The Mouse House Buys Marvel for US$4 Billion

In a sudden and surprise move, Disney has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. "We believe that adding Marvel to Disney's unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation," said Disney CEO Robert Iger. Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. In other words, we might see Hulk or Spider-Man dancing alongside with Mr Incredible in Disney theme parks in future. The full press release here

THE FINAL DESTINATION is highest-grossing M18 horror film in Singapore

Warner Bros. Singapore is proud to announce that THE FINAL DESTINATION has become the highest-grossing M18 horror film in Singapore, raking in S$947,824 (41 prints) for its opening weekend. This impressive result for THE FINAL DESTINATION also signals the growing popularity and interest in exciting live-action 3D movies. Fans flocked to watch the film in both 2D and Digital 3D, with most of the 3D halls playing to full-house audiences. 3D hall takings contributed to 41% of the total opening weekend box office.

Golden Village Presents Corinne Gibbons – “Live”

For the first time ever, Golden Village will be hosting a "Live" performance, featuring professional Australian pop jazz and fusion artiste Corinne Gibbons. The singer-songwriter, who has three albums to her name, will be giving a performance in front of a live audience on the 15th of September at GV VivoCity. The 75-minute performance at GV VivoCity will mark the unprecedented move to transform one of GV’s cinema halls into a "Live" performance venue. The performance will feature Corinne singing tracks from her MELT album that was launched in May this year. The "Live" performance promises to be a magical and intimate audio-visual experience, perfectly blending music and visuals together. Tickets to Corinne Gibbon’s one-night only performance will be on sale from the 27th of August. Each ticket will be priced at S$35.00. Please visit www.gv.com.sg for more information

'THE BLUE MANSION' SELECTED TO OPEN IN 14TH PUSAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Singapore director Glen Goei’s upcoming film THE BLUE MANSION, a quirky murder mystery about a wealthy tycoon who dies under mysterious circumstances and returns as a ghost to try to uncover the secret of his death with the help of his family and the police has been selected to open in 'A Window on Asian Cinema' at the prestigious 14th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) this year. A major highlight of the film was the international film crew that was involved in its production including Cinematographer Larry Smith who was the Director of Photography on Eyes Wide Shut, Production designer Ian Bailie who was the art director on Atonement and Composer David Hirschfelder who scored the music for Shine and Elizabeth.

Singapore Theatrical Teaser Trailer Launch of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon"

Twilight fans will have reason to rejoice and flock to the theaters again. The theatrical teaser trailer from THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON, will premiere this Thursday, exclusively with the August 27 release of BANDSLAM. The Twilight Saga: New Moon opens in Singapore on 3 December and is distributed by Shaw Organisation.

Avatar’s 15mins preview review

After giving us classic such as Terminator 2 and Titanic, the king of the “movie” world, James Cameron took an extended break from directing feature films. 12 years later, he is back with a new movie called Avatar and understandably, it caused massive hype and anticipation for those who had been clamoring his return to directorial duties.

One of the unprecedented marketing techniques used to create more buzz for this movie would be having Avatar Day on 21st Aug 2009. On this day, 15 mins of Avatar footage would be shown worldwide for free in Imax and 3D theatres. In Singapore, 20th Century Fox presented this event as a series of preview at Golden Village VivoCity's 3D theater to a group of lucky winners.

However this innovative marketing and the unrealistic high expectation for this movie could become a double-edged sword.

Let’s get started with the 3D special effects that were shown during the 15 minutes exclusive footage. Beside the gradient effects that differentiate the depth of field, there very little to be impressed. The photorealistic 3D rendered world and characters had been done before and in my humble opinion, it’s just a slight notch above the likes of Beowulf, Final Fantasy: The Spirit within and etc. It even pale in comparison to the creation of CGI Gollum in The Lord of the Rings 2 which had reportedly convinced James Cameron that it’s time to proceed with this dream project of his since 1999.

If (as what the producer had stated that) Avatar is not about the special effects and the focus should be story or world that James Cameron had created, then there’s a cause for panic as from what we seen during the 15 minutes of screening, it’s nothing new and it was quite poorly executed. It just seems like a far cry from what James Cameron had been feeding us with his past feature movies.

