Tag: sony pictures

Sony Pictures Launches Add-On Streaming Channel on Amazon Prime Video in India

Prime Video has entered a distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Television (SPT), a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), to launch an add-on subscription on the streamer for viewers in India.

Sony Pictures – Stream will offer SPE’s movies and shows on Prime Video Channels and its subscribers for an add-on introductory annual subscription of Rs. 399.

“We are delighted to launch Sony Pictures – Stream, a new Prime Video Channel curated specifically for our customers in India.

“The collaboration allows Sony Pictures Entertainment to make their vast and beloved library available in India at a single destination, reaching customers across the length and breadth of the country via Prime Video Channels,” said Vivek Srivastava, head – Prime Video Channels, India.

Sonika Bhasin, Vice President – South Asia, Sony Pictures Television, said with the partnership with Prime Video, Indian audiences can have access to content from SPE’s extensive library of award-winning films and critically acclaimed television series.

“Additionally, in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Columbia Pictures, a part of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Pictures – Stream spotlights the studio’s history and incredible film legacy by offering customers an incredible array of films from the studio’s beloved vault spanning the decades,” Bhasin added. 

Last year in December, it was reported that Amazon would start incorporating advertisements within Prime Video soon.  Amazon Prime users in the US reportedly received communication from Amazon informing them that the standard Amazon Prime plan would show ads while streaming movies and TV shows. The company had initially announced the move in September last year and had stated that it would go into effect in early 2024. 

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The Legend of Zelda Live-Action Movie Is in Development, Nintendo Confirms

The Legend of Zelda is getting a live-action adaptation. After years of rumours, Nintendo has finally confirmed that it’s working on a movie set in the enchanted lands of Hyrule, co-produced by the gaming giant and Avi Arad, who’s behind the recent Spider-Man spin-off films. Wes Ball — best known for the Maze Runner trilogy — is attached to direct, which isn’t being received well by fans of the franchise. Of course, Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto is deeply involved in the project in a producer capacity, just like he was for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

“This is Miyamoto. I have been working on the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda for many years now with Avi Arad-san, who has produced many mega-hit films,” Miyamoto said in the announcement tweet. “It will take time until its completion, but I hope you look forward to seeing it.”

Nintendo confirmed earlier this year, its plans to turn the gaming company into an entertainment empire by slowly transitioning into theme parks and movies. They’ve both succeeded gracefully, with Illumination-produced The Super Mario Bros. Movie grossing $1.36 billion (about Rs. 11,324 crore), placed second among the biggest films this year. That’s a huge feat, considering the film ruffled fans’ feathers before release for casting Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) as the titular plumber Mario.

With The Legend of Zelda being a live-action production, Nintendo is partnering with Sony Pictures Entertainment to helm the film, with the former putting forward more than 50 percent of the financing. Currently, there’s no logline for the film but we can assume it follows the young warrior Link’s perilous adventures, as he’s tasked with saving the kingdom of Hyrule and its princess Zelda by defeating the evil King Ganon. The decades-spanning game series is loaded with legacy dungeons and puzzles to solve, but in recent years, veered into the open-world territory, allowing players to explore the entire realm at their own pace. 2018’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the first to do it, and it was later expanded in Tears of the Kingdom with special abilities that let you build machines and a whole Sky Island map section to explore. They’re both considered as some of the best video games ever made.

Director Ball is also slated to helm Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, slated for release on May 24, 2024, in which a feral young woman (Freya Allan) and an ape Cornelius (Owen Teague) head out on a spiritual journey to seek freedom from the rule of chimpanzee king Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) — who took on the mantle following Caesar’s death and perverted his teachings. While fans are still wishing for the Zelda movie to be an animated take, this must mean a big deal to Ball, who back in 2010 expressed interest in seeing a Zelda movie. At the time, he also hoped for it to be a mocap film akin to James Cameron’s Avatar. Back in 2015, even Netflix tried to develop an animated series based on Zelda, though it never came to fruition.

Currently, The Legend of Zelda live-action movie does not have a release window.

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Sony Quarterly Profit Slides 31 Percent as Movie Business Disappoints, PS5 Sales Bring Relief

Japan’s Sony on Wednesday said first-quarter profit tumbled due to weaker performances from its movies and financial businesses.

