Nigerian Times

Pacific Rim: Go Big or Go Extinct! DUBAI, UAE, August 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- From acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro comes the action adventure "Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures' Pacific Rim ". (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130805/630454 ) When legions of monstrous alien creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes - a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) - who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly...

Collector Purchases Rare Costume, Honors Cosmo Allegretti's Talent CLEVELAND, Tenn., Aug. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- His fans may not have known his name, but Cosmo Allegretti's voice, puppeteering and acting impacted the lives of millions. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130809/CG62168) Now the world mourns the loss of Allegretti, master puppeteer for Captain Kangaroo, the longest running nationally broadcast children's show of its time. Allegretti passed away at 86 of emphysema in Phoenix on July 26, but his death was confirmed only recently. Creator of a memorable cast of characters Allegretti was the voice and puppeteering genius for such beloved Captain Kangaroo characters as Dancing Bear, Mr. Moose, Mr. Bunny Rabbit, Grandfather Clock and Dennis the Painter. Allegretti seamlessly managed this diverse menagerie of characters, and every performance displayed unparalleled poise and professionalism. Allegretti was not originally part of the Captain...

Khumba is an upcoming South African animated children's family film to be released in October 2013 by Triggerfish Animation Studios, the producers of the award winning Adventures in Zambezia of 2012. And like Zambezia , Khumba is starring some of the best Hollywood stars who are the voices behind some of the most popular characters in animated movies. Jake T. Austin as "Khumba" the Zebra, Laurence Fishburne as "Seko" the Zebra, Liam Neeson as "Phango" the Leopard, Catherine Tate as "Nora" the Merino sheep and Roger L. Jackson as "Walkie Talkie" the human voice, Black Eagle and Zebra among other accomplished actors. I keep seeing Triggerfish's computer-animated movies as copies of the Madagascar movies of DreamWorks Animation. And it looks like another Hollywood animated movie, except that it was made in South Africa. So, to me Khumba is a South African Hollywood animated movie. Can Triggerfish be more daring and mor...

Pirates of the Caribbean 5 will be 61% worse than the original  ~ By MIKE ANDERSON Pirates of the Caribbean 4 was bad. It earned, on average, 33% from the critics – an “F”. How much worse could the fifth installment be? By our calculations, it’ll earn a 31% rating – 61% worse than the original. We found this in our analysis of all major film series released since 1964. We broke down reviews from the critics and revenue at the box office to pin down the diminishing returns of sequels: The critics’ reviews Box office revenue (U.S.) The First Movie 70.8% $208,822,542 Second 51.6% $165,789,325 Third 48.8% $143,836,303 Fourth 39.2% $136,906,171 Fifth 36.8% $96,703,350  How Pirates’ decline compares to the average series In 2003 we all loved watching Elizabeth and Will sail off on the high seas. But with the fifth movie coming out in 2015, we don’t know how much longer we can take Captain Jack’s drunken puns and raccoon makeup. It wasn’t always this bad. After...

Daniel Espinosa directing "Safe House" in Cape Town. Film making in Cape Town, South Africa costs 20% less than in Australia and 30-40% less than in Europe or United States of America. Of course, many people in Nigeria and most people outside the United States don't know what it means for a movie to top the U.S. box office on Super Bowl weekend. It is not a small achievement and that is what Josh Trank's directorial debut Chronicle did in the first weekend of February 2012. The American science fiction thriller was set in Seattle, but was made in South Africa's Cape Town where low production costs are attracting filmmakers from Hollywood and other major film studios in the United States and Europe. Chronicle cost only $12 million, but made over $126 million for 20th Century Fox, according to the CNN report by Robyn Curnow and Teo Kermeliotis on December 13, 2012. "Fox was totally stunned by it," says Nico Dekker, chief executive of Cape To...

Books for inmates. Photo Credit: NATIONAL POST . 30 Jul 2013 13:30 Africa/Lagos Could Illiteracy and the Lack of Effective Reading Strategies Be The Hidden Cause of Crime? Applied Scholastics International, a non-profit dedicated to eradicating illiteracy, believes crime can be greatly reduced by raising literacy ST. LOUIS, July 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Literacy Act of 1991 defines literacy as "an individual's ability to read, write, and speak in English and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential." According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, "Poor reading and writing skills have a devastating lifelong impact - 75% of school dropouts report reading problems, and at least half of adolescents and young adults with criminal records have reading difficulties." DoSomething.org, the coun...