The story as we could gathered, felt awfully familiar to “Dances with Wolves” (as pointed out by moviexclusive columnist Stefan Shih) and there are people online that are pointing out that it’s very much like the Delgo movie (couldn’t remember this movie? Well it’s was that ugly alien movie that broke the record for the lowest box office collection for a movie that released wide in USA). The point is that the story lacks the novelty factors or contains something amazing stuff that would astonish.

The dialogues spoken in this preview were cringe worthy at times and personally, I find it hard to relate to character that uses juvenile taunting such as “bitch” and challenging an alien creature that’s backing off. The design for the alien race looks like an uninspired mix of blue cats with humanoid figure which personally, looked rather unappealing.

To sum it up, it’s not bad but coming from a legend, it’s downright unimpressive and nowhere as “groundbreaking” as it’s being hyped up to be. Whatever enthusiasm I had for this “long awaited James Cameron” movie was watered down to a lukewarm reception. As I mention earlier, this move proved to be a double-edged sword and this might be turning folks away instead of drawing them into cinemas in December.

However James Cameron’s movie records had always been solid and he never failed to entertain with his movies. I will be waiting for the movie reviews to indicate a different viewpoint from what had been noted in this 15 minutes exclusive preview.

-RLJ-

Michael Jackson THIS IS IT - In Theaters October 29

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment announced today that Michael Jackson THIS IS IT will be released exclusively for a special, limited, two-week engagement worldwide.

For the first time ever, fans will see Michael as they have never seen him before – this great artist at work. It is raw, emotional, moving and powerful footage that captures his interactions with the THIS IS IT collaborators that he had personally assembled for this once in a lifetime project. This film shows a consummate performer working with and guiding singers, dancers, band members, choreographers, special effects creators and countless other creative members of the team as we all assemble this historic concert.

Michael Jackson THIS IS IT will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London’s O2 Arena. Chronicling the months from April through June, 2009, the film is drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show. Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, and genius as he creates and perfects his final show.

In the coming weeks, additional information about the film will be available at www.michaeljackson.com.

Scandal Makers Weekend Mall Event @ Novena Square 2

In conjunction with the release of Korea's comedy of the year, SCANDAL MAKERS on August 20, Encore Films are having a promotional mall event at Novena Square 2 this coming weekend! They are looking to find Singapore's cutest kid to rival the precocious little boy from the SCANDAL MAKERS movie and there are $500 worth of prizes to be given to the winner as well as movie tickets and posters to shoppers! The public are invited to swing by, win great prizes, catch exclusive movie outtakes & cast interviews, plus have scandalicious fun with Yes 93.3 DJ Jiahui who will be hosting this event! The details for the event are:

Location: Novena Square 2

Date: Saturday 22 Aug 2009

Time: 2pm - 3pm

WHERE GOT GHOST Tops Singapore Box Office Chart

Neo Studios, Scorpio East Pictures and Golden Village Pictures are proud to announce that WHERE GOT GHOST? raked in an impressive SGD $950 000* at the Singapore box office last weekend (14th to 10th August 2009)! The movie has now collected SGD $1 249 000* as of 10th August. Co-directed by Neo and first-time director Boris Boo, WHERE GOT GHOST? is made up of three horror tales tell in a good old comedy fashion. This is Jack Neo's third biggest opening weekend film, after AH LONG PTE LTD and MONEY NO ENOUGH 2 despite his first time directing a horror-comedy. *rounding to the nearest thousand

The 25th Singapore French Film Festival

From 2 to 11 October 2009, the Singapore French Film Festival will celebrate its 25th anniversary. French Director Christophe Barratier of Les Choristes fame will grace the opening night of the festival at The Grand Cathay while French director Marina De Van will be present at the closing ceremony of the festival at the Alliance Française de Singapour. Her film Ne te retourne pas (Don’t Look Back) will be screened as the closing film. This year’s festival will also feature an Anthology of Works by First-Time Directors and award-winning movies include Capitaine Achab (Captain Ahab), Ceux qui restent (Those Who Remain), Dans la vie (Two Ladies) and Dernier maquis (Adhen). Tickets and programme booklets are available at all SISTIC outlets and Cathay Cineplexes from 14 September 2009. For more info, visit: www.alliancefrancaise.org.sg

Aunty Lucy stars in her first telemovie!

