Here’s an appropriate piece of news leading up to Halloween: Danny Boyle has said he would like to direct the second sequel to 28 Days Later, naturally titled 28 Months Later.

Details are pretty hard to come by, but Dread Central have been told that Boyle has explicitly expressed his desire to direct the third film in what is so far an excellent series. Boyle, of course, was the director of the first film, and received plenty of critical and commercial acclaim for reinventing zombies as sprinting infectees of a “Rage” virus gone wrong. The first sequel, 28 Weeks Later, was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and was an inferior but still worthy sequel that embraced new themes (criticisms of military policy and familial bonds), and left the door open for a further film with its disturbing final images.

It would be great to see Boyle return to his project, especially with new confidence (financially as well as aesthetically) after the huge success of Slumdog Millionaire and the upcoming 127 Hours. However, don’t get too excited. Boyle has merely expressed his desire to make the film, and there’s no clues as to where the project lies. The best we have is Alex Garland’s (who scripted the first film) comments from an interview with Worst Previews:

Two certified hit movies are going to slug it out for the top MTV Movie awards. These are box office movie sensations Twilight and Slumdog Millionaires, both hot films to date. The hit films “Twilight” and “Slumdog Millionaire” get ready to battle it out as MTV: Music Television announces this year’s final nominees for the “2009 MTV MOVIE AWARDS.”

Pitting Hollywood vampires against the Mumbai slums, the movies’ rabid fans proved their loyalty as they sent both flicks to the head of the cinematic pack with each film receiving nominations in six award categories including “BEST MOVIE,” “BEST KISS” and “BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE MALE.”

MTV will up the cinematic fun quotient this year by debuting the two new categories “BEST SONG FROM A MOVIE” and “BEST WTF MOMENT.” Fans will get the chance to vote on such movie soundtrack hits as “The Climb” from “Hannah Montana: The Movie” as well as pick this year’s most jaw-dropping “WTF” movie moment that left audiences speechless such as the naked break-up scene in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”

The 18th annual awards show will be executive produced by Emmy Award winning producer Mark Burnett. Hosted by Andy Samberg, the “2009 MTV MOVIE AWARDS” will be broadcast LIVE from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, CA on Sunday, May 31st at 9p.m./8p.m. C.

(Source) Press

If you think Slumdog Millionaire placed Rubina Ali on the map, wait until the advertising agencies coming knocking on her door. It has been reported that Ali has been paid more than the Oscar winning film for a drinks commercial with Hollywood superstar Nicole Kidman.

According to the nine-year-old slum dweller’s father, the money Rubina is receiving for doing the ad is more than the total she got for the film.

“The Slumdog Millionaire people haven’t kept all their promises despite all the media attention. We have no information about the supposed trust fund and the 21pound-a-month that they were giving for her studies has stopped coming,” the Telegraph quoted Rafiq Ali as saying.

“The money she is receiving for doing this ad is more than the total she got for Slumdog,” he added.

He hopes that Rubina’s rising profile could lead to a better life for the family.

(Source) Thai Indian News

Nickelodeon has grown into one big network and to give audiences a preview of better things to come, a number of celebrities have been invited to grace Nickelodeon’s 2009 Upfront Presentation to the Advertising Community in New York City. Included in the presentation was: a forthcoming new live-action feature film; key new business partnerships; and the network’s plans to serve its audiences by connecting all of its platforms under the Nickelodeon umbrella.

In 2009, Nickelodeon is entering its 30th year and is poised to record its unprecedented 15th straight year as the top-rated network in basic cable.

During the 60 minute presentation, acclaimed film producer and executive producer of Paramount Pictures’ and Nickelodeon Movies’ upcoming film, The Last Airbender, Kathleen Kennedy introduced a never-before-seen pre-viz of the upcoming film and Academy Award-winner, Dev Patel, who has been cast in the role of the Fire Nation Lord Prince Zuko.

Tornante Company’s Michael Eisner provided a first-look at the upcoming new Nick at Nite comedy series, Glenn Martin, DDS. Walmart Senior Vice President/General Manager of Apparel, Dottie Mattison, gave details of Walmart and Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants 10th Anniversary celebration.

Nickelodeon’s latest star, Keke Palmer, presented her new hit series, True Jackson, VP. And Nick Cannon was introduced as the Honorary Chairman of Nickelodeon’s tween/teen-targeted channel, The N (which will be renamed TEENick in the fall), and highlighted his first project titled The Halo Awards. Capping the event was a musical performance from recording artists Colbie Caillat and Wyclef Jean, who performed “Here Comes the Sun,” “Bubbly” and Sweetest Girl.”

