English Entertainment
The World Wars premieres first on History TV18 app
MUMBAI: While for most people a book would be the first choice to know about the world wars, times are definitely changing. As the world marks the 100th anniversary of the First World War, History TV18 is showcasing a special six part series examining the two wars as one continuous timeline starting in 1914 and concluding in 1945. For the first time in India the series called The World Wars has premiered on the newly launched History TV18 app this week followed by its television premiere on 11 August.
When asked why the channel decided to launch the series on the app first, A+E Networks-TV 18 vice president and marketing head Sangeetha Aiyer informs that she was quite surprised to know that the channel was the first in the category and among the first in the business to initiate the move. “Every study shows that consumption is shifting by leaps and bounds to mobile. The future belongs to content which is platform agnostic. By premiering it on the app first, we are taking baby steps in this direction” she adds.
The iDubba designed app was launched in June 2014 and since then has been downloaded over 3,60,000 times with 7,000 people having rated it with an average of 4.4 on the Google Play Store. “Even on iOS where the standards are extremely high, 60+ people have reviewed the app, a majority of whom have given it a rating of 5/5” says Aiyer.
The series will be narrated by two time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner and features gripping dramatic scenes, stunning CGI visuals and interviews with contemporary leaders like John McCain, Colin Powell, John Major and David Miliband, along with world historians.
A treat to regional viewers of the east would be the Bengali feed for the show. The channel has roped in veteran Bengali actor Sabyasachi Chakrabarty as narrator for the Bengali language. Commenting on this move Aiyer says “The feedback we get on social and other mediums indicate that our viewers enjoy watching our content in regional languages which is why for the first time we have a superstar like Chakrabarty dubbing for our shows.”
The multiple Emmy award nominated show will focus on how the lives of history’s notable shakers like Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, George S Patton, Hideki Tojo, Charles de Gaulle and Douglas MacArthur were shaped during the war.
The series is being promoted in a traditional way through promos on the networks channels like CNN-IBN and CNBC-TV18. The show promos were created in-house and a heavy digital thrust across social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook is being pursued. The channel has planned a late night quiz on Twitter for World War aficionados as part of the channels overall social media strategy.
Hero Karizma is the presenting sponsor for the TV screening while Paytm is the co-presenting sponsor and Honda Mobilio is associate sponsor.
The series will premiere on TV from 11 August from Monday to Saturday at 9 pm while the repeat will be aired from 18 to 23 August at 9 am.
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.
