English Entertainment
Discovery treats viewers to Speed Week
MUMBAI: Since the beginning of time,male or female, on land, water or air; we all want to get to places faster and enjoy the exhilaration of soaring down a hill or across the ocean. This month, Discovery will present its first annual Speed Week.
Speed Week will air on Discovery Channel from from 20-25 November 2005 at 10 pm.
This fascinating week-long series that focusses on the science and psychology of speed.Whether it was Howard Hughes setting a speed record 70 years ago by going at 352 miles per hour in the H-1 (the world’s most advanced plane of its time) or today’s fast cars which reach speeds in excess of 240 miles per hour, there seems to be no limit to our need for speed.
Discovery India brand director, Raja Balasubramaniam says, “Packed with adrenaline, Speed Week races onto television screens with a premiere line-up that connects viewers with the human quest to push the acceleration threshold – whether behind the wheel of a death-defying race car or breaking the sound barrier in a military fighter jet”.
Speed Week reveals that going fast isn’t just about putting the pedal to the metal. Instead one has to be physically and mentally tuned, just like a machine. It aims to appeal to thrill-seekers across the globe.
One episode Street Racing: A Night on Earth delves into the fast and furious global phenomenon of street racing, taking viewers from the ultra-modern highways of Tokyo to the industrial suburbs of New York and the fringes of Mexico City.
Another episode, Racer Girlz focusses on the strength and resilience of female race car drivers and mechanics who challenge stereotypes to excel in a male-dominated sport. Viewers learn the dramatic and compelling stories of female racers around the world who must find a balance between their family life and ordinary day jobs.
Supersonic: Pushing the Envelope ignites an exploration into the world of jet-powered rocket cars and planes. Risking death, disaster and dollars in the pursuit of ever-greater speeds is all in a day’s work for those willing to go ‘supersonic’.
Meanwhile, Speed Science investigates the human desire for speed and the physiology behind how the human body manages speed.
The Road To Le Mans – Les 24 Heures du Mans is one of the greatest engineering challenges ever devised. It takes on an extraordinary combination of speed and reliability, and a fair amount of luck to win. And it gets harder every year. This programme investigates the design and engineering of endurance in sports cars. Through an exclusive access to the Creation racing team, every aspect of racing car design, testing, modification and set up will be examined.
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.
