Hindi
Universal Pictures crosses $2 billion at intl box office
MUMBAI: In 2007, Universal Pictures set a new box-office record in the nearly 100-year history of the studio with global theatrical grosses totalling $2.133 billion for the year.This worldwide box-office total indicates an increase of 23 per cent over 2006‘s $1.7 billion.
Universal achieved its best-ever year in the US with $1.099 billion, and its best performance since 2001 at the international box office with $1.034 billion.
Combined with best-ever fiscal performances from its domestic home entertainment and international television operations, Universal Pictures achieved its most profitable year of all
time. Universal Pictures chairman Marc Shmuger and co-chairman David Linde said, “2007 was a real turnaround year for Universal. Our studio ended this year at a level of success that exceeds even what we had imagined. What‘s especially fulfilling is this record didn‘t result from one or two home runs that saved the bottom line, but from a diversity of successes, and that‘s emblematic of how Universal works.
“We made hits from a mix of established action franchises, original comedies and challenging dramas; we succeeded with filmmakers with whom we have long histories and new talents with whom we are just starting relationships; we created movies that captivated audiences around the world and ones that represented the best in artistic quality — and in some cases, did both of those at once.”
Five Universal films that crossed more than $100 million in the US were Knocked Up, Evan Almighty, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, The Bourne Ultimatum and American Gangster. 2007‘s annual tally represents a significant uptick from 2006, when the studio‘s domestic gross was $799 million.
Abroad Universal Pictures International (UPI) was officially launched in January 2007, as an independent distribution entity and enjoyed a successful first year, crossing the $1 billion threshold earlier than ever before (when it was part of the joint venture UIP) and reaching a year-end international gross of more than $1.034 billion, its best in six years.
UPI‘s buoyant year at the box office was galvanised by global blockbusters like The Bourne Ultimatum, which earned more than $213 million at the international box office, and international successes like Mr. Bean‘s Holiday ($192 million), Hot Fuzz ($56.8 million) and The Holiday.
Focus Features also had a strong year with Atonement becoming one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year. Other critically acclaimed films were Eastern Promises, which releases this weekend in India, and Lust, Caution.
Universal‘s home video division generated nearly $2.7 billion in consumer spend in the US alone. The success was fuelled in large part by the performances of The Bourne Ultimatum and Knocked Up which were the two highest-selling DVDs of the year.
Universal adds that its slate for this year continues to represent a diverse blend of genres, star vehicles, franchise event fims, comedies and stories of personal empowerment, including Leatherheads, directed by George Clooney and starring Clooney, Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski; producer Judd Apatow‘s romantic disaster comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall; Marvel Studios‘ The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and William Hurt; director Timur Bekmambetov‘s thriller Wanted starring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie; Mamma Mia!, the film adaptation of the stage musical starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Amanda Seyfried; director Clint Eastwood‘s thriller Changeling, produced by Brian Grazer and starring Angelina Jolie.
Hindi
Jio Studios unveils AI-powered Krishna teaser at NAB Show 2026
Global first look of Krishna uses Galleri5 AI pipeline on Azure, Historyverse slate as Jio’s Dhurandhar crosses Rs 3,000cr worldwide.
MUMBAI: Krishna has just dropped a divine teaser and this time the gods are powered by silicon, not just scripture. Jio Studios and Collective Studios’ Historyverse stole the spotlight at the NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas with the world’s first teaser for their upcoming theatrical feature Krishna, directed by Manu Anand. The big reveal happened during Microsoft’s keynote “Powering Intelligent Media, From AI Experimentation to Real-World Impact,” where the film’s AI-native production pipeline took centre stage alongside Collective Artists Network’s in-house platform, Galleri5.
At the heart of this mythological spectacle lies a fresh cinematic workflow built by Galleri5 on Microsoft Azure’s advanced AI and cloud infrastructure. Forget bolting AI onto traditional VFX or animation, this is an end-to-end, production-grade system woven into every layer: world-building, character creation, shot design and final output. Yet the storytelling remains firmly director-led, emphasising emotional depth, stillness, music and performance rather than pure spectacle. The result? Large-format theatrical cinema rooted in Indian history and culture, but conceived in ways that were simply not possible before.
Collective Artists Network runs Galleri5 natively on Azure, leveraging Microsoft Foundry and cutting-edge AI tools to handle film, episodic and advertising workflows in a secure enterprise environment. Microsoft highlighted Collective as a “Frontier” organisation successfully moving AI from pilot projects to real production-scale deployment in cinema. The technology is also on display at Microsoft’s NAB booth in the West Hall (Booth W1731).
Jio Studios (Media & Content Business, Reliance Industries), president Jyoti Deshpande said the project advances the studio’s mission to take Indian stories global with scale, ambition and authenticity, “With Krishna, we are embracing cutting-edge AI-led filmmaking while democratising these tools to make them more accessible, intuitive and cost-effective for storytellers everywhere.”
Collective Artists Network founder & group CEO Vijay Subramaniam added, “We’re using technology developed in India to carry our culture and history to audiences worldwide at a scale never seen before.”
Microsoft, vice president for telco media & entertainment, gaming Silvia Candiani noted that the media industry has reached an inflection point, “AI is no longer about experimentation but delivering real impact at production scale… By building AI-native creative systems on Microsoft Azure, Collective exemplifies how storytellers can unlock new formats, move faster and realise a true return on intelligence while keeping human creativity at the centre.”
Krishna forms part of Historyverse, Collective Studios’ ambitious slate of history and culture-driven IPs. The slate draws from iconic figures and traditions that shaped the Indian subcontinent, including stories inspired by Kali, Karna and Durga. It builds on the already-released Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh series, showing how ancient narratives can be reimagined for modern screens.
Jio Studios, India’s leading content studio and the media and content arm of Reliance Industries, continues its blockbuster run. The studio’s Dhurandhar franchise led by Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar: The Revenge has become the first Indian film series to cross Rs 3,000 crore worldwide. It also delivered three consecutive years of India’s highest-grossing Hindi films: Stree 2 (2024), Dhurandhar (2025) and Dhurandhar: The Revenge (2026). In just eight years, Jio Studios has assembled a library of over 160 films and series, with more than 60 titles winning over 500 awards. Other notable successes include Laapataa Ladies (India’s official Oscar entry 2025), Stree, Article 370, Shaitaan and Mrs.
The NAB unveiling marks another step in Jio Studios and Collective’s push to blend Indian storytelling talent with frontier technology proving that the future of cinema may well be both ancient in spirit and thoroughly modern in execution. For audiences who love epic tales with a fresh twist, Krishna promises to deliver divine drama, this time with a little help from the cloud.
