English Entertainment
New programme bands lead HBO Diwali fare
MUMBAI: HBO has lined up a bagful of explosive movies and innovative programme bands this Diwali.
The action kicks off in high gear with Steven Spielberg’s World War II classic Saving Private Ryan. It deals with the invasion of Normandy when Oscar winner Tom Hanks with, a small platoon of soldiers is ordered to go behind enemy lines. They have to rescue Ryan who has lost his three brothers in the war. The film airs 5 October at 9:30 pm.
Up next is Oscar winner Robert De Niro, a mafia Don trying an alternative way to release tension than his usual style of pumping someone full of bullets in the comedy Analyse This on 12 October at 9:30 pm which also stars Billy Crystal and Lisa Kudrow (of Friends fame).
An unusual Grand Prix Championship features Sylvester Stallone in Driven on 19 October at 9:30 pm. Viewers can also catch a homicide detective and a fire marshal, Robert De Niro back in the action packed thriller 15 Minutes on 26 October at 9:30 pm.
Keeping in mind its female audience, HBO has also announced the introduction of the programing band Hollywood Beauties every Wednesday at 9:30 pm. The films star Drew Barrymore, Sharon Stone, Winona Ryder, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. For the sports buff, the channel is showcasing films on baseball in the band Ballgame every Monday at 9:30 pm. With movies like For Love Of The Game starring Kevin Costner, Mr. Baseball,, The Babe which chronicles the life and times of one of the greatest legends of American Baseball, Babe Ruth, and the funny, gross-out comedy Baseketball .
HBO South Asia MD James Marturano, says, “HBO has emerged as the most sought after English movie channel in just two years of its existence. We will continue to work towards creating and delivering even more value to all our viewers and partners. The Networks strong programming from the best Hollywood blockbuster movies to innovative original programmes is at the core of its continuing growth.”
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.
