‘Bridesmaids’ climbs up popularity scale

LOS ANGELES: Universal’s comedy “Bridesmaids” has become the most-ordered VOD title of all time, the studio said Wednesday.

In just more than four months in release, the movie has more than 4.8 million VOD rentals, according to Rentrak’s OnDemand Essentials. That is a gross of more than $24 million.

The movie, which earned Melissa McCarthy an Oscar nomination for  best supporting actress and garnered Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig a best screenplay nod, grossed more than $288 million worldwide in its theatrical run, and has taken in more than $100 million in Blu-ray and DVD sales.

VOD, while growing, remains a fraction of the digital revenue stream. Other digital platforms, including internet video on demand, pay-per-view and hotel viewings have totaled more than 7 million orders, grossing $40 million domestically.

“Bridesmaids” will be available on VOD through the end of February. AGENCIES

Social media as social difference maker

LOS ANGELES: From SOPA to Ellen DeGeneres, protesting keeps getting more social.

Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, digital agitation has entered the mainstream allowing people to affect change at a dizzying speed. Going viral is no longer reserved for cute puppy videos.

Social networking has moved into new areas of social protest, Tim Stevens, editor-in-chief of the technology blog Engadget, said Friday, shortly after Susan G. Komen Foundation reversed course on pulling Planned Parenthood funding in wake of a fierce social media protest. “It’s not just techies anymore,” he said. “It’s people who are interested in women’s rights and other civil liberties.”

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation bowed to blow back on Facebook, Twitter and other digital platforms on Friday. It apologized for its original decision to withdraw support for breast cancer screening at Planned Parenthood.

That viral protest ignited this week, around the same time as a social networking uproar sprang up against a conservative group’s attempt to force J.C. Penny to ditch openly-gay spokeswoman Ellen DeGeneres. The Stand Up for Ellen campaign attracted thousands of supporters, who signed an online petition sponsored by GLAAD. That outpouring of support emboldened the retailer to stand by the popular talk show host.

These successful movements come on the heels of a stunning online campaign by technology companies and average citizens against two pieces of federal legislation, the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), that were seen as Draconian and censorious.

After millions tweeted and posted their displeasure on Facebook and sites like Wikipedia went dark, the Hollywood studios pushing the acts and their congressional counterparts were forced to go back to the drawing board.

“There’s a new political and media ecology that social networking provides and it’s not controlled by the mainstream media,” said Andrew Rasiej, the chairman of New York Tech MeetUp, a key opponent of SOPA and PIPA. “It’s controlled by citizens who are able to wield power at a speed that has the mainstream media, the politicians and the institutional players in shock.”

Some of these causes would have inspired protests in the past, but the rate at which a movement materializes, intensifies and concludes has accelerated from years to months to, in the most recent instances, a matter of days.

“It’s not just the agitators who are figuring out how to stage these eruptions of dissent,” Clive Thompson, a columnist for Wired, told TheWrap. “The people on the other side, who are being agitated against, are now aware that they can’t ignore this.”

Not everyone is so convinced that Twitter and Facebook are the difference makers in these equations.

Writing in the Huffington Post on Friday, political analyst Andy Ostroy argued: “Let’s not take away from the power of protest, and what we as citizens can achieve, by wasting so much time fawning over technology’s role in all of it.

At the end of the day, it’s the people who use Twitter and Facebook, just as they used other media throughout history to foment dissent and harness protest.”

That may be the case, but before Twitter and Facebook got hold of them, SOPA and Susan G. Komen were hardly household names. In short order, they became public enemy number one for many socially networked people and the subject of articles and television segments across the media landscape.

“It used to be that social media would play off something that happened in the mainstream news, but that role has reversed and Twitter and Facebook have become the ringmaster that’s setting the agenda,” Rasiej said. AGENCIES

US striving to prevent Wikileaks repeat

 

The WikiLeaks document dump, which saw hundreds of thousands of classified US files leaked, rattled US intelligence officials, forcing them to implement reforms to prevent another such breach.

 

James Clapper, director of national intelligence, said changes were being put in place over the next five years that would create a new security “architecture,” making it infinitely harder to disclose America s secrets.

 

The “terrible event,” which saw sensitive US diplomatic and military cables exposed for public scrutiny, “caused us to make some changes,” Clapper told a Washington think-tank, acknowledging the “challenge” ahead.

 

“We have to do more to protect data and ensure that the information we are giving is actually going to an authorized recipient,” he said.

 

Chief among the changes are improvements in “labeling,” and digital “tagging” of diplomatic cables, Clapper said during remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

 

At the same time, he said, US officials are eager to ensure information that is intended to be shared can be disseminated without major additional hurdles.

 

Clapper added that the effort aims to protect US secrets not only from outside enemies, but from actors with the system who do not have specific authorization to distribute sensitive US cables and files.

 

“Frankly we always had responsibility for detecting insider threats. What WikiLeaks has obviously done is heighten our sensitivity about that,” he said.