In April-June, operating profit slid 31 percent to JPY 253 billion ($1.8 billion or roughly Rs. 14,907 crore), in line with estimates.

Profit at its movies division plunged by two-thirds due to lower sales for television content as well as higher marketing costs after the company released more films in theatres.

Once a consumer electronics giant, the conglomerate has transformed itself to focus more on entertainment, developing movies, music and games. It is also a leading maker of image sensors.

In May, Sony said it is examining a partial spin-off of its financial unit, which includes life insurance and banking, as it looks to invest in its entertainment businesses.

Sony has said it expects to sell 25 million PlayStation 5 consoles this financial year, in what would be a record for a PlayStation device, following the easing of supply chain snarls.

Cumulative sales of the console have topped 40 million.

Nintendo last week reported it has sold 18.5 million units of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom since its release in May, helping driving sales of its aging Switch console.

Gaming market research firm Newzoo said Tuesday that global video games market would return to growth in 2023 on the back of strong sales of consoles such as Sony’s PlayStation 5. Newzoo said it expects industry revenue to rise 2.6 percent to $187.7 billion (roughly Rs. 15,54,231 crore) in 2023, driven by a 7.4 percent rise in console sales in the year. Gaming revenue fell 5 percent in 2022, according to the research firm’s data.

Last month, Sony’s film division delayed a host of upcoming major releases in light of the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes in Hollywood. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse has been taken off its planned March 29, 2024, release date. Spider-Man spinoff Kraven the Hunter, which was originally eyeing a release on October 6, has been pushed by almost a year to August 2024.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Is Now Available to Watch On-Demand on YouTube, Apple TV, Zee5, More

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now available to stream as video-on-demand. The second chapter in fledgling Miles Morales’ multiversal escapades is now available for renting and purchase across Apple TV, Youtube Movies, Amazon Prime Video, and Zee5. Out of these, only Apple TV offers the premium Ultra HD version with Dolby Atmos audio, albeit there’s only the option for purchase at Rs. 490. An SD (standard definition) version is also available at Rs. 390, and both of them come with subtitles in several languages. On YouTube Movies, the film starts at Rs. 590 for the SD version and Rs. 820 for the 1080p full-HD print — neither platform has options to rent.

Renting Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is only possible on Amazon Prime Video and Zee5, though pricing on the former is a bit strange. Both SD and HD versions are listed for Rs. 399, which doesn’t make too much sense, as the customer would rather opt for higher quality — provided they have the internet bandwidth to support it, that is. Meanwhile, the version on Zee5 doesn’t mention what version you’ll get, but seeing the Rs. 349 price tag and its targeted audience being Indians (regional pricing), I’m inclined to believe that it will be HD quality. The platform also offers audio in 10 regional languages — same as theatrical — ranging between English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, Punjabi, and Gujarati.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse dominated the box office, collecting $683.8 million (about Rs. 56,62 crore) globally and setting a milestone as the highest-grossing Sony Pictures Animation film. If the numbers and reviews aren’t convincing enough, IGN has exclusively dropped the first 10 minutes of the film, which should give you a general vibe of the film. In it, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), now reunited with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), is catapulted across the multiverse and trapped amongst an interdimensional web of Spider-People to solve a major conspiracy. When leader Miguel O’Hara/ Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac) comes up with a dangerous choice to save the multiverse, Miles rejects it, spawning an all-out war in which he leaps across dimensions, getting mauled by a Spider-Cat and more.

The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) appears to be the mysterious force behind the multiverse’s doom, thanks to his special abilities that let him open and travel across portals. Other key players include Daniel Kaluuya as Spider-Punk, Issa Rae as Jessica Drew/ Spider-Woman, and Jake Johnson as the original Spider-Man/ Peter Parker. Meanwhile, Karan Soni voices Pavitr Prabhakar/ Spider-Man India, whose universe Mumbattan is presented through a watercolour style mimicking old Indian comic books. There’s a total of six main art styles in the film, in addition to the wacky doodle sketches that add a ton more personality.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now available as VOD on YouTube Movies, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Zee5. It’s also still playing in select theatres across the country.

