'Sanju' to 'Padmaavat', list of profitable films in 2018

After a miserable two years of flopping films and stagnant revenues, what has changed for the Rs 156-billion film industry?

Entertainment News: Sanju, Padmaavat, Raazi, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, Bharat Ane Nenu, Rangasthalam. The list of profitable films in 2018 is getting longer. “It has been a great year so far,” says Nitin Tej Ahuja, publisher of trade magazine Box Office India.

Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi, one of the most profitable films of the year, has Alia Bhatt in the lead. She is not a star the trade would have bet on for a film that rests largely on her shoulders. However, the (real) story of an Indian girl who married a Pakistani army officer to spy on him during the 1971 war is an outstanding film. Audiences loved it and spent close to Rs 2 billion (in India and overseas) buying tickets to watch it. That is true for many of the top 50 films. What’s changed is the frequency with which such films, called ‘content films’, are doing well. In industry parlance, ‘content films’ are those without a star while ‘commercial’ or ‘masala’ films have big names.

Top Movies of 2018

“In the last few years, audience’s taste is changing and that change is now entering into the top 10 charts. Raazi, Sonu… it is not just about big actors not being there, it is about content. Earlier people used to watch big stars even if content was ok, now there is a drop in that,” says Kumar Ahuja, president, business development, Eros International Media. “In general, content films or more meaningful films are the norm rather than the exception,” adds Ajit Andhare, CEO, Viacom18 Motion Pictures.

Not only are such films these being made but these are pulling in revenues. “In the last six months, a lot of films have done a business of Rs 1 billion, Raazi, Raid, Veere Di Wedding,” points out Bhushan Kumar, chairman and managing director, Super Cassettes Industries (T-Series). “Compared to previous years, the first six months of 2018 have been a high earning one,” says a happy Apoorva Mehta, chief executive officer (CEO) of Dharma Productions, which....continue reading

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 News Source: BS

'The Nun': A lacklustre spin-off of horror films (Movie Review)

"The Nun", is yet another spin-off of a horror film that's not exactly inventive or frightening.

Entertainment News: Set in 1952, the narrative beings with the para-psychologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, who had famously invented the so called Amityville hauntings of "The Conjuring" series, reveal that one of the paintings, hanging on the walls of their Connecticut home, is spooky.

Lorraine discloses: "I had a vision in Amityville, I had a premonition of your death. The demon in the painting, is real."
With not much ado about the painting or how the demon got into it, we are transported to remote Romania, where in a haunted cloister convent, a nun hangs herself after being chased by a maleficent spirit.

The Nun Movie Review

After her body is spotted by Frenchie (Jomas Bloquet) a resident of Biertan, a village close to the convent, the Vatican is perturbed. So, they send a Spanish priest Father Anthony Burke (Demian Bechir) and a young novitiate Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) to investigate the happenings there.

The three along with the nuns are subjected to trauma by a series of sub-standard iteration of horror tropes with no cause and effect sequences but just effects, random and unjustified.

The bulk of the narrative is taken by the apparent killings of the nuns who live in the monastery. Some are burnt, blown or thrown off in a series of oddly timed events. Add to that, the falling of the skulls and the presence of ghastly zombie-like spirits, make the entire narrative more amusing than horrifying.

Read full Review → The Nun Review

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News Source: BS

Superhero mash-up Avengers: Infinity War beats Jurassic World as world’s 4th-biggest film

The third “Avengers” film has minted 1.686 billion dollars at the box office worldwide after 20 days of release, reported Variety.

 

International News : Disney Studios announced on Thursday that the third “Avengers” film has minted 1.686 billion dollars at the box office worldwide after 20 days of release, reported Variety.

Earlier, “Avengers: Infinity War” became the fastest film to hit the $1 billion worldwide mark, needing only 11 days to do so. It reached the milestone one day earlier than “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

It now trails only three titles at the all-time worldwide box office – “Avatar” with $2.79 billion, “Titanic” with $2.19 billion and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at $2.07 billion.

Co-directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, the film features a massive ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Zoe Saldana and Chris Pratt.

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‘Avengers: Infinity War’ now Marvel’s sixth film to clock $1 bn worldwide

“Avengers: Infinity War” has crossed $1 billion worldwide, setting the record for the fastest film to reach the milestone.

The Disney-Marvel film, which released on April 27, will take in around $122 million this weekend from 4,474 North American locations, which, combined with its international total, will push it past the $1 billion mark, reports variety.com.

“Avengers: Infinity War” is Marvel’s sixth film to reach that number, including the second most recent installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe “Black Panther”.

“Avengers Infinity War” brings together 22 superheroes to fight one supervillain, Thanos. Anthony and Joe Russo have brought the story alive on the big screen with actors like Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch and Scarlett Johansson.

The film also features Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chadwick Boseman and Tom Holland. The superhero tentpole opened to $257.6 million last weekend, attaining the highest-grossing opening weekend of all time.

The film got a flying start in India too by recording a gross box office collection of Rs 1.20 billion in its opening weekend.

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Read More on → Highest Grossing Movies

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ set to beat Jungle Book’s box office record

Having made Rs 1.87 billion in 10 days, the Marvel superhero juggernaut is set to crush Mowgli’s Rs 1.88-billion haul at the box office.

Latest News : At Rs 1.87 billion (net after tax) box-office collections in the 10 days since its release, Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War is on track to becoming the highest earning Hollywood film in the country. Released on April 27 along with the rest of the world, Infinity War was one of the widest Hollywood releases in the country at 2000 screens, and opened with Rs 400 million, the second highest opening at the box office this year.

A product of the Disney stable, Infinity War is the 19th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) which started with the first Ironman film in 2008. The film follows the Mad Titan Thanos in his quest for the Infinity Stones so that he can wipe out half the universe. It stars more than 20 of Marvel’s superheroes, and is the culmination of multiple storylines established in the movies that came in the past decade.

On its way to the top, Avengers Infinity War would have beaten The Jungle Book (2016), also a product from the House of Mouse, which made Rs 1.88 billion in its lifetime at the theatres in India.

Released on April 8, the film had a nearly 6-week run at the box office, cashing in on the nostalgia the story holds for Indian audiences who have seen the 90’s animated version of Mowgli’s adventures with Baloo and Bagheera, and the summer vacation. Infinity War has breached its record within two weeks of release.

Disney’s strategy for its Hollywood films, especially those with mass appeal, has been honing a sharp focus on localisation in its distribution and marketing. Infinity War released in three Indian languages – Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, apart from English.

Apart from dubbing the content in local languages, the studio also marketed the dubs extensively, especially where they tapped into visible local talent like Rana Dagubatti who has voiced Thanos in the Telugu version.

Also Read → Avengers Infinity War Box Office Collection