 

The controversial anti-secrecy WikiLeaks website began releasing US military documents in July 2010. It dumped the entire archive of diplomatic documents in September 2011, causing huge embarrassment to Washington.

 

A US military tribunal s investigating officer earlier this month recommended that army private Bradley Manning be court-martialed for allegedly funneling hundreds of thousands of classified US documents to WikiLeaks.

 

Manning, a specialist in US intelligence systems, served in Iraq from November 2009 until his arrest the following May.

 

He is accused of turning over to WikiLeaks a massive trove of US military reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, some 260,000 classified State Department cables, Guantanamo detainee assessments and videos of US air strikes.

 

The fact that an Army private could have had access to so much sensitive information has posed a challenge for the intelligence community, amid accusations that data-sharing went too far after the September 11 attacks.

 

At that time, the community was accused of holding back information that could have been used to prevent the strikes on New York and Washington. After 9/11, inter-agency sharing of classified data increased.

 

The September 11 attacks “emphasized the need to share” information, said Eric Velez-Villar, deputy assistant director of the FBI, saying that proper information-sharing “can save lives.”

 

Clapper added: “The goal, of course, is to find that nirvana between the responsibility to share and the need for protection.”

 

Corin Stone, an assistant director of national intelligence for policy and strategy, said, “Basically, we seek to restore confidence.”

 

The WikiLeaks scandal has “fundamentally broken trust” in the intelligence community, Stone said. “To restore confidence, we must strengthen security in sharing information.”

 

David Shedd, deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said intelligence services are trying to manage a “tsunami of data” that forces them to ask themselves how to “process that enormous data flow.”

 

Paul Kshemendra, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010 to head the federal program on intelligence sharing, agreed that the “ocean” of data is growing.

 

“You need to put a signal in that ocean of noise,” he said.

Oscars® “Celebrate the Movies” with Launch of Digital Exhibition

TrendPK.com: In anticipation of the 84th Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences has launched “Celebrate the Movies,” a digital exhibition spotlighting iconic moments from 84 films.

Beginning today, January 23, the exhibition will appear on digital billboards in Los Angeles, and on ABC’s digital “SuperSign,” an electronic landmark in New York’s Times Square. It will also be showcased on an online gallery on Oscar.com, and extend to youtube.com/Oscars, where fans can share their most memorable movie-going experiences through video or text.

Images will debut in groups of 20 within the next two weeks. The 84 films represented span eight decades, beginning with “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) and culminating in “Avatar” (2009). Highlights from each decade include “Gone with the Wind” (1939), “Casablanca” (1942), “The Killers” (1946), “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961), “True Grit” (1969), “The Exorcist” (1973), “Saturday Night Fever” (1977), “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980), “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989), “Apollo 13″ (1995), “Shrek” (2001), “Ray” (2004), and “The Dark Knight” (2008). The exhibition highlights all of Hollywood’s major genres, as well as independent, animated, foreign-language, and documentary films.

Included in the first 20 images are the eight that were featured in the key art campaign, which was unveiled in late December.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, at 5:30 a.m. PST in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar® presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.

Follow Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.

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Google’s Schmidt attacks education system

LONDON: Google chairman Eric Schmidt has attacked the country’s education system, saying a failure to appreciate the importance of computer science was holding the country back in the digital age.

In a lecture at a broadcasting conference in Edinburgh on Friday, the chairman of the Internet giant accused Britons of “throwing away your great computing heritage” by promoting a separation of arts and sciences in education.

“If I may be so impolite, your track record isn’t great,” he said.

“The UK is home of so many media-related inventions. You invented photography. You invented TV. You invented computers in both concept and practice.

“Yet today, none of the world’s leading exponents in these fields are from the UK.”

He said he was shocked that computer science was not taught as standard in British schools, adding: “Your IT curriculum focuses on teaching how to use software, but gives no insight into how it’s made.”

Schmidt also laughed off criticisms that Google was trying to “take over the world” and planned to make television content on a large scale.

“Trust me, if you gave people at Google free rein to produce TV you’d end up with a lot of bad sci-fi,” he said.

Schmidt was the first non-broadcaster to give the landmark lecture at the Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, a major event in British broadcasters’ diary.

Prominent figures from the broadcasting world have delivered it in the past, including News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch and his son James. AGENCIES

Smartphones: a new frontier for hackers

Hackers are out to stymie your smartphone. Last week, security researchers uncovered yet another strain of malicious software aimed at smartphones that run Google s popular Android operating system. The application not only logs details about incoming and outgoing phone calls, it also records those calls.

That came a month after researchers discovered a security hole in Apple Inc. s iPhones, which prompted the German government to warn Apple about the urgency of the threat.

“We re in the experimental stage of mobile malware where the bad guys are starting to develop their business models,” said Kevin Mahaffey, co-founder of Lookout Inc., a San Francisco-based maker of mobile security software.