(Source) Press

With the 81st Academy Award Ceremony on tonight, it’s time to put our movie knowledge to the test, and guess who will win what this year.

But the one prediction that everyone agrees on is not who will win, but that the ceremony will lose. Despite the organisers attempting to liven up the ceremony by getting Hugh Jackman, a song-and-dance man, to host, the choice of films up for Best Picture only highlight the growing chasm between the choices of the Academy and the choices of the public. Out of the Best Picture nominees, only The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has broken 100mil domestic. Slumdog Millionaire is on its way there, but lagging behind are the remaining three nominees, none of which even made it beyond 30 mil in the US.

And if that isn’t reason enough, there’s the even curiouser case of the absence of The Dark Knight. It’s rare to see a film that is so popular (it just broke a billion dollars worldwide) and so critically acclaimed that isn’t acknowledged by an award ceremony (besides technical awards and Heath Ledger’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor, which can be argued is only there due to the actor’s tragic death). Even Titanic swept the Oscars and won Best Picture. While many dismiss comic book films as fluff, The Dark Knight displayed the capability of a blockbuster dealing with serious issues (indeed, it shares many themes with No Country for Old Men). And this lack of understanding of the masses will result in only further public disillusionment towards the ceremony.

On to the awards themselves… READ ON »

Slumdog Millionaire won the PGA’s highest honor, Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year, Saturday night while the drama continues to rack up the award season honors.

The Oscar is starting to look mighty shiny for Slumdog producer Christian Colson as the Oscar race as best picture favorite.

Other winners include TV’s “Mad Men,” “30 Rock” and “John Adams” received PGA trophies in the drama, comedy and long-form categories, respectively. For more details and a complete list of winners, click here.

Slumdog Millionaire received the most kudos last night at the 14th annual Critics’ Choice awards, the film nabbed best picture, director (Danny Boyle), writer (Simon Beaufoy), young actor/actress (Dev Patel) and composer, A.R. Rahman.

Sean Penn who starred in Milk received the actor honor He was also honored with the cast of Milk as top ensemble.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association picked two actresses for the lead actress category – noting the second tie ever in a lead category — both Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep for their roles in Rachel Getting Married and Doubt.

Heath Ledger was honored posthumously for his supporting role in The Dark Knight — a first for the Critic’s Choice. The movie also picked up the first Best Action Movie award.

Kate Winslet won the supporting actress honors for her role in The Reader.

Wall-E won for best animated.

For a complete list of winners, go to Broadcast Film Critics Association website.

Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Disney/Pixar’s robot love story Wall-E the best picture, marking the first time in the organizations 33-year history that an animated film has taken the highest prize.

Slumdog Millionaire director, Danny Boyle, received the honors of best director.

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight gave the late Heath Ledger supporting actor affirmation for his villainous turn as the Joker.

Happy-Go-Lucky won best actress for Sally Hawkins turn as a perpetually upbeat London schoolteacher and for writer-director Mike Leigh’s screenplay. 

No surprise for me, Sean Penn took the actor declaration for his portrayal of gay political activist Harvey Milk in Focus Features’ Milk.

Penelope Cruz won supporting actress for two roles as a sultry Spanish artist in the Weinstein Co.’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona and as the object of an older professor’s desire in Samuel Goldwyn Films and Lakeshore Entertainment’s Elegy.

You can see a complete list of Los Angeles Film Critics Association winners by clicking here.  

The first major award of Oscar season has sent ripples of surprise across Hollywood. The National Board of Review, a collection of cultural elite, acdemics, and wealthy supporters of moving imagery, have announced its yearly award winners. The NBR awards always lean towards the arthouse crowd, and are rarely indicators of the Golden Globes and the Oscars, but last year they were the first to award No Country for Old Men for its brilliance, and we all know how well that film was received.

This year the presence of Danny Boyle’s Indian-based drama Slumdog Millionaire probably surprised many by being named as best film of 2008. The premise (a young Indian boy wins the local version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire) sounds pithy at first, but the consistently glowing reviews suggest this film has more heart than a hundred blockbusters. Could this Slumdog go all the way to the Oscars? We can only wait and see.

Other awards included David Fincher for Best Director, for his fairy-tale The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Clint Eastwood won for best actor in Gran Torino, and Anne Hathaway won Best Actress for Rachel Getting Married. For a complete list, go here.

Fox Searchlight’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE opens in select theatres November 12th. This is such a riveting and feel good movie. I can’t wait to see it. This trailer says it all.