Poster of new Kannywood movie GABAR CIKIN GIDA. Nigerian Movies Will Boost Africa's Projected 5.2 Percent GDP Growth in 2013 Euromonitor International and Reed Exhibitions, organizers of the World Travel Market, in a report last November said that Africa's projected 5.2 percent GDP growth in 2013 would be due in part to the popularity of Nigerian films, which it said would also attract domestic and regional tourism. ~ http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/india-help-build-film-city-093905381.html Indian Investment in Nigerian Film to Aid Development ~ By Julie Fuller The Kano State in Nigeria is to get a new “film city” as part of an ongoing development project with India. Like India, Nigeria has enjoyed a booming film industry , and it is hoped that developing this sector will help to bring vital income to the country. It is anticipated that the creation of the film city will bring thousands of jobs to the Nigerian population. It is also hoped that by ca...

25 Jul 2013 00:04 Africa/Lagos IMAX, Wanda And AMC Theatres Significantly Expand Worldwide Partnership Deals with Wanda and AMC Include Minimum of 40 and up to 120 New IMAX® Theatres Across China and U.S. Wanda and AMC Extend IMAX Lease Terms NEW YORK and BEIJING, July 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX; TSX:IMX) and Wanda Cinema Line Corporation, Asia's largest cinema owner, today announced an amendment to the parties' original 2011 joint revenue share agreement with the addition of a minimum of 40 and up to 120 new IMAX® theatres to be located throughout China. The deal also extends Wanda's lease terms for all new theatres to 12 years from 10 years and brings Wanda's total IMAX commitment in China to up to 210 theaters, positioning Wanda Cinema Line as IMAX's largest international exhibition partner. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111107/MM01969LOGO) In addition, IMAX and AMC Theatres, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wanda Gr...

No, these are not scenes from Terry George's Hotel Rwanda and of course Chiwetel Ejiofor is not Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. These are gripping melodramatic scenes from the Nigerian-British film adaptation of Half of A Yellow Sun, the thrilling award winning novel on the ill-fated Igbos Republic of Biafra by the young and successful Nigerian Igbo novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The movie has a well chosen cast of British and Nigerian actors, including leading roles by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton and other notable actors in the movie include Anika Noni Rose, John Boyega, Joseph Mawle and famous Nollywood star Genevieve Nnaji who ironically played a minor role as a Yoruba woman and not her native Igbo which would have been more appreciated by millions of her fellow Igbos in Nigeria and the Diaspora. This is the baptism of fire in directing for popular British Nigerian writer Biyi Bandele who also wrote the screenplay for this Nigerian civil war dr...

18 Jul 2013 16:00 Africa/Lagos Summit Entertainment's Divergent To Be Released In IMAX® Theatres Worldwide On March 21, 2014 SAN DIEGO, July 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- IMAX Corporation (NYSE: IMAX; TSX: IMX) and Summit Entertainment, a Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) company, today announced that Divergent, the first installment of the futuristic action-adventure trilogy based on Veronica Roth's The New York Times bestselling novels, will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX® format and released in IMAX® theatres worldwide beginning March 21, 2014. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111107/MM01969LOGO ) Divergent is directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist) from a screenplay by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor and Neil Burger and stars Golden Globe® nominee Shailene Woodley (The Descendants), Theo James and Academy Award® winner Kate Winslet (The Reader, Titanic). The film is a thrilling adventure set in a future world where people are divided into distinct ...

13 Jul 2013 02:23 Africa/Lagos "DAVE" to Screen at Indiana Black Expo In Partnership with the Heartland Film Festival Award Winning Feature Documentary Promotes Racial Equality & Investing In the Lives of Others www.dave-movie.com AUSTIN, Texas and INDIANAPOLIS, July 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Crowfly Pictures Entertainment, Through The Fog Pictures and Indiana Black Expo, Inc. (IBE), announced that the mentor themed feature documentary, "DAVE," will be screening as part of IBE's film festival, in partnership with the prestigious Heartland Film Festival. The screening time is 3:00 on Sunday, July 14 th in the Toby Theater at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Produced from 2006 to 2012, "DAVE" is the hope filled story of Adam "Coach D" Donyes, an unlikely young mentor that uses basketball to shepherd an intellectually disabled African American teen (David "Dave" Sterling) in rural Missouri. In turn, Dave leads Coach ...