Veteran filmmaker Steven Spielberg said he wanted to acquire the rights of "Star Wars" franchise for his latest release "Ready Player One" but it did not come to fruition.
The film, penned by Ernest Cline and Zak Penn, has many references from various other iconic movies such as "The Iron Giant", "King Kong", "Jurassic Park", "Child's Play" and others, but the 71-year-old director had to give up the George Lucas franchise as Warner Bros declined to give the permission.
"Kristie Macosko, who along with Donald De Line and Dan Farah produced the movie, can probably answer that question because Kristie spent three years with the Warner Bros. legal team getting the rights. And we couldn't get all of them.  They wouldn't give up the 'Star Wars' rights," Spