eighth episode in the long-running space opera may ultimately be seen as the most divisive so far.

Avengers: Infinity War blasts Star Wars: The Force Awakens' first-weekend record at US box office

 

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Unlike Black Panther and this weekend’s Avengers: Infinity War, the two other Disney-produced films that have delivered the really big bucks at the global box office over the last six months, The Last Jedi was greeted with derision by large parts of its core fanbase. Never has the audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, an overlooked feature of the site, looked so relevant. While Black Panther (96% from critics) has a 79% “audience score”, and Infinity War (84% from critics) has a 93% “audience score”, The Last Jedi (91% from critics) was liked by just 47% of those who registered their opinion on the site.

Both Infinity War and The Last Jedi drew on ultra-geeky sources for much of their storyline. The Russo Brothers’ superhero epic took its inspiration from the cosmically nutty 1991 comic book series The Infinity Gauntlet, while adapting it heavily to fit the characters who have already been introduced to audiences over a decade of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The Last Jedi famously took its key twist – Luke Skywalker’s arrival on the mineral planet of Crait in temporarily invincible form – from a little known Star Wars tome titled The Jedi Path.

There are other parallels between the two movies, with many noting the Marvel-style humour that was present throughout The Last Jedi. The difference between the two films, and perhaps the reason why Johnson failed to keep hardcore Star Wars acolytes happy (while the Russos are currently basking in the afterglow of post-movie audience rapture), is that Infinity War rarely sends up its most preposterous excesses. There are more than enough laughs amid the misery of Thanos’s assault on the galaxy, but the Russos resist the temptation to lampoon the mad Titan himself, his gauntlet, or any of his deeply silly minions. All are treated with a reverence that will have helped to keep fans of the comics, and the wider MCU, feeling like their much-loved source material is being respected.

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The same cannot be said, and this is only a criticism depending on your point of view (for the record, I liked the movie) for The Last Jedi. The key scene here is when ghost Yoda brings lightning down on Ahch-To’s library of ancient Jedi books.

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“The sacred Jedi texts!” Luke shouts, as the tomes go up on flames. “Read them have you?” chides Yoda, pointing out that Daisy Ridley’s Rey has become hugely powerful without access to such ostentatious resources. It’s a superbly comic moment, a hilariously radical revision of accepted Star Wars tropes, but also one that risks undermining any sense of wonder fans might have had left after the slick but ultimately lightweight The Force Awakens.

Why bother to whet our appetites for revelations about the Jedi and their origins, as teased in trailers for Johnson’s film, only to disappoint us with such a curveball? In a moment, every ounce of enigma surrounding the brigade of space monks and their ancient way of life is torpedoed – not by a non-believer like Han Solo, but by Yoda himself.

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The lesson here for Johnson, who is directing a new trilogy of Star Wars movies, is that comedy is fine – the original trilogy also had its funny moments – but that lampooning those aspects of a much-loved saga that made fans fall in love with it in the first place is probably best left to the inevitable Lego Star Wars crossover movie. The equivalent move in Infinity War might have been for Thanos to have clicked his fingers, only to discover that the myriad cosmic gems he spent so long collecting from various members of the Avengers were fakes, and that we had all been worrying about nothing.

Anyone who has seen Infinity War’s brutally crushing finale, with half the galaxy’s heroes going up in smoke in an instant, will know that would have been a cruel way to waste an audience’s time. We need to be invested in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, in Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther, in Chris Pratt’s Star Lord, for us to care when they are flicked into the void. And while Marvel has at times been content to chuckle at the sillier sides to all these superheroes, the studio has always been carefully to retain our sense of awe at the MCU’s essential machinery.

For when comedy descends into lampoonery, the last laugh is ultimately on studios. Infinity War looks likely to become one of the top five movies of all time at the global box office by the time it leaves cinemas, thanks to impressive word of mouth. The Last Jedi, hampered by antipathy from hardcore fans, eventually limped to an underwhelming $1.3bn, despite a stellar opening weekend.

There is a danger for the film-maker, it seems, in too much postmodern mickey-taking. For you risk seeing half your audience disappear before your eyes.

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So Who Actually Died In 'Avengers: Infinity War'?

April 30, 2018

Cinema

Marvel

Avengers: Infinity War

It has been an agonizing three days, as I was delayed in watching Avengers: Infinity War until this morning, and I was forced to dodge an entire internet full of spoilers before then.

