Mumbai: Steven Spielberg is the 2008 recipient of Arizona State University’s Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence. His latest film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, starring Harrison Ford, opened in...

Mumbai: Sony Pictures Entertainment has promoted Valerie Van Galder and Marc Weinstock to co-presidents of Worldwide Theatrical Marketing. It was announced by chairman of worldwide marketing and distribution for the studio Jeff Blake to...

Mumbai: Independent animation network aniBoom has closed a $10 million Series B round of funding led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) and DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures and existing investor Evergreen Venture Partners. The company...

Mumbai: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games are teaming up with Guinness World Records to bring Guinness World Records: The Videogame to Wii and Nintendo DS in fall 2008. Guinness World Records: The...

Mumbai: Warner/Chappell Music has announced that Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM) has joined its Pan-European Digital Licensing (PEDL) initiative. The French Collection Rights Society will now be authorised to offer...

Mumbai: Marcus Theatres has closed on the acquisition of approximately 11 acres of vacant land in the Southport West development in La Vista, Nebraska. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, and plans for...

Mumbai: On 23-24 June, following a yearlong investigation known as ‘Operation Codebreaker’, the Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department raided 17 locations in Hong Kong. The locations were connected to a syndicate selling pirated...

Mumbai: DreamWorks Studios has acquired movie rights from Scholastic Media for the multi-platform adventure series The 39 Clues. DreamWorks Studios co-chairman and CEO Stacey Snider and Scholastic Media president Deborah Forte made the announcement....

Mumbai: The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of the Philippines has served its first temporary restraining order (TRO) against a pirate cable operator – Turtle Cable for copyright infringement. This latest move by the IPO...

Mumbai: An Idaho judge put an abrupt end to a $2.5 million arbitration demand filed by actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson against a contractor who allegedly did a poor job in...

Mumbai: Cathay Cineplexes and Sony have completed the installation of CineAlta 4K√ Digital Cinema Systems, bringing the latest 4K digital cinema technology to movie-goers in Singapore. Cathay Cineplexes at The Cathay and Cathay Cineleisre...

Mumbai: Member companies of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have filed breach of contract lawsuits in US District Court against China-based DVD player manufacturers Gowell Electronics and Nanjing Wanlida Technology. The lawsuits...

Mumbai: SpiralFrog, the free and legal ad-supported music experience, announced a licensing agreement with Innerground Music. Tracks from Innerground Music founder DJ Marky and other influential artists such as DJ Patife, Bungle and Random...

Mumbai: Digital media company DivX announced an agreement with Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) to enable online retailers in international markets to offer SPTI feature films and TV content. The content will be available...

Mumbai: THQ’s Wall-E video game, based on the highly-anticipated Disney-Pixar film, is now available in North America. The game is compatible with Wii, Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation3 computer...

Mumbai: Star garnered a total of 14 awards – 5 Gold, 4 Silver and 5 Bronze – at the 2008 Promax Promotion & Marketing Awards and the 2008 BDA Design Awards held in New...

Paramount Pictures crossed the $ 1 billion milestone on its domestic gross sales, making it the first studio to do so in 2008....

Mumbai: Jacqueline Jourdain Hayes has been named senior vice president business and legal affairs of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD). The announcement was made by WBDD general counsel Clarissa Weirick. Hayes, formerly vice president...

Mumbai: Deutsche Columbia Pictures Film Production, the local German production arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), is commencing pre-production on comedy Friendship. SPE is producing the feature with leading German producers Quirin Berg and...

Mumbai: Sam Raimi is set to develop and direct Columbia Pictures’ The Given Day, it was announced by Columbia Pictures presidents Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach. Raimi will also produce the film with Josh...

Mumbai: John Weiser has been re-upped as Sony Pictures Television (SPT) president, distribution. This was announced by SPT president Steve Mosko, to whom Weiser continues to report. In this capacity, Weiser oversees all domestic...

Mumbai: MySpace has launched a series of user interface changes that include the site’s home page, navigation, profile editing, search, and MySpaceTV player. The changes will help the site’s global community to easily navigate...

Mumbai: Filmmakers Jean-Jacques and Francois Mantello (the Mantello Brothers) have announced their first feature-length film, Oceans 3D: Voyage of a Turtle (working title). The film entered the digital 3D post-production phase last week. The...

Mumbai: When Kiran Met Karen will have its world premiere at the 2008 Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Written, produced and directed by Manan Singh Katohora, the film explores the controversial theme...

Mumbai: Dolby Laboratories announced the growth of Dolby 3D Digital Cinema worldwide at Cinema Expo 2008. With sales and commitments to equipment distributors in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, Dolby continues to transform theatrical...

Mumbai: Nanni Moretti announced that the Torino Film Festival will be featuring a third retrospective dedicated to the English cinema movement of the 1980s, titled ‘British Renaissance’. The two previously announced retrospectives are to...

Mumbai: JVC Tokyo Video Festival TVF2009 has begun accepting contest submissions from professional and amateur filmmakers worldwide. In its 31st year, the JVC Tokyo Video Festival is the largest international personal video festival open...

Mumbai: Online marketing company Lyris announced that Crackle.com has selected it to streamline their online marketing efforts. Crackle is a multi-platform video entertainment network and studio that distributes the hottest emerging talent on the...

Mumbai: The Nielsen Company reported that there is strong consumer appetite for 3-D films. It was based on a detailed analysis that showed a 65% sales increase in theatres using 3-D technology to exhibit...

Mumbai: Star has appointed Ron Plante as senior vice president, research. Based in Hong Kong, Plante will spearhead ad sales research, market research, program research and audience measurement research in support of sales, programming,...

Mumbai: Dolby Laboratories announced a licensing program for digital cinema server manufacturers at CinemaExpo 2008. This will allow their digital cinema servers to support Dolby 3D Digital Cinema playback. XDC became the first manufacturer...

Comcast's online movie tickets service Fandango Inc has bought out Movies.com from Walt Disney Internet Group....

Mumbai: David P. Kaplan has been named Senior Vice-President and Intellectual Property Counsel, Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations, Warner Bros.  The announcement was made by Warner Bros. president Darcy Antonellis. Kaplan, formerly Vice President and an...

Mumbai: Disney Interactive Studios announced the November 2008 release of video games inspired by the upcoming animation film Bolt from Walt Disney Pictures. Bolt will be available for the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2,...

Mumbai: The President and COO of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), Bob Pisano, presented the Ian McPherson Memorial Lecture at the Dendy Cinemas, Opera Quays. The Ian McPherson Memorial Lecture serves as the keynote...

Mumbai: Apple announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded over five billion songs from the iTunes Store (http://www.itunes.com). Also, iTunes customers are now renting and purchasing over 50,000 movies every day, making iTunes...