What movies are Coming Out next year?

Firstly next year there are many super hero movies coming out which includes, superman, wolverine, and iron man. All these movies have a genre that is growing in popularity, action; there is a lot of money being spent on these movies from$100 million to $200 million. The technology for these movies will be really effective, as there will be a lot of special affects due to the un-realism of the movies. there are very big named actors in these movies, Robert Downey, Jr (iron man), Henry Cavill (superman), Hugh Jackman (wolverine).

There is also a vast amount of movies coming out that are sequels, such as: Despicable me 2, The Smurfs 2, Hangover 3, Grown-ups 2, Kick ass 2 and more. All these movies are comedies, which were a very big hit when the first movie came out.

There are a lot of war movies, which are action movies, such as: All You Need Is Kill, world war Z, Elysium and more. All these movies are related to war, which again signifies that the public are enjoying their war/action movies a lot more than they used to. The budget for these movies are again around $100 million to $200 million, which is a lot of money in comparison to movies being made in the UK.

there are also a lot of animated movies coming out, like turbo, despicable me 2, The Smurfs 2, Monsters university and more. turbo has some very big names in it such as Snoop Dog, Robert Siegel and Samuel L. Jackson. Due to it being an animation, sets and studios don't have to be used for these movies; this allows producers to spend more on the cast as they have some extra money.

BFI's 5 Year Plan

BFI Five Year Plan Prioritises Education, Filmmaker & Industry Support and Heritage

Home » Features » BFI Five Year Plan Prioritises Education, Filmmaker & Industry Support and Heritage

The BFI today announced their long-awaited five year plan for the UK film industry, which will see a total of £500 million being invested over that time. Entitled Film Forever: Supporting UK Film, it is the result of what BFI CEO Amanda Nevill described as “a long national conversation over 18 months.”

As a result of the extensive consultation process with industry bodies and the general public, which took in the views of over 1000 people, Nevill explained that the BFI is going to be “investing where we think we can most make a different, where we see potential for creative excellence and where can be a supportive catalyst for change, innovation, business growth and jobs.”

“With film industry growth currently outstripping the economy as a whole, we want to invest to ensure continued success,” said BFI Chair Greg Dyke. “This is a real moment for film and a bold long term vision for the sector, and I look forward to us from today turning all the discussion into action.”

In distributing the increased funds, raised through a combination of Grant In Aid, the BFI’s earned income and National Lottery Funding, the BFI plans to focus on three key strategic priorities: education and audiences, British film and filmmaking and film heritage. These priorities will be “intelligently linked”, said Nevill, with funds and initiatives working together to create a coherent strategy for the future of UK film.

Priority One: Education and Audiences
(Annual Investment of £44.2 million)

The BFI’s dedication to improving education and learning opportunities, as well as expanding audience choice, is a crucial part of their five year plan.

It will be actively working to get more film education for 5 to 19 year olds into schools across the UK, while the country’s existing film schools will be supported by a one-off £5 million in capital funding by 2017.

The new BFI Film Skills Fund, in partnership with Creative Skillset and BIS2, will be committed to growing skills training. A Youth Film Academy network for 16 to 19 year olds is also planned in partnership with Pinewood and BAFTA, to draw new talent from across the UK, and new animation development labs in partnership with Aardman are also on the agenda.

The education and development of audiences is also a priority, with a key initiative being the creation of audience development hubs throughout the country. Led by local organisations, such as cinemas, archives and broadcast networks, these will put an emphasis on getting a wider variety of films shown in local cinemas, town halls and other community locations. “We want to regenerate opportunities for audiences to access films at local level,” explained Nevill, “so giving more people the opportunity to view a wider variety of film, particularly outside London.”

Film festivals will also be catered for, with £1 million per annum being set aside for events of both international and local importance.

Priority Two: British Film and Filmmaking
(Annual Investment of £32.3 million)

Another priority for the BFI is the increased support of British filmmakers, and of the UK as a filmmaking destination.

There will be more investment in UK production, rising annually to £24 million by 2017, with new opportunities for filmmakers working in documentary and animation. There is to be a greater emphasis on development of projects, and the existing Prints and Advertising Fund will be remodelled to become the Distribution Fund, responding to the changing demands of the industry and exploring new ways of getting films to audiences.

To bolster these plans, producers and distributors will be encouraged to work more closely together, further closing the gap between films and their audiences.

The new BFI Business Development Fund, in partnership with Creative England, will provide seed funding to new businesses, and a new International Fund will include increased funding for the British Film Commission, which Nevill says will continue to be “a leading voice at the table.”

