Comic-Con fans throng to 'Hobbit,' 'Twilight' tasters

LOS ANGELES: Fans descend on San Diego Thursday for the annual Comic-Con festival of pop culture, with highlights including the long-awaited "Hobbit" and last "Twilight" films, in a four-day geekfest.

Some 130,000 devotees of comic books, movies and TV shows -- many dressed up in the costumes of their idols -- will throng into the sold-out Convention Center and myriad events around the southern Californian city through Sunday.

Other big draws at the 43rd annual Comic-Con International include Hollywood veterans like Arnold Schwarzenegger -- returning from politics in "The Expendables 2" -- Robert Downey Jr ("Iron Man 3"), Jodie Foster and Matt Damon.

"Twilight" fans will be looking out for Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, in town to promote the final installment of the fantasy films, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2," due out in November.

In a sign of the frenzy generated by the movie, they have been lining up since last weekend for the "Twilight" panel on Thursday. One fan died when crossing the street nearby Tuesday, triggering a tide of grief on Twitter.

The other big movie event of Comic-Con 2012 will be the screening of more footage from Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" prequel "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," due for release in December.

Anticipation if particularly intense because a first glimpse of the movie, shot in groundbreaking 48 frames per second format, drew mixed critical reactions when it was screened in Las Vegas in April.

In an interview with the the LA Times published Wednesday, director Jackson said he would screen the footage at Comic-Con in the normal 24 frames per second.

"With our 48 frames per second presentation, negative bloggers are the ones the mainstream press runs with and quotes from," he said.

"I decided to screen the 'Hobbit' reel at Comic-Con in 2-D and 24 frames per second, so the focus stays firmly with the content and not the technical stuff. If people want 3-D and 48fps, that choice will be there for them in December."

Hollywood, two hours up the California coast from San Diego, has not always played such a big role at Comic-Con.

"Hollywood wasn't involved in the beginning as it is today," David Glanzer, Comic-Con's marketing chief. "But .. Hollywood is a great partner and we hope they enjoy Comic-Con as much as we enjoy their participation," he added.

Television bosses will also be showcasing their wares in San Diego: small screen highlights include HBO fantasy hit "Game of Thrones," a new season of "Glee," and Britain's "Dr. Who," seeking to build on its US fan base.

Video games have also played a growing part at Comic-Con. Those presenting new material this year include "Assassin's Creed III," "Halo 4" and "Resident Evil."

Many Comic-Con attendees openly embrace the description of them as geeks, or nerds, and there will be a predominance of young men dressed up as superheros, or Middle Earth thronging the San Diego streets over the next few days.

But a growing number of women are also joining the party.

"The key demographics remain male 16 to 34. However, we have seen a marked increase in female attendance over the years. Currently the male to female ratio is about 60/40," said Glanzer.

And he declined to predict what will emerge as the overall highlight of the festival.

"When asked what the big thing will be at Comic-Con this year, I always say we have to wait until the end of the show. There are always predictions, but it's the fans who will let us know when all is said and done," he said. AFP

Krrish sequel sold out

MUMBAI: The sequel to the blockbuster Krrish has been sold almost entirely. Rakesh Roshan has only maintained the rights of the film in Mumbai.

All other territories have fetched him a good price." And, also doing the rounds are rumours that the channel rights have been sold to a leading channel at a price, speculated to be higher than what even Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots received.

Roshan's resolution to sell the rights of the sequel, slated to go on floors in November, is not the only unconventional decision he has taken. Interestingly, the filmmaker has sold the film rights to multiple distributors.

"While Eros International has acquired the overseas rights, the all-India rights have been sold to individual companies," added the source.

When asked why Roshan chose to sell the rights to more than one company, the source explained, "Well, nowadays the corporates create a lot of issues, especially financial agreements, which have an adverse effect on the film. Rakesh Roshan has great business sense and he knows what is happening around him."

Apparently, even the film's music, to be composed by the filmmaker's brother Rajesh Roshan, has been up for grabs.

The source told us that the music rights have been acquired by T-Series for Rs 5 crore. Even though the music of the film is in its preliminary stage, the one song that T-Series heard, in the original film, was convincing enough for the company to buy the music rights.

When contacted, head honcho of T-Series, Bhushan Kumar, confirmed, "We are very happy to be associated with a cool franchise like Krrish."

The sequel to Krrish stars Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra Chitrangada Singh and Vivek Oberoi.