Wrong-doers have infected PCs with malicious software, or malware, for decades. Now, they are fast moving to smartphones as the devices become a vital part of everyday life.

Some 38 percent of American adults now own an iPhone, BlackBerry or other mobile phone that runs the Android, Windows or WebOS operating systems, according to data from Nielsen. That s up from just 6 percent who owned a smartphone in 2007 when the iPhone was released and catalyzed the industry. The smartphone s usefulness, allowing people to organize their digital lives with one device, is also its allure to criminals.

Subhash Ghai and Ketan Mehta join hands to re-create Sholay in 3D

Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts and Ketan Mehta’s Maya Digital have joined hands to re-create one of the biggest hits of Hindi cinema Sholay in 3D.

Speaking to News Trends, Subhash Ghai said, “We have a partnership with Maya Digital and one the films which we plan to re-create in 3D is Sholay. Things are still being discussed but we did have a test show for the producers who were happy with what they saw.”

Besides re-creating Sholay in 3D, Mukta Arts is also working on its own 3D animation film. Says Mr. Ghai, “Yes, we are also working on our own 3D animation film and it will be a musical.”

TRON 3D Nights brings the first ever 3D clubbing experience in India

Submerge, one India’s largest promotions and events company for Dance Music has announced plans to host the Tron 3D Nights across Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore. These Tron 3D Nights by Submerge will engage the electronic dance music and sci-fi movie fans with the first ever 3D clubbing experience in the country.

Tron 3D Nights by Submerge are scheduled on: 9th December at Trilogy, Mumbai; 11th December at Area 51, Pune and on 12th December at Chancery Pavillion Poolside, Bangalore.

Christopher Lawrence, (rated as USA’s No.1 DJ by the BBC Radio) will set the pulse racing with electronic music while the 3D Act from UK consisting of a Disc Jockey and Visual Jockey will create a unique 3D audio visual experience throughout the party. The Tron 3D Nights by Submerge are set to create immersive live entertainment experiences combining dynamic music and dance with the digital-3D world of TRON: Legacy.

Nikhil Chinapa, Submerge Co-Founder said, “Submerge has always been about creating a unique clubbing experiencing and we are glad to announce that The 3D: Audio Visual Experience is coming to India exclusively through Submerge. Our association with the India Release of the path-breaking 3D movie – The Tron: Legacy is going to make this clubbing experience even more special and we are looking forward to the TRON 3D parties by Submerge which will also feature legendary DJ Christopher Lawrence from America. The combination of the 3D Audio Visual Experience with Christopher Lawrence combined with the India Release of The Tron: Legacy will take clubbing in India to a whole new level.”

So all you people slide on your 3D glasses and get ready to be submerged into the musical world of TRON.

Lady Gaga, Keys to sign off Twitter for charity

CALIFORNIA: Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga take charity work seriously, and they’re going offline to prove it.

Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher and other celebrities have joined a new campaign called Digital Life Sacrifice on behalf of Keys’ charity, Keep a Child Alive. The entertainers plan to sign off of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday, which is World AIDS Day. The participants will sign back on when the charity raises $1 million.

“It’s really important and super-cool to use mediums that we naturally are on,” Keys said in a phone interview from New York last week.

For the campaign — which also includes Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams, Janelle Monae and Keys’ husband, Swizz Beatz — celebrities have filmed “last tweet and testament” videos and will appear in ads showing them lying in

Break Ke Baad proves to be profitable venture for its makers

Break Ke Baad starring Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone opened to mixed response when it released last Friday (Nov 26). However, the film produced by Kunal Kohli in association with Reliance Big Pictures and directed by debutant director Danish Aslam, seems to be on safe grounds mainly thanks to its correct economics.

In fact the production costs of the film (excluding P & A), 18 crores, had largely been recovered through the sale of satellite and music rights itself and despite the film opening to weekend collections of Rs. 10.5 crore nett, it does seem like a profitable venture for its makers.

Also Break Ke Baad has had some refreshing marketing tie ups, with brands such as Kit Kat, Close Up, Zen Mobile, Venus soaps and Da Milano. These brands have spent money close to the tune of Rs. 2 crores on TV spends in prime slots. The marketing has been innovative, and different, thereby making an impact.

Thanks to its youth appeal, fresh pairing coupled with the right amount of marketing and publicity, the film has even opened to a good response in the overseas market. USA has responded well to the film and Dubai too has received the film well.

Says Priti Shahani of Reliance Big Pictures, co-producer of Break Ke Baad, “It’s true that Break Ke Baad has already recovered it’s production cost, including marketing costs. Being a hype project, the digital rights (satellite, music and video) were sold at a lucrative price. Marketing and promotions have been effective with brand synergy with Kit Kat, close up and other brands. Break Ke Baad has released across 750 screens in India.”

With even some big star-cast films flopping at the Box Office this year, pricing a film correctly has become paramount to avoid huge losses.

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