Nevill described the BFI’s new international strategy as ‘joined-up’, pulling together both inward investment and export, with the BFI also aiming to provide leadership from a policy perspective on the international stage. Nevill went on to explain that, having done extensive research into territories outside Europe and the USA, the BFI will be placing particular focus on Brazil and China as it moves forward.

Incentivising international co-production in the UK will also be on the agenda, with BFI Director of Film Fund Ben Roberts explaining that such awards will be flexible and able to respond to changing demands. The fund’s money will be spread across development and production, depending on where it is most needed year on year.

In choosing what films they will support, Roberts asserted that the BFI is committed to working with “strong filmmakers with original ideas”, and that he does not believe that “commercial and critical appeal cannot co-exist”.  The BFI Film Fund will be “open and transparent” about how it operates, meaning that filmmakers will be clear about exactly what they need to do in order to work with the BFI.

And, with 150 development awards and just 20 production awards to distribute each year, projects will have to reapply for funding at production stage, even if they have received development funding. That way, there will be constant analysis of BFI-supported projects at every step in a film’s journey to screen.

Priority Three: Film Heritage
(Annual Investment of £9.9 million)

Finally, the BFI plans to unlock the country’s vast film archive for a wider audience to enjoy, by digitising 10,000 films over the next five years; the first wave of which is to be decided by public vote.

They are also investigating the different ways that the public can interact with film content in this digital age, and are developing apps to view content online and through smart TVs; leading to the planned launch of the dedicated BFI player in 2013. “Broadcast is changing, but there will be massive access to film through Internet TV [in the future],” explained Dyke. “We are just trying to make sure that the BFI is there and branded.”

In presenting its five year plan, the BFI made it clear that these new initiatives will radiate out across all regions of the UK, with more money than ever before being spent outside of London to encourage increased filmmaking and audience activity across the country.

“A central part of Film Forever is to reach and nurture business growth and cultural vibrancy across the whole of the UK, with a particular emphasis outside London,” said Dyke. “We are no longer the London Film Institute. We are the British Film Institute.”

Exhibition

Exhibitors are the companies that house the films. These are companies such as Cineworld, art houses such as Cambridge picture house, Odeon and empire. Art houses are usually distributed inside towns and cities in smaller more ‘cultured’ areas. Larger companies such as Cineworld are found on industrial areas and usually grouped with fast food restaurants. They are more commercial and usually charge a lot more for tickets. At the Cambridge picture house you can be expected to pay £5.20 but at a more commercial screening you can pay anything between £6.00 and £6.50. The films shown differ as well, not only are new releases shown in an art house theatre but also foreign language films, or films from amateur film makers. The experience is also greatly different. In a commercial Cineworld there is commercial food and drink on offer. Whereas at the art house, you will find a area that sales small food and drinks. The screening area is smaller and more intimate rather than the cooped up seating arrangements of an Odeon.   

Distribution

This is how a movie usually gets from the first step of making the film to the cinema:

•      Someone has an idea for a movie.

•      They create an outline and use it to promote interest in the idea.

•      A studio or independent investor decides to purchase rights to the film.

•      People are brought together to make the film (screenwriter, producer, director, cast, crew).

•      The film is completed and sent to the studio.

•      The studio makes a licensing agreement with a distribution company.

•      The distribution company determines how many copies (prints) of the film to make.

•      The distribution company shows the movie (screening) to prospective buyers representing the theaters.

•      The buyers negotiate with the distribution company on which movies they wish to lease and the terms of the lease agreement.

•      The prints are sent to the theaters a few days before the opening day.

•      The theater shows the movie for a specified number of weeks (engagement).

•      You buy a ticket and watch the movie.

•      At the end of the engagement, the theater sends the print back to the distribution company and makes payment on the lease agreement.

Production

Production involves the actual shooting, which, on average, takes eight weeks. The director and actors rehearse on the set. The director chooses the camera angles to be used for each shot. The director of photography works with the “gaffer,” or chief lighting person, to select and position lighting instruments, which “grips” help to rig. The location sound mixer operates the audio recording machine and works with a boom operator. The boom operator positions the microphone close to the actors while being careful to keep the microphone out of the picture.

Usually, a shot is filmed more than once to improve on either a technical element or the performance. For each shot, the script supervisor notes the lens that is used, details of the camera and actor movement, time length of the take, and comments. He or she also indicates which takes will be printed at the film laboratory. Once an acceptable take is made, the crew sets up and rehearses the next shot. Even a simple scene might be covered in four different angles, allowing for creative choices in the editing process.