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Sony Locks Dates for Two Untitled Marvel Movies for 2024 and 2025

Sony Pictures has locked dates for two untitled Marvel movies in the coming years. One of them is labelled ‘untitled Sony/Marvel,’ slated to release November 8, 2024, while the other is marked as ‘untitled Sony/Marvel live-action,’ on track for June 27, 2025. For now, it’s up for speculation what these movies could be, but Venom 3 and the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man 4 are among the top candidates. It’s also worth noting that the former slot does not specify a live-action format, so it could mean that Sony is planning more animated projects after the successful Spider-Verse movies.

The first Sony/Marvel movie — set for November 8 — has a clear runway for two weeks, after which it will compete with Paramount’s Gladiator sequel on November 22, 2024. Meanwhile, the second entry will be in direct competition with Dwayne Johnson’s live-action Moana movie on June 27, 2025 — the latter was recently moved up by a week in Disney’s calendar shake-up. Going by recent rumours of a Halloween release window, the first slot could also be filled by Venom 3, whose star Juno Temple (Ted Lasso) confirmed in a recent interview that filming was scheduled to start ‘very, very soon’. Taking the ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike into account which is delaying production, this seems like a fair assumption.

It’s clear that Sony is looking to expand its Spider-Man universe, even transporting Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock/ Venom into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, during a mid-credits scene in Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The studio has multiple storylines in the works with solid release dates: the Aaron Taylor-Johnson-led Kraven the Hunter (October 6), Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (March 29, 2024), Bad Bunny’s El Muerto (January 12, 2024), and Madame Web (February 16, 2024) starring Dakota Johnson in the lead. Reports from earlier this year also confirmed some Spider-Man live-action TV series to be in development, including Spider-Man Noir and Silk: Spider Society. They will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video in the future.

Moreover, producer Amy Pascal confirmed recently that the fourth Spider-Man film with Holland and Zendaya has paused development due to the writers’ strike. “Are we going to make another movie? Of course, we are,” she told Variety, late last month. “We’re in the process, but with the writers’ strike, nobody is working during the strike. We’re all being supporters and whenever they get themselves together, we’ll get started.” Its lead Holland is already eight months into his one-year break from acting, so if the strike ends within the next couple of months, the timing for his return couldn’t be more appropriate. Finally, let’s not ignore the live-action Miles Morales film that’s already in the works at Sony Pictures — coming off the heels of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s successful release, which surpassed its prequel Into the Spider-Verse’s total gross within just 12 days. The sequel has earned $412.5 million (about Rs. 3,378 crore) at the global box office.

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Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse Third Trailer: Miles Morales Goes Up Against Multiversal Threat The Spot

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse just got its third official trailer, ahead of its release on June 2. Sony Pictures and Marvel dropped the latest trailer for the big interdimensional chapter in Miles Morales’ arc, pitting him against a range of Spidey-themed enemies, including Spider-Cat. The footage also offers a closer look at antagonist The Spot, who threatens the multiverse with his portal-hopping abilities. The film will feature six major art styles, ensuring that each dimension offers a distinct vibe upon entering — a watercolour style for the India-themed Mumbattan, for instance.

The sequel has some big shoes to fill here, given that the first film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film in 2019.

The trailer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse opens with a voiceover from Miles (Shameik Moore): “My name’s Miles Morales. I’m Brooklyn’s one and only Spider-Man, and things are going great!”, he narrates, while his mom and dad patiently await his arrival for a meeting with his teacher. On the other side of the town, Miles is busy observing a weird, ghost-like guy trying to rob an ATM from inside a bodega. The suspect in question is The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), who can create interdimensional portals to stick his hand in and commit petty crimes such as robbery, or even move across the Multiverse freely. It is unclear what exact threat he poses to the larger multiverse, but Miles seems to be pretty annoyed by his antics. It’s almost as if The Spot doesn’t know how to use his own powers — he appears to be quite clumsy. After a brief scuffle, Miles finally makes it to the meeting, where the teacher explains that he’s been doing well academically, although his Hispanic mom isn’t happy with his scores in Spanish class.

“Welcome to Spider Society,” Margo Kess/ Spider-Byte tells Miles, who is eventually catapulted across the multiverse to work with an elite crew of Spider-People. Leading the team is Miguel O’Hara/ Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac), who believes the end justifies the means and is willing to sacrifice anything to protect the multiverse. “Miles, there’s moments in our stories that are the same for all of us,” he says in the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse trailer. “Some good, some bad. You have a choice between saving one person and saving everyone.” Understandably, Miles rejects the job proposal, spawning a war against a host of Spider-People from different universes.