Don’t let me contribute to the problem, so please, know that you should only read this article after you’ve seen the movie since we will be discussing character deaths. I think the title kind of gives that away, though I don’t think it’s a spoiler in and of itself to declare that some people in this enormous cast did not make it out of this event movie alive.

Hopefully that’s enough prefacing, as true spoilers follow.

It turns out one of the reasons that I didn’t hear about specific character deaths was because…there were simply too many deaths to count. The movie ends with an apparent massacre, Thanos getting his wish by causing half the population of the universe to simply cease to exist with a snap of his six-stoned gauntlet, and with that came the evaporation of many of Marvel’s heroes right before our eyes.

But….really?

It’s a weird situation. I think we have to separate out “Evaporation Deaths” from potential “Real Deaths,” ie. kills that took place outside of the movie’s final scene. Because if we don’t, it’s pretty hard to know who is actually dead, and who will likely return for the sequel/other Marvel movies.

Real Deaths:

Marvel

Loki and the Tesseract

Loki

This was one hell of an opener, I’ll say that. We pick off almost exactly where Thor Ragnarok left off, only the Asgardian battle against Thanos is over, and Thor and company already lost. Loki reveals he still has the Tesseract, ie. the Space Gem, and appears to once again be ready to bow and scrape to survive, offering to pledge his loyalty to Thanos, only to try and assassinate him with a hidden dagger. Thanos blocks the attack with his 1/3^rd complete power gauntlet, and snaps Loki’s neck right in front of Thor.

Granted, this is not the first time we’ve seen Loki apparently die, and he’s one of the MCU’s most popular characters, so it’s a little tough to fully believe this. But unlike Thor 2, we got no hints or clues that Loki is secretly alive, and it would be weird to pull the same trick twice. Like Thor says in the movie, it really seems like it’s for real this time, though again, I’m only about 80% sure, given Loki’s history.

Marvel

Heimdall

Heimdall

Heimdall is less of a mystery. While he’s not a front and center character, he’s been a key part of all three Thor movies, and to see him executed here was still pretty sad. Now that Thor has the power of the Bifrost with his new hammer/axe, his friend lives on, essentially, in his new weapon, which is kind of nice.

Marvel

Gamora

Gamora

This was probably my favorite sequence in the film. Thanos arrives to get the Soul Gem (from Red Skull, no less), and is told he has to sacrifice someone he loves as the price to acquire it. Gamora starts laughing hysterically given that she thinks Thanos could never love anyone, and then he turns to her with a look that says, “I have some bad news, honey.”

With tears in his eyes, he throws his adopted daughter off the cliff. I thought for a minute she might land is some sort of magic pool or infinity hole with the potential to be rescued later but….she just flat out hit the ground, and seems very much dead, or else Thanos wouldn’t have been able to get the Soul Gem.

Is she gone for good? Has one of the Guardians truly fallen? It’s a little weird to kill her when she’s cut off from the rest of the team, and I’m still trying to puzzle out whether this is one death that will stick or not. Peter is half-celestial, after all, and if he could summon some sort of magic god powers to bring her back for Guardians 3, I wouldn’t put it past him. But it would sort of cripple a powerful moment from this film, if Gamora magically sprung back to life.

Marvel

Vision

Vision

Another great sequence was Scarlet Witch being forced to kill Vision in order to destroy the Mind Gem in his head, only to have Thanos reverse the action with the Time Gem, and then kill him all over again by ripping it out of his head.

Is Vision really dead? Again, it’s hard to say. Vision is a robot, so it stands to reason that he could be put back together again, even without the Mind Gem. They even remark in the film that he’s part JARVIS, Ultron and programming from Tony and Bruce, so there’s a lot of Vision that doesn’t have to do with the Mind Gem. But it does seem like that part of him was what made him practically human by the end, so we’ll have to see. As a robot, it does seem more likely than not that he could be resurrected if everyone put their minds to it. That said, they literally killed him twice in three minutes, and between him, Loki and Gamora, I'd say odds are the best that he stays dead.

Marvel

Thanos

Evaporation “Deaths”

Again, I have “deaths” in quotes here because no, I really don’t believe that Marvel just killed off half its universe and we’re never going to see these characters again. While it was a good sequence and a rather horrifying ending, it seems extremely unlikely that many, if any of these characters have truly been killed off.