Independent Research 8

Ben Affleck's Argo and a roundup of the London Film Festival 2012, review - Telegraph

Think of the London Film Festival as a trampoline, strategically placed in the gap between Cannes, Venice and Toronto and the New Year’s award ceremony season. A prestigious slot at London has become a key stop on a film’s journey from the summer festivals to the Oscar and Bafta ballot papers, and The Artist, The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire are just three recent winners to have benefitted from the Leicester Square Bounce.

The springiest of this year’s crop was surely Ben Affleck’s Argo (* * * *), a smart, sinewy thriller based on a stranger-than-fiction CIA hostage extraction during the 1979 diplomatic crisis in Iran.

Affleck’s last picture, a prime cut of Bostonian pulp called The Town, was a love letter to the broad-shouldered Hollywood thrillers of the 1970s, but Argo goes one better, channelling the hardboiled realism of Sidney Lumet and Martin Scorsese to mesmeric effect. It also boasts an irresistible comic twist: the hostages’ cover story, dreamed up by Affleck’s hirsute CIA agent, is that they are working on a non-existent science fiction film shooting in Tehran and the surrounding desert.

Back in Hollywood, an aging producer (Alan Arkin) and a monster make-up specialist (John Goodman) flesh out the cover story: “If I’m gonna make a fake movie, it’s gonna be a fake hit,” snorts Arkin, while flicking through potential scripts. Film festivals can be so focused on artistry that attendees often forget to have fun: Affleck’s meticulously paced, breath-catching thriller provides oodles of both.

Before the Oscars and Baftas there are the London Film Festival’s own awards to get through, including a prize for the best film screened in competition and the Grierson Award for best documentary.

The winners will be announced tomorrow, but my vote for the former would go to In the House (* * * *), François Ozon’s follow-up to his rib-nudging comedy Potiche. Fabrice Luchini’s high school teacher encourages a promising pupil to write about his friendship with a classmate’s family, and as his stories become increasingly juicy, they begin to alter the lives of all concerned. The result is something of a French Rear Window: it’s a fizzingly clever comic drama that turns us all into curtain twitchers.

In the documentary strand, the best I saw was the ferociously compelling West of Memphis (* * * *). This encyclopedic recap of the campaign to free three Arkansas men wrongly imprisoned for a gruesome triple murder crackles with righteous fury.

In the festival’s 56th year, aging and mortality emerged as the major theme, and received both tragic and comic treatments. Michael Haneke’s Amour and Paul Andrew Williams’s Song for Marion both dealt with elderly husbands caring for their wives, although the two films could hardly be more different. (Song for Marion screens tonight as one of the last evening galas.)

An early audience favourite was Quartet (* * *), a great big snuggly Labrador of a film set in a retirement home for classical musicians. Dustin Hoffman, making his directorial debut at 75, remains behind the camera, although with a grand old cast including Maggie Smith and Billy Connolly in front of it, there was little need for him to emerge.

But I was more amused and, yes, moved by Robot & Frank (* * * *), a deliciously inventive, surprisingly tender comedy about a retired cat burglar (Frank Langella) and his robotic home help. The best thing I saw was Abbas Kiarostami’s Like Someone in Love (* * * * *), a luxuriant, purring poem of intertwined lives with a mischievously curtailed third act. Kiarostami’s film bows out leaving us desperate for more. In its new streamlined, 12 day format, so did London.

Independent Research 7

BSkyB makes land-grab for all Harry Potter films - Telegraph

The satellite television business, which is 39pc owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, has signed a deal with Warner Bros which will prevent any of its rivals from screening the sought-after series for three months over the crucial Christmas period.

“We’re wrapping our arms around all of Harry Potter and putting the titles in one place and giving it the full Sky Movies treatment. Over Christmas and New Year, you won’t be able to see Harry Potter on any of the other services,” a BSkyB source said.

The deal will come as a blow to the pay-TV operator’s competitors, which have been lobbying to force BSkyB to loosen its stranglehold on premium movie rights, rather than being allowed to tighten it.

Both Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, and BSkyB’s rivals including Virgin Media claim that it has an unfair monopoly over films from Hollywood’s “Big Six” studios, which include Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures and Universal.

However, BSkyB scored a victory earlier this year by persuading the Competition Commission that it should be allowed to continue to bid for all the film rights, because the media landscape was changing. The regulator said that newcomers such as Netflix and Amazon’s LoveFilm, the online film rental businesses, would shake up the film rights market - something Netflix’s chief executive Reed Hastings later backed up with a pledge to be “really aggressive” with its bids against BSkyB.