“Everyone keeps telling me how my story is supposed to go. Nah, I’mma do my own thing,” Miles tells Spider-Man 2099, hoping across dimensions with giant Spot hands, an India-themed universe, and even encountering a Spider-Cat that webs his face. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also stars Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy, Karan Soni as Pavitr Prabhakar/ Spider-Man India, Daniel Kaluuya as Spider-Punk, Issa Rae as Jessica Drew/ Spider-Woman, and Jake Johnson as the OG Spider-Man/ Peter Parker.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse swings into theatres worldwide on June 2. In India, the animated movie will be out in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, and Malayalam.

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Dakota Johnson Plans to Make Madame Web a ‘Very Cool’ Character

Dakota Johnson is “excited”’ about playing the titular role in the upcoming feature film Madame Web as not a lot is known about this character, which gives her the liberty to make her ‘very cool”. The actress added that she has always wanted to act in a massive action movie, along the lines of the Indiana Jones franchise, something that made her Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) debut more memorable. She, however, did not reveal anything about the character’s graph or the Madame Web plot.

Johnson told Entertainment Tonight: “I’m so excited. It’s always been a dream of mine to do some kind of, like, massive action movie. I always wanted to do, like, a female Indiana Jones. It’s pretty cool to be in the Marvel world, especially with a character that’s not so known. So, there’s a lot of space for us to make her very cool.”

Besides Johnson, the Madame Web cast is said to feature Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria), Isabela Merced, and Taher Rahin in key roles. The Fifty Shades of Grey actress recently teased that some of the actors who appeared on the comedy dramas Cha Cha Real Smooth and Am I OK?— produced by her— will be part of the Spider-Man spin-off movie.

Johnson told Collider: “People from ‘Cha Cha [Real Smooth]’ and some from ‘Am I Okay?’ are coming on to Madame Web with me. It’s cool. It’s fun to be able to start creating a real team of people that make movies”

SJ Clarkson directs Johnson in Madame Web​ off a screenplay from Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. Kerem Sanga is credited for penning a previous draft.

Madame Web is slated to be the fifth entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe which began with Tom Hardy’s 2018 release Venom and includes its sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the Jared Leto-led box office bomb Morbius, and the yet-to-be-released Kraven the Hunter.

Madame Web, with Johnson in the lead, is set to release July 7, 2023.

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Gran Turismo Movie / TV Series in the Works at Sony, Neill Blomkamp in Talks to Direct: Report

Gran Turismo is reportedly being adapted into a movie or TV series by Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions. This project is said to be currently at a very early stage of development, and the plot of the adaptation is currently under wraps. The studios are hoping to rope in director Neill Blomkamp to be at the helm for this project. Blomkamp broke out onto the scene with the 2009 sci-fi action film District 9, before going on to make the Matt Damon-led 2013 dystopian sci-fi Elysium, and the 2015 dystopian sci-fi film Chappie.

Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions recently collaborated on the Uncharted movie adaptation that has grossed over $400 million (roughly Rs. 3,106 crore). Now, Deadline is reporting that the studios hope to repeat this financial success with a feature film based on the Gran Turismo games. However, there have been conflicting reports about the nature of this adaptation. A report by IGN claims that Sony is developing a Gran Turismo TV series instead of a movie. Could it be both?

Whatever the case may be, this franchise seems an unlikely choice as the Gran Turismo games don’t feature any plot. These games are revered for their highly-detailed graphics and precise driving physics. Created by Polyphony and Kazunori Yamauchi in 1997, the Gran Turismo series has reportedly sold over 85 million copies in total. The latest addition to the series, Gran Turismo 7, was released in March for the PS4 and PS5.

Gran Turismo 7 Review

Sony appears to be going big on video game adaptations. According to a report by Variety, a Horizon Zero Dawn series is heading for Netflix. It also mentions that Amazon Prime Video has landed a God of War series, which was reported in the past.

There is also a highly-anticipated The Last of Us series coming to HBO, which stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie, respectively. An Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz-starrer Twisted Metal series will soon debut on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service in the US. Furthermore, a movie based on Ghost of Tsushima is being directed by Chad Stahelski, who is renowned for the John Wick franchise.

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