English Entertainment
AXN to launch ‘GameMax’ in October
MUMBAI: AXN, the action and adventure channel, will kickstart its Indian production with a live gaming show GameMax. The programme will launch in mid-October.
A new weekly series, GameMax will give information on the latest games, exclusive news and previews on the gaming industry from around the world.
It will have GameMax Gaming Championship exclusively for India, where 12 contestants will face off to win the title, informs a press release.
The contestants will be chosen from India through an online gaming competition featured on the website www.games2win.com.
The media release adds that out of the participants who log on to games2win.com, 12 gamers will be selected and appear on the show.
The online selection is on, which started on 29 August and will continue till 7 September.
AXN director sales and marketing Rohit Bhandari said, “In the recent past, we have witnessed an increase in professionals and young adults engaging in electronic gaming as a form of entertainment. Given the growth and potential of the Indian market, AXN has taken the initiative in delivering a unique and enjoyable experience for its loyal Indian audience.’
Apart from the Championship, GameMax on AXN will provide in depth, on location reports filmed across the globe to entertain, amuse and provide unrivalled coverage of everything exctiting that’s going on in games.
Contest2Win.com Alok Kejriwal adds, “Gaming in India has now achieved a cult status, where more and more young adults as well as mature audiences are participating in this popular phenomenon. When AXN approached us with the concept for this show, it was the perfect medium to make gaming accessible to the Indian audience Our portal will help in accessing and preparing the present game enthusiasts for the show.”
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