Here’s the full death list, as best as I can recall:

Black Panther

Falcon

Winter Soldier

Scarlet Witch

Drax

Groot

Mantis

Star Lord

Spider-Man

Doctor Strange

Nick Fury (post-credits)

Maria Hill (post-credits)

Confirmed survivors include:

Thor

Captain America

Iron Man

War Machine

Black Widow

Nebula

Okoye

Rocket

Bruce/Hulk

The “deaths” fell a bit flat for me, as even if many of them were done well (Peter’s scene with Tony, especially), it was hard to take them seriously. Movies like Spider-Man 2, Black Panther 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 are already on Marvel’s upcoming slate, and given that I don’t think Spider-Man 2 will star Ned or Guardians will just be a Rocket solo feature, it’s safe to say everyone “dead” here should return thanks to some sort of deus ex machina plot turn. It certainly seemed like Doctor Strange had some sort of master plan in mind when he willingly gave up the Time Gem (a long game to reach the one reality where they "win"?), so we’ll have to see. I’m sure the comics have some sort of answer for this, but that’s a conversation for another day.

I really liked Infinity War, but I have mixed feelings on this ending due to the fact that I couldn’t really feel the emotional weight of it. It was too many alleged deaths to believe they were for real, especially given the future plans of the MCU. As such, deaths like Loki’s and Gamora’s hit harder, though I’m still only 90% sure either are permanently dead. These are comic book movies, after all.

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Avengers Infinity War’ Sails to $240 Million-Plus Opening Weekend

April 29, 2018

Cinema

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‘Avengers Infinity War’ the latest highly anticipated entry in the MCU, is headed for an enormous $240 million-plus opening weekend from 4,474 North American venues.

Should the Disney blockbuster achieve that number, it will have attained the second-highest domestic opening weekend of all time, close behind 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” with $248 million. Below is 2017’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” with $220 million.

The film earned $106 million in previews, including $39 million from Thursday screenings, marking the second-largest domestic first day of all time, again behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The 19th MCU film also received the second-widest domestic release ever, just behind “Despicable Me 3” with 4,529 screens.

“Infinity War” has already earned $178.5 million on the international front from 43 territories, and has pushed Disney past $1 billion in domestic revenue for 2018.

‘Avengers Infinity War’ will become the sixth film in history to top the $200 million mark in their domestic debut weekends, joining “The Force Awakens,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Jurassic World,” “The Avengers” and “Black Panther.”

The MCU’s denizens, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chadwick Boseman, Zoe Saldana and many more, reunite two years after the events of “Captain America: Civil War” for “Infinity War,” which also stars Josh Brolin as Thanos, the intergalactic force bent on destruction. Joe and Anthony Russo directed from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The film has earned an 84% certified fresh rating Trendz Facts and an A CinemaScore.

The original “Avengers” had the highest opening to date for a Marvel film, debuting with $207.4 million in 2012.

In a very distant second is the fourth weekend of Paramount’s “A Quiet Place,” John Krasinski’s thrilller starring himself and Emily Blunt, with about $10 million. The film has earned $140 million domestically in its first 22 days. A sequel was announced to be in the works by Paramount’s Jim Gianopulos at CinemaCon, though Krasinski’s role has not yet been released.

The second frame of STXfilms’ “I Feel Pretty” will nab third place with about $8 million from 3,440 North American locations, with fourth place likely to go to the third weekend of Dwayne Johnson’s “Rampage,” with almost $7 million from 3,508 locations.

Another Marvel title, “Black Panther,” should earn about $5 million in its 11th weekend to wind up in fifth. The most recent Marvel film before “Infinity War” has earned over $1.3 billion worldwide, with over $640 million from overseas. The film starring Chadwick Boseman, Letitia Wright, and Michael B. Jordan opened to $202 million and has topped $683 million in North America to become the third-highest domestic grosser of all time, behind only “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avatar.”

Bleecker Street’s “Disobedience” will get a limited opening this weekend against “Infinity War,” and is headed for about $240,000 from five screens. The drama stars Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams and follows Weisz as Ronit Krushka, a non-practicing Orthodox Jewish woman who returns to the community that shunned her decades earlier for an attraction to a female childhood friend. Based on the book by Naomi Alderman, the script was adapted by Sebastián Lelio, who is also directing. The film is sitting at a 90% certified fresh rating on Trendz Facts.

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We’ve made our last offer, say founders of Qube Cinema on the Tamil cinema strike

April 23, 2018

Cinema

Jayendra Panchapakesan and Senthil Kumar, founders of Qube Cinema   | Photo Credit: V Ganesan

Founders of Qube Cinema, Jayendra Panchapakesan and Senthil Kumar, present their side of the picture in the ongoing strike in Tamil cinema

 25 days on and the strike organised by the Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) seems to have no end at sight. Initially started to protest the high Virtual Print Fee (VPF) charged by Digital Service Providers (DSPs) such as Qube and UFO, the demands of the TFPC have now widened to include lower ticket and concession prices, and also a share of the lucrative advertising revenue that’s being shared between theatres and DSPs.