Don 2 trailer released

MUMBAI: The King of the Indian film industry, Shahrukh Khan will once again be seen reviving his role as the king of the underworld in Don 2. The trailer for the movie has been released.

The film was originally released with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead in 1970. The remake of the film was released in 2006 and Shahrukh Khan played the role of the underworld king. Farhan Akhtar returns to direct Don 2.

The film has been stylized after Hollywood films and several scenes of the film were shot in Germany and Malaysia. The film will be released in December, 2011.

Don sequel trailer in theatres this Friday

I plead guilty of saying that I would not make a Don sequel, but somehow the character just wouldn’t leave me. Now, in retrospect, I’m glad I’ve made Don 2,” admits producer-director Farhan Akhtar, who is gearing up for the response to the first trailer of one of this year’s most eagerly awaited films that unveils in theatres this Friday, along with the Farhan-starrer, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

Farhan’s partner and co-producer Ritesh Sidhwani endorses the fact that despite an open ending, the duo had not thought of taking the story forward when Don—The Chase Begins (2006) ended. He says, “But then Ameet (Mehta) and Amrish (Shah) came to us with an interesting story idea. It took us a while to develop it, but finally, last October, we flagged off Don 2, and on December 23, as Shah Rukh (Khan) says in the promos, the don will return to the screen after five years.”

Ritesh agrees that expectations are sky high, but is confident that the high-speed action sequences, the special effects and the familiar characters in a new European setting, will spark off an ‘Oh my God, this is huge!’ reaction from the audience,from children in particular, who, he admits, is Don’s biggest fan base. “It surprised me that my own kids had taken such a fancy to a bad guy till I realised that the eternal favourite, Tom & Jerry, is a violent cartoon too.”

The filmmakers adds that apart from two new characters, enacted by Lara Dutta and Kunal Kapoor, the others played by SRK, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani and Om Puri, are the same from Part 1 and continue from where they had left. Ritesh says, “So Roma knows that the good Vijay is dead, Don has survived and sets out to even the score,” he says. “That twist at the end of Part 1 was what made it different from Mr Bachchan’s (Amitabh) Don. This one is completely new and original with no reference points but you would have to see Don —The Chase Begins to understand what’s happening. Don is on its way to becoming a franchise now. This time if you were to ask me about a Part 3, I wouldn’t say no.”

'Jab We Met' sequel planned for TV

Imtiaz Ali has revealed that a sequel to his commercially successful hit Jab We Met will debut on television.

The follow-up, which will focus on the prequel to the romantic drama, will appear under the title Love You Zindagi for STAR Plus.

The filmmaker said: "TV is a different medium. Films involve a different way of telling a story. The style is very singular and it has a fixed duration.

"So when you have to do that, you find that a lot of material gets thrown up which cannot find a way into the duration of a film. And, if there is an interest in that material and an opportunity to see it in a serial, why not use it?"

Ali, who originally started out in television, said that it was not always the best medium for his work, adding: "Earlier when I was directing TV serials, we were trying to make films on TV, and it wasn't working for me at least."

'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' sequel planned

Amitabh Bachchan has said that Karan Johar wants to make a follow-up to Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

The 68-year-old revealed on his Big Adda blog that Johar is keen to direct a sequel to the 2001 family drama, Indian Express reports.

Bachchan posted: "Karan Johar and we talk of cinema and other lighter moments. His visit to Goa and the sudden impulse to do a sequel to Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, for he felt that all the relevant characters were still around and 'how'."

The Dharma Productions film also features leading Bollywood stars including Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan as brothers, alongside Kajol and Kareena Kapoor.

The veteran actor detailed how the plot to the film has developed, nine years since the original.

"It would be a story on the growth of the brothers and the problems that arise because of their independent understanding and working of the business empire of the father, a split within them and so on," said Bachchan.

Twilight sequel's script leaked online

The script of the third instalment of the hit vampire series "Twilight" has reportedly been leaked on the Internet, sending fans into a frenzy. More than 100 pages of what appears to be the storyline from "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" surfaced online Jan 5, reports contactmusic.com.

A screenshot, purporting to be of the opening page of the script, posted on The Dish Rag blog, shows Jackson Rathbone's name emblazoned across the paper, suggesting the script once belonged to the actor who plays vampire Jasper Hale in the franchise.

Bosses at Summit Entertainment, the production company behind the movies, were previously left red-faced when the manuscript of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" was discovered by a hairdresser in St. Louis in May 2009.

The stylist won praise from Hollywood bosses after handing the script in and was invited to the film's US premiere. "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" is due for release in July 2010.