International
The Vow, Safe House take spot spot at box-office
MUMBAI: Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum Valentine‘s Day romantic drama The Vow opened to a sizable $41.7 million followed closely by the Denzel Washington-Ryan Reynolds action-thriller Safe House with $39.3 million.
The Vow, directed by Michael Stucsy and costing $30 million to produce, opened in 20 markets overseas, grossing $9.7 million for a worldwide opening take of $52.4 million.
One advantage Safe House had was an A- CinemaScore, versus a B CinemaScore for The Vow. Safe House played far better than expected among females, who made up 50 percent of the audience.
The films vastly over-performed, driving the weekend up more than 30 per cent from the same period last year. In the best showing for a non-holiday weekend in February, the overall revenue hit a staggering $190 million.
The superb opening of The Vow and Universal‘s Safe House wasn‘t the only surprise. Warner Bros. and New Line‘s Journey 2: The Mysterious Island raced past 20th Century Fox’s 3D rerelease of George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace to gross $27.6 million while Phantom Menace opened to $23 million.
This is the first time four films, outside of a holiday weekend, have crossed $20 million. In 2011, domestic box-office revenue tumbled and attendance slipped. On the same day last year, revenue went north by more than 11 per cent compared to last year while attendance has increased by 11 per cent.
The revenue incurred by Journey 2 was evidenced by the fact that it was up an astonishing 94 percent on Saturday, compared to 9 per cent for The Vow and 19 per cent for Safe House.
Journey 2 did big business in Imax theaters that generated $3.8 million of the film‘s gross, or 14 percent, according to IMAX senior vp worldwide distribution Phil Groves.
International
Utopai Studios unveils 4K three-minute video generation for PAI platform
New Story Agent and editing tools aim to streamline AI-led filmmaking workflows
MUMBAI: Utopai Studios has announced a major upgrade to its PAI storytelling AI platform, introducing what it claims is an industry-first capability to generate three-minute videos in 4K resolution, alongside enhancements to its Story Agent feature.
The update, rolling out from April 15, expands the platform’s capabilities across the filmmaking process, from early concept development to post-production. The company said the new features are designed to help filmmakers maintain continuity across characters, scenes and visual styles, a key challenge in AI-driven storytelling.
At the heart of the release is a next-generation model that enables more structured narrative development, allowing creators to move more seamlessly from idea to execution. With tools such as multi-shot sequencing and multi-turn editing, the platform aims to give both studios and independent creators greater control over complex storytelling workflows.
Commenting on the launch, Utopai Studios co-founder and CTO Jie Yang said, “The next phase of AI in media will not be defined by isolated tools, but by systems that can carry story, continuity and collaboration across the full creative process.” He added that the update is a step towards enabling more practical, end-to-end narrative development at a professional level.
Echoing this, Utopai Studios co-founder and chief scientific officer Zijian He said, “Generative video is opening the door to a new production model, where creative ambition is less constrained by traditional cost and complexity.” He noted that the platform combines multimodal models with iterative editing to give creators more speed, control and consistency.
The company said PAI is already being used in professional film and television productions, particularly in Hollywood, for tasks such as pre-visualisation, scene design and post-production refinements. The latest update adds features including improved voice options, character consistency, unlimited editing and more flexible asset management.
Utopai also emphasised that its models are not trained on copyrighted material, positioning the platform as a cleaner alternative for creators and rights holders navigating the evolving AI landscape.
As AI continues to reshape content creation, Utopai’s latest push signals a shift from standalone tools to integrated systems, aiming to make high-quality filmmaking faster, more flexible and increasingly accessible.