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Despite reducing their rates by 18 to 23% to end the deadlock, the TFPC seems to be in no mood to relent. Jayendra Panchapakesan and Senthil Kumar, founders of Qube Cinema, explain why they have already made their last offer. Excerpts from a chat:

TFPC president Vishal describes the ongoing strike as a period to revamp the industry...

Most of what we’re learning is from the press. There has been no direct dialogue ever since the three other industries agreed to accept lower VPF costs, and the TFPC’s demands now seem to just be expanding. In a recent interview, Vishal has asked for computerised ticketing in cinemas. Around 70% of our screens are already computerised, and if he wanted to computerise the rest, he could have avoided giving films to just those theatres. There’s no need to shut down the whole industry for that. 

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But the removal of VPF by DSPs is still the main demand, isn’t it?

That is what the strike started with. But that has always seemed to be too small an issue to destroy the industry. He has cited the example of a house being under renovation to describe the shutdown. But this is not a house. This is a business. If we’re renovating our office, we won’t stop conducting business on all those days.

The three other southern states have agreed to the new reduced VPF. It is a decision we were forced into when all the states got together. We have agreed to reduce VPF by 18 to 23%.

TFPC is also asking for a share of the advertising revenue.

They have asked for a share of the advertising revenue from the ads that get played before and during the interval of a movie. This revenue is presently shared by DSPs and theatres and it has always belonged to the theatre. Not just because of tradition, but because legally, the rights to exploit a property belongs to its owner. For instance, if I own a building, only I have the right to the money I earn from the banner I put up outside it, unless, I’ve contracted someone else to do it. Which is the case with us, where theatres have contracted us with sourcing ads for them.

Was that your business model from the beginning?

Yes. Our business began with an idea of generating income from advertising. In other parts of the world, DSPs like us charged higher VPFs in such a way that they earn their profits from it. We cannot survive on VPFs alone, so we patented the idea of centralising advertising in theatres and sharing the revenue with them.

The producers have now asked for a sunset clause, a clause that stops them from paying a VPF once the equipment has been paid for in theatres. What’s your take?

They didn’t question it all these years when they were seeing how much cheaper digital is compared to film reels. If they had said that they wanted a system where we recoup the cost of the equipment and then stop the charges, they should have asked for that earlier.

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At a time when we are trying to evolve into state-of-the-art projectors, they’re talking about bringing in players who want to use older, or outdated projectors. The proposed systems cannot go through the rigorous security breach our systems can be put through. And if they do manage to match our level of security and service, at the price they are promising, then they will not survive for even a year.

But they claim to have a system where the VPF payments will end in three years...

We’re aware of the projectors they are talking about. They are choosing a projector that might not last beyond three years. We have spent a lot of money upfront developing our projectors. Some of the demands they have suggested will take our industry back by many years. Especially the point to cut down on wide releases to a limited number of screens. That doesn’t make any sense at a time when a film’s lifespan has become so short.

Another point they are making is about how VPF is unaffordable to smaller producers.

Of the 200 odd films that released last year, 112 movies paid us an amount that is lesser than ₹3.5 lakh for a release at 50 or more screens. Our business has subsidised releases for small films when compared to film reels. And if they’re talking about bringing new players to the market, they will have to break contracts because almost every theatre in Tamil Nadu is currently in contract with either us or one of the other DSPs.

Our business model works a lot like a cab service, like Ola and Uber. After hundreds of rides, you might feel you have paid enough to Ola to own your own car, but that doesn’t mean you can ask Ola to transfer ownership of a car to your name. That is our business model and we can’t change that.

How do DSPs manage in other parts of the country?

Even in other centres, such as Mumbai, they charge around ₹100 more per show. And in the US, they work out a much higher VPF pricing model, where the theatres end up owning the equipment after many years, but that’s because of the higher per-show charges.

What are the losses faced by your company because of the strike?

It is important to look at the price the producers themselves are paying. We’re told ₹120 crore is stuck just because of the delayed releases of all March films. That amount alone, and the 36% interest that is being charged by financiers, is much more that what any DSP earns in such a period. We think they’re penny wise and pound foolish. Either ways, the cost of what a film pays us is just one to two% of its total costs. Aren’t there other places to cut costs from?

From your side, is there anything more you can offer to end the roadblock?

No, nothing at all.

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