Dhaka, Sept 13 (UNB) - James Cameron says the amazing box office performance of Avengers: Endgame gives him hope about the future of cinema as it proves that people are still interested in going to theatres to watch movies.

The superhero film became the world’s highest grossing movie by earning USD 2.796 billion at the box office, breaking the long standing record set by Cameron’s films Titanic and Avatar.

“It gives me a lot of hope. Avengers: Endgame is demonstrable proof that people will still go to movie theaters. The thing that scared me most about making Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 was that the market might have shifted so much that it simply was no longer possible to get people that excited about going and sitting in a dark room with a bunch of strangers to watch something,” Cameron told the Deadline.

Cameron is hopeful that if Endgame could earn record-breaking money at the box office, his long-delayed Avatar sequels could to do the same.

“Will Avatar 2 and 3 be able to create that kind of success in the zeitgeist? Who knows. We’re trying. Maybe we do, maybe we don’t, but the point is, it’s still possible. I’m happy to see it, as opposed to an alternate scenario where, with the rapid availability (of) custom-designed experience(s) that everybody can create for themselves with streaming services and all the different platforms, that might not have existed anymore,” he said.

Avatar released in 2009 at the beginning of the 3D technology and became a box office sensation thanks to its visuals. But the major concern for the director, known for his trademark big budget spectacles, would be the delay in the first Avatar and its sequels.

The second Avatar film will be released by Disney on December 17, 2021, with Avatar 3 arriving on December 22, 2023. There are other sequels in the pipeline provided these two movies work at the box office.

Dhaka, Sept 2 (UNB)- BizNext PLUS, a Dhaka-based communication and image management company, has teamed up with an upcoming Bangla feature film “Padmapuran” as a promotional partner at home and abroad.

‘Padmapuran’ is a full-length film now being prepared for screening soon.

Arpita Chowdhury, chief executive officer of the BizNext PLUS, and Rashid Polash, director of the film, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Saturday evening in Banani Club Ltd for jointly working on promotion.

Guests including senior journalists who joined the ceremony signed the first poster of the film as part of its promotion amid hope for spreading awareness message on climate change and its effects on people.

Rashid Polash said BizNext PLUS has partnered with his film for all of its promotional activities as the story revolves around the mighty river Padma. The story

relates to climate change and how a dying river influences an entire population, their lives and livelihood, he said.

Arpita Chowdhury of Biz Next PLUS said, “It’s a great honour to be part of the film that I am sure will draw the attention of both critics and cinema lovers.”

Hassan Shahriar, former President of the National Press Club and President Emeritus of the Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) said story-line of the film ‘Padmapuran’ has already attracted their attention and the songs of the film are great.

Farida Yasmin, incumbent general secretary of the National Press Club, said she was touched by the film’s story and was in particular happy that it featured strong characters by women.

Syed Ishtiaque Reza, editor-in-chief of GTV and Sarabangla.net, Khairul Anwar Mukul, head of news of NTV, Rejonaul Huq, head of news of Maasranga Television, Zahid Newaz Khan, chief news editor of Channel I, Zahirul Alam, chief news editor of NTV, Shahrif  Shahabuddin, editor-in-chief of the Bangladesh Post, also attended the ceremony among others.

The film’s lead character is newcomer Sadia Afreen Mahi while acclaimed actors Shompa Reza and Chompa have played very important roles in the story.

Other actors include Sumit Sengupta, Joyraj, Kayes Chowdhury, Hedayet Nannu. The screenplay has been written by Raihan Shoshi while it has been produced by Punnah Films.

Dhaka, Aug 30 (UNB) - Joker director Todd Phillips has revealed he spent an entire year trying to convince Warner Bros to let him make a violent and edgy film on the iconic DC villain, reports The Indian Express. 

The film, which earned an expected R-rating by MPAA for “strong bloody violence, disturbing behaviour, language, and brief sexual images”, is an origin story of the Clown Prince of Crime, with Joaquin Phoenix playing the title role.

Phillips said it was “a year-long process” from the time the script was completed “just to get the new people on board with this vision”.

“There were emails about: ‘You realise we sell Joker pajamas at Target’. There were a zillion hurdles, and you just sort of had to navigate those one at a time…

“At the time I would curse them in my head every day. But then I have to put it in perspective and go, ‘They’re pretty bold that they did this’,” the filmmaker told the Los Angeles Times.

He said while the audiences may be acquainted with R-rated films thanks to Deadpool series, Joker is a different animal.

Phillips drew his references from matter-of-fact R-rated adult dramas such as Taxi Driver and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, among others.

He said, “The movies that I grew up loving, these character studies from the ’70s, you couldn’t get those movies made in this climate. I said to myself, ‘What if you did a movie in that vein, but made it about (comic book) characters?'”

But when the film crossed that hurdle, another followed.

According to LA Times, Phoenix agreed to play the title role after a “drawn-out, four-month process” came to end.