The competition between the companies will be put to the test over the coming months as BSkyB’s contracts with the Big Six studios comes up for renewal. However, the broadcaster has successfully defended its portfolio so far.

Last month it signed a new five-year deal with Warner Bros that will give it exclusive rights to show forthcoming films such as The Dark Knight Rises, for around a year before they are made available to other pay-TV services.

However, the Harry Potter deal goes one further and hands BSkyB the exclusive rights to classic films from its archive, which are likely to be a major draw at one of the most important points of the year for subscription sales.

It follows a similar deal with MGM for the exclusive rights to show its archive of James Bond movies, to co-incide withteh launch of the newest film in the franchise, Skyfall, later this month. BSkyB launched a dedicated channel for the Bond movies. It is unknown whether it plans a similar channel for the Harry Potter films.

Independent Research 6

Taken 2 scores $50m US opening weekend

Liam Neeson's thriller sequel Taken 2 has topped the US and Canadian box office, taking $50 million (£31.1m), despite a poor reception from critics.

That is double the opening weekend for the original film, which took $24.7 million (£15.4m) in 2009.

Last week's number one, Adam Sandler animation Hotel Transylvania, was at two with $26.3 million (£16.35m).

Glee-style musical Pitch Perfect was in third with $14.7 million (£9.14m), following a limited release last week.

The movie stars Anna Kendrick as a college student trying to liven up her a cappella singing group.

Sci-fi thriller Looper, starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, fell from second-place to fourth with $12.2 million (£7.59m).

Tim Burton's stop motion monster tale Frankenweenie opened in fifth place, taking $11.5 million (£7.15m), after facing competition from rival spooky animation Hotel Transylvania.

Burton's Disney tale, about a boy who brings his dead dog back to life, is shot in black and white in an homage to classic horror movies.

Independent Research 5

October 8, 2012 13:56

The new 'Godzilla' movie is being helmed by Brit Gareth Edwards and is due in May 2014 

'Godzilla' director: 'New movie will be grounded and realistic'

Director Gareth Edwards has promised that Hollywood's new Godzilla movie will be "grounded" and "realistic".

Godzilla is best known as a Japanese film franchise that ran for 28 pictures between 1954 and 2004. Independence Day director Roland Emmerich helmed a previous Hollywood remake in 1998, but his version was poorly received.

The new Godzilla movie from Warner Bros Pictures is scheduled for release on May 16 2014. The reboot is being helmed by British filmmaker Edwards, who made his name with 2010's Monsters, a sci-fi movie he shot for just $500,000 (£308,000).

Discussing what attracted him to this high-profile project, Edwards told Total Film: "I've always been interested in Godzilla and the ideas around him. I really wanted to see another Godzilla film and jumped at the opportunity. My main idea was to imagine 'If this really happened, what would it be like?' I want to take a grounded, realistic approach to a Godzilla film."

Edwards also insisted that he has taken time to ensure that his Godzilla monster looks right. He explained: "I've never worked this hard, this long and been this emotionally involved in something that's lasted only a few seconds since the time I lost my virginity! But the reaction has been amazing and I can't wait for the fans to see our final product."

Earlier this month (October 2012), it was reported that British screenwriter Drew Pearce had been hired to rewrite the new Godzilla movie. The original script came from The Expendables co-writer David Callahan, with a subsequent draft provided by Max Borenstein and Batman's David S Goyer.

independent research 4

Ultimate 007 chase scene features all six Bonds 

The names are Bond, James Bond. To mark 50 years of the film franchise Sky Movies has created the ultimate 007 chase scene. The mashup of movie clips features all six bonds – yep, even one-termer George Lazenby makes a cameo – going toe to toe in a variety of vehicles that includes several Aston Martins, a Lotus and even a tractor trailer. The cleverly edited spot has the Bond boys interacting with each other as they race down some of the twistiest roads featured in the films. It was put together to promote Sky’s limited run all-Bond all the time channel, Sky Movies 007 HD, which will carry all 22 of the flicks back to back through the month of October. The first, Dr. No, was released on October 5th, 1962. Unfortunately for Bond fans on this side of the pond, Sky Movies HD, which is owned by the parent company of Fox News, isn’t available in the U.S. Oh well, there’s always Netflix.

Independent Research 3

Patrick Stewart to return to the X-Men universe?

Star teases a comeback at Montreal Comic Convention

Sep 27th 2012By George Wales

Having run aground slightly toward the end of the noughties, the X-Men franchise is in rude health once more, with long-awaited sequelThe Wolverine finally making its way towards cinemas, and X-Men: Days Of Future Past also in the pipeline.

