International
Spielberg’s Super 8 grosses $37 mn in US, tops box office
MUMBAI: Paramount‘s efforts to whip up a hype on the eve of the film‘s release seems to have paid off. After an aggressive eleventh hour marketing blitz by the production house, Steven Spielberg‘s Super 8 went on to gross $37 million at the domestic box office.
Overseas, the film grossed $6.7 million worldwide of which the biggest territory Australia helped the film gross $2.7 million.
Set in 1979, Super 8 tells the story of a group of kids who are filming a home movie when there‘s a violent train crash. When unexplained events start to threaten their town, they begin to suspect something inhuman escaped from the train.
Super 8, directed by J Abrams, had been the focus of intense speculation because of soft tracking and a marketing campaign that left the film‘s plot shrouded in mystery.
Ultimately, the film performed on par with sleeper-hit District 9 that opened to $37.3 million at the domestic box office in August 2009. Comparing the $12.2 million gross on Friday, the film grossed $14 million on Saturday.
“I think we accomplished what we set out to do. It was never positioned as a big blockbuster, but as a smaller movie,” Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore has been quoted to have said. “We used the sneaks to infuse the marketplace with great word-of-mouth, and it certainly looks like it paid off,” he added.
According to Paramount, Super 8 didn‘t need a big opening, since its production cost was $50 million, far less than other summer studio films. The movie played in 3,379 theatres, including 239 Imax locations. Grosses from Imax recorded $4.4 million, a strong start and representing 12 per cent of total earnings.
Super 8 held a comfortable lead over 20th Century Fox‘s X-Men: First Class, which grossed $25 million in its second weekend for a total of $98.9 million.
Overseas, First Class grossed $42.2 million with a worldwide total of $222.5 million.
Two films jumped the $200 million mark over the weekend at the domestic box office-Warner Bros.‘ The Hangover Part II and Disney‘s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Hangover II grossed an estimated $18.5 million for a domestic total of $216.6 million while the film‘s international total stood at $432.1 million.
On the other hand, On Stranger Tides grossed $10.4 million domestically to jointly tota $208.8 million. Overseas, the 3D film grossed $41.1 milion, bringing the film‘s international total to a massive $678 million and worldwide tally to $886.8 million.
DreamWorks Animation and Paramount‘s Kung Fu Panda 2 grossed $16.6 million in a total of $126.9 million. Overseas, the 3D toon grossed $56.5 million to jump the $200 million mark and end the weekend with a total of $205 million that brought the worldwide total to $331.9 million.
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.