The Oscar-nominated actor signed on the dotted line once he was assured that he would be allowed to play “a complex flesh-and-blood character in shades of gray rather than a black-and-white cartoon villain”.

“That’s really the only thing that’s worthwhile. The other thing is connect-the-dots and paint-by-numbers, and who the (heck) cares about that? There are certain areas of the character that frankly still aren’t clear to me, and I’m fine with that.

“There’s something enjoyable about not having to answer a lot of those questions. It requires a certain amount of participation from the audience that feels different,” Phoenix said.

Joker is set to have its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival. It will also be showcased at TIFF and NYFF, before opening in US theatres on October 4.

Dhaka, Aug 29 (UNB) - The Film Federation of India, an apex body of producers and distributors of the country, on Wednesday said it will organise an awards programme in Dhaka to boost the entertainment industry of India and Bangladesh, reports The Indian Express.

The Federation also wants to extend help in developing the film industry of Bangladesh and promote Indian films there, the organisation president Firdausal Hasan said on Wednesday.

“We want to create an environment where both countries can do business. The first Bharat-Bangla Film Awards to be held in Dhaka on October 21 is a step in that direction,” Hasan told a press conference.

Indian films, including Bengali releases, are very popular in neighbouring countries like Bangladesh but do not have proper release network, he said.

A jury committee, consisting of filmmaker Goutam Ghosh, actor-minister Bratya Basu, actress Tanushree Chakraborty apart from a producer and a journalist from here, will select the Bengali films nominated for awards, Hasan said adding that there will be award in 12 categories.

From the Bangladesh side, he said, there will also be 12 categories in which films will vie for honours.

The Bangladeshi films will be judged and evaluated by a jury consisting of filmmakers, journalists and critics of the neighbouring country.

There will also be awards for films in eight regional languages – Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Hindi to be screened from the Indian side as part of the effort to promote regional cinema.

Goutam Ghosh, who was present at the press meet, advocated opening a single-window system so that films from both the countries can reach out to a larger audience.

He said, “I have felt the need to have an award ceremony to celebrate Bengali films from India and Bangladesh on a single stage.”

Ghosh directed Indo-Bangla co-productions Moner Manush (2010) and Sankhochil (2016).

Hasan said the single screens are on the decline in both countries and the producers’ body is concerned about the situation and do something.

While the number of single screens has come down from 700 to not more than 280-290 in West Bengal, in Bangladesh the figure has gone down from 1200 to 300, he said.

“We need regular events on a sustained basis in both the countries to celebrate our cinema and make the industry of both countries viable,” he said.

Dhaka, Aug 29 (UNB) - The makers on Wednesday released the final trailer of the Todd Phillips directorial Joker. And to say that a lot is going on in the clip would not be straying too far from the truth. The Joaquin Phoenix starrer might be based on the DC comics character of the same name but never have we seen before on the big screen a real character study of the man’s descent into ‘madness’ and all things evil. Todd Phillips’ Joker is about to change that and perhaps in big, glorious ways, report The Indian Express.

It looks like filmmaker Todd Phillips has pulled out all the stops to depict what causes a person to stumble, fall and crash after life deals a bad hand. Joaquin Phoenix — who is a versatile performer — looks and of course, acts the part in a fashion that makes you almost forget that he is ‘performing.’ The nuances, that hint of vulnerability is evident as the day in the actor’s body language. The trailer shows us a glimpse of the drama that awaits the fans — a dark, human tale of a breakdown.

Joaquin Phoenix

If you have not seen Gladiator, Walk the Line and Her, then you are missing out on some great acting. In which case, you should probably wait for the release of Joker and go back to see all those films which are a testament to the kind of committed actor Joaquin is. And so far in the released looks and promos, Phoenix seems to have done what was required of him. This should be an exciting performance to watch out for.

A different world

We have seen many adaptations of comic book characters in the last decade or so. Be it DC or Marvel, the makers have taken out some of the most beloved characters from the pages of books and have somehow managed to make them even more iconic than before. While Marvel Cinematic Universe movies usually have humour in them, DC Films take things more seriously. But Todd Phillips’ rendition of the Joker, which is based and inspired by the Joker character of the DC comics, has seemingly gone two steps ahead of his competition. This version of Joker we have not seen on our screens before — a psychological analysis of how a person behaves under stress and cruel, unfortunate conditions. The story once again seems to be reinforcing the argument of how no one is born evil.

What is Robert De Niro doing?

What is the Raging Bull star doing in a ‘comic book film’? Well, for now, we know that he is essaying the character of a TV show host who goes by the name of Franklin. Franklin plays a key role in Arthur Fleck aka the Joker’s downfall. But how? In an earlier interview, De Niro himself had said that his portrayal in the film is a hat tip to his character from The King of Comedy, Rupert Pupkin, who was a comedian fixated with a talk show host.

Joker releases on October 4, 2019 in the US.