All this success seems to have piqued the interest of series veteran Patrick Stewart, who suggested he might be in line for a return, when quizzed by a fan at the Montreal Comic Convention.

"I think there is every possibility," he said, when asked whether he might return to the franchise. Confusingly, he then began to list the names of some of his female co-stars ("Halle Berry! Famke Janssen! Rebecca Stamos! Anna Paquin!") before concluding, "Yes, I'll be reprising..."

Where exactly he might fit in remains to be seen, although it has been suggested that there will be a time-travel element in Days Of Future Past, so perhaps he might play an older incarnation of James McAvoy?

Or perhaps he’s just messing with us. In any case, it’s just one more reason to eagerly await the return of the mutants, when X-Men: Days Of Future Past opens in the UK on 18 July 2014.

Independent Research 2

James Cameron wins Avatar copyright case

Judge rules that Elijah Schkeiban's screenplay for Bats and Butterflies was 'not substantially similar' to sci-fi blockbuster

• Ben Child
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 September 2012 11.25 BST
• Jump to comments (16)

Protected planet ... James Cameron's 2009 hit Avatar. Photograph: 20th Century Fox/Everett /Rex Features

Had Elijah Schkeiban succeeded in his copyright case against James Cameron over the blockbuster film Avatar, he might just have been in line for a large payout. However, a US judge yesterday dashed the novelist and screenwriter's hopes of securing a share of the film's $2.7bn (£1.7bn) box-office gross by throwing out the case. Cameron's lawyers had successfully argued that it is not possible to copyright such elements as a "weak hero" and a plot twist in which "the bad guys attack the good guys", reports The Wrap blog.

In his judgment, US district court Judge Manuel Real said Schkeiban's screenplay for a film titled Bats and Butterflies, based on his own series of children's books, was "not substantially similar" to Avatar. The screenwriter had complained that Cameron borrowed multiple plot elements from his script, which he said the director must have been passed by a third party in the film industry. However, Real ruled that Bats and Butterflies was "a straightforward children's story that lacks the depth and complexity of the moods expressed in Avatar".

Lawyers for Cameron had focused on elements of Schkeiban's argument in which he suggested that wheelchair-bound Avatar hero Jake Sully was based on his own protagonist, a small boy, because both were physically "weak". He also argued that a segue in which the bad guys turn on the good guys was based on his own similar twist.

"Even at this basic level of idea, the characters differ," Cameron's lawyers successfully argued. "Being seen as weak is not protectable expression." They later added: "Bad guys attacking good guys is not copyrightable."

Schkeiban had also claimed that the multi-levelled homes inhabited by the Na'vi tribe on Avatar's moon, Pandora, were comparable to the plants and trees seen in Bats and Butterflies. "The Na'vi can also experience their ancestors through a connection with sacred trees," Cameron's lawyers responded. "In contrast, the plants in Bats and Butterflies are just window-dressing."

Schkeiban's case is just one of a half dozen made against Cameron for copyright over Avatar since 2009. So far, none of the plaintiffs have succeeded in their actions.

Independent Research 1

Daniel Craig signs on to two more James Bond films after Skyfall? | Metro.co.uk

The actor, who makes his third appearance as 007 in the upcoming action movie, will also appear in the 24th and 25th Bond films. 

Bond film website MI6 reports: 'Studio executives have been alluding to a return to the two-year cycle to produce the 007 adventures, which would peg Bond 24 as a late 2014 release. 

'This schedule may be too aggressive for the artistic process at EON Productions, who have savoured the longer than usual break between films to craft the script for Skyfall and have other non-007 related projects in the works, too. 

'Craig himself is keen to have a breather before kicking off another Bond outing, telling press recently that he is not taking any other film work on until after all the Skyfall promotional work is over in the New Year.'

Daniel Craig will make his third appearance as Bond in Skyfall (picture: Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Craig has previously vowed to keep appearing in James Bond films 'until they tell me to stop'. 

He told the BBC: ‘I know there’ll be someone after me and hopefully someone after them – I’m just trying to keep the series going.’ 

Craig promised that Skyfall would be a 'great' film. 

He added: 'We haven't been resting on our laurels, we've been plotting what to do with this film," he said. 

'The first one was a whirr - it was a new experience and flew by - the second one was the tricky second album, but this one we've really planned and got a great script. 

'It's going to be different from the last one, but it will still be a great Bond movie.'

Skyfall, directed by Sam Mendes, will be released in cinemas on October 26.