Vanessa Obioha
‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, the unreleased movie of Karan Johar is causing tension between the two countries. New York Times reported that the two countries have been at war since an India’s army base was attacked in September by suspected Pakistanis. The violent act had a ripple effect on the country to the extent that Bollywood decided not to feature Pakistans in their movies. Thus, movies with Pakistan actors have their release dates derailed
Unfortunately, Johar, one of the industry successful directors new film featured a Pakistani actor, Fawad Khan.
Also, a far-right political party based in the state of Maharashtra has warned all Pakistani performers working in India to leave within 48 hours or risk being beaten up. However, the Indian minister of home affairs, Rajnath Singh, met with a delegation led by the president of a major movie producers’ group recently and assured them that steps would be taken to ensure that Johar’s film would not be disrupted by violence.
Meanwhile, Johar took to social media to plead with the protesters. He promised never to feature a Pakistani actor in any of his future productions.
‘Enemy of the State’ to be Adapted to Small Screen
ABC network is partnering with with Jerry Bruckheimer Television to produce the series of the 1998 big screen thriller starring Will Smith. The original film revolves round the actor who played the role of a lawyer targeted by a corrupt politician and the NSA after accidentally receiving evidence exposing a politically motivated crime
The small screen adaptation will be set 20 years later after the original film with a new narrative revolving round an idealistic female attorney who must partner with an FBI agent to stop a global conspiracy exposed by an NSA spy being charged with leaking classified information.
Smith is not attached to the TV project, but producer Jerry Bruckheimer is.
Netflix Faces Lawsuit
The online streaming service was recently slammed a lawsuit by Relativity Media. The latter accused Netflix for breach of contract and libel that resulted in damages worth of $1.5 billion. In 2010, the two companies forged an output deal where the Netflix was to pay Relativity Media fees based on the box office performance of any given film — with a guaranteed cash minimum of $3.7 million.
However, Netflix has been slow in meeting up with its own side of the deal despite its booming business. At the time of the deal, the streaming giant was merely a fledgling DVD mail-order business. Relativity contends that by choosing Netflix as its pay television or SVOD partner, Relativity single-handedly converted Netflix from a DVD mail-order company into a pay television business.
Therefore, in the lawsuit, it accused Netflix and its Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos of falsely representing its obligations to Relativity in the press, publicly criticising the studio’s business model and poisoning Relativity’s name to power brokers in an elaborate and aggressive smear campaign.
In defense, Netflix told The Wrap that the lawsuit is baseless and ironic. There were attempts by Netflix to renegotiate the fee rate to more favourable terms to the streaming service but the prosecutor declined. Though the suit does not spell out how it came up with its projection of $1.5 billion in losses, the papers note that Netflix paid between $100 million and $300 million per year to Relativity under the deal.
Eminem Mocks Donald Trump in New Music
Known for his arsenal of invectives, the white rapper did not spare the Republican presidential candidate in his new single. Aptly, titled ‘’Campaign Speech, the eight-minute track is just a teaser to his upcoming LP. He expressed ire towards Donald Trump whose reputation continually faces defamation in the wake of his outbursts and tactless approach towards the election. Eminem is yet to release date for his LP.
Fox Count its Losses
After investing heavily on Nate Parker’s Birth of a Nation, Fox Searchlight may not record any profit.
The film won the grand jury prize and audience award at Sundance film festival in January, and was tipped to be an Oscar favourite. This led Fox to purchase the movie for a whopping sum of $17.5m.
The film’s success was however dimmed by Parker’s ugly past. Just weeks before it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, Parker’s rape case was dug out and the media had a field day unleashing every tiniest detail of that ordeal. Since then,the fate of the movie has been in shaky hands.
It became more evident as the film failed to attract audience in its first two weeks in US cinemas. Already plans to boycott the film had been ongoing.
The Hollywood Reporter reported that Fox had invested an estimated $18m on marketing, and expects to lose $5m to $10m.
Janet Jackson Gets Her First Nomination in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
The singer gets her first nomination nine years after she was declared eligible to be inducted in the prestigious Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The youngest of the Jackson’s family, Janet is a renowned pop star in the industry with a robust discography.
The 50 year-old mum to be will be contending with the likes of the late rapper, Tupac Shakur, Chaka Khan, Electric Light Orchestra and Joan Baez.
The inductees are voted by fans and by an international body consisting of 800 artists, historians and members of the music industry who are asked to consider musical influence, innovation, and length and depth of career.
Final results will be announced in December.
Shania Twain Honoured at CMT Awards
The country singer had the time of her life at the recently held CMT Awards.
Honoured with the the artist of the lifetime award, Shania Twain was serenaded with a medley of her songs by female artists across three genres. Pop singer Meghan Trainor and R&B singer Jill Scott joined Ballerini to sing Twain’s classic anthem to female strength, ‘Man, I Feel Like a Woman.’
Twain gained fame in the mid-’90s with her pop country songs and music videos that combined sex appeal, female empowerment and high fashion.
Other winners at the award include Carrie Underwood, Ballerini and Chris Stapleton.
Peter Dinklage to Star in
Postapocalyptic Film
One of Game of Thrones favourite character Peter Dinklage is set to star in a movie about life after apocalypse, ‘I Think We’re Alone.’
Playing the character Del—a man who finds his innermost fantasies of seclusion realized when the rest of humanity is wiped out in a mysterious incident—Dinklage will be joined by Elle Fanning. She is the second survivor of the apocalypse and threatens to disrupt Dinklage’s newfound sense of order.
Reed Morano will be directing the film written by Mike Makowsky while Dinklage will also share producer’s credits with David Ginsberg.
IM Global will however oversee the marketing of the movie.
