English Entertainment
Weekly programming block ‘Hallmark Channel Special’ to launch on ATV World in Hong Kong
HONG KONG: The Hallmark Channel is about to launch a weekly two-hour programming block showcasing original productions on Hong Kong’s terrestrial network, ATV World Channel from 1 September 1, 2002.
The block has been titled Hallmark Channel Special and is to be shown every Sunday during primetime, offering high quality original Hallmark productions to the 1.5 million TV homes in Hong Kong, an official release says. Hallmark Channel currently serves 19 million households in the Asia Pacific region.
Hallmark Channel Special will showcase Emmy Award-winning and Emmy-nominated television movies and mini-series that provide entertainment for the entire family. This special block will launch with the premiere of the well-known Hallmark original The Monkey King.
Another mini-series never before seen in Hong Kong, which will premiere on the block is The Infinite Worlds of HG Wells. This ambitious new mini-series brings to life the futuristic visions as seen by HG Wells in his novels The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, with an inventive speculation on the origins of his brilliant flights of fantasy.
Hallmark Channel Special will also showcase such favourite Hallmark originals as Alice In Wonderland (Whoopi Goldberg), Moby Dick (Patrick Stewart and Gregory Peck), Merlin (Sam Neil, Isabella Rossellini and Helena Bonham Carter), Gulliver’s Travels (Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen), Odyssey (Armand Assante and Vanessa Williams), The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (Randy Quaid), Noah’s Ark (Jon Voight) and The 10th Kingdom (John Larroquette).
Commenting on the launch Hung Shuen Shuen, Controller of ATV World Channel said: “ATV World Channel has shown Hallmark original mini-series over the past few years. These original movies and mini-series like Alice In Wonderland and The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns have always been popular with our viewers in Hong Kong. We are hence privileged to formally launch the Hallmark Channel Special on ATV World Channel. We hope that this Special Block will enrich our programming, provide a wider viewing option for our viewers and provide entertainment for the entire family.”
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.