Scorpio East Pictures is excited to present their latest project Aunty Lucy. With the support of MediaCorp, the telemovie features the wildly popular character portrayed by Singapore's top radio deejay Dennis Chew, on the well-received MediaCorp variety program Paris & Milan which is currently showing on Channel 8 every thursday evening. The telemovie expands on Aunty Lucy's adventures in our heartlands with an interesting and heartwarming storyline. Aunty Lucy will be directed by Gerald Lee whose previous works include After School & Twilight Kitchen, produced by Jack Choo of G & J Creation Pte Ltd and script written by Chew Boon Leong.

Daniel Yun Leaving Mediacorp Raintree Pictures

The Managing Director of Raintree Pictures, Daniel Yun has decided to leave MediaCorp. The man is renowned for backing local movies such as "Liang Po Po", "I Not Stupid", "881" and steering them into international markets. In recent years, Raintree has also been actively co-producing movies with talents from Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. Yun who has been with the movie-making arm of Mediacorp since 1999 will leave in September to pursue other career interests. (Source: CNA)

'DANCE OF THE DRAGON' WINS TOP AWARD AT HOLLYWOOD FILM FEST

The Fann Wong and Jang Hyuk dance drama, Dance Of The Dragon won the Top Jury Award for Best Feature Film and Best Cinematography Award (John Radel) this past weekend at the Feel Good International Film Festival, Hollywood, CA. Despite unimpressive box-office takings, the movie has went on to win numerous film awards around the globe since it's debut last May.

We Got Kato!

Mandarin pop sensation, Jay Chou has been officially cast as Kato in THE GREEN HORNET alongside Seth Rogen. The casting of the Kung Fu Dunk star was announced today by Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, presidents of Columbia Pictures. Singer-actor-director Jay Chou is now set to conquer Hollywood given that the part originally belong to Stephen Chow who left as director as well. The Michael Gondry movie is scheduled to release in July 2010.

John Hughes (1950 - 2009)

You might not know the name but I'm sure you came across the movies he wrote or directed. Home Alone, Beethoven, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 101 Dalmatians just to name a few. Director/Writer/Producer John Hughes passed away of a heart attack in New York. Rest in peace.

“WHERE GOT GHOST? Spooky Tour”

Do you dare to venture into the unknown? Well, why not treat yourself to a spooky tour, specially organized by Golden Village to make your National Day long weekend a memorable one! GV is organising a spine-chilling spooky tour tomorrow 7 August at the eerie Bukit Brown Cemetery before coming together to watch WHERE GOT GHOST? at GV Marina. Ticket price will also include a round-trip bus transportation for the tour and a regular popcorn combo. For more information, please go to: http://www.gv.com.sg/moviedetails/gv_moviedetails_2711.jsp

The Cathay Rides the Brüno Wave

From 8 August to 18 October 2009, The Cathay rides the Brüno wave with English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen returning to the big screen as an Austrian fashion reporter in his new movie Brüno. Patrons who spend a minimum of $80 will receive a Brüno movie premium or a movie pass, while patrons who spend $150 and above gets to redeem a limited edition Brüno T-shirt and cash vouchers. With $80 spent, patrons also stand a chance to win attractive mobile phone sets. über Cool $2 Treats @ The Cathay: The Cathay is launching an unbelievably attractive promotion of $2 treats with a minimum of $80 spent between Mondays to Thursdays including ice-blended coffees, manicure sessions, haircuts and sunglasses. Singapore Idol @ The Cathay: Expect glitz, glamour and lots of cheering on 29 August at 2 pm when 12 of the top 24 contestants of Singapore Idol gather at The Cathay for a meet & greet session with their fans and the media. Fashionista Fun @ The Cathay: The casual T-Shirt transforms into a fashionable statement with students from Raffles Design Institute re-inventing a plain tee into high fashion garment. For more information on The Cathay's latest promotion, please refer to Annex A or visit http://www.thecathay.com.sg/

DVD...DVD...DVD...DVD...DVD...

Imagine a serial killer who flatlines his victims and then brings them back to life over and over again until they beg to die in The Cell 2. Experience a riveting and inspiring true-life adventure aboard the high-tech sloop Morning Light in this Walt Disney documentary. Samuel L. Jackson and the late comedian Bernie Mac paired up as two estranged soul singers Louis and Floyd in this hilarious road-trip comedy, Soul Men. Three suggested DVD titles to your this week buying or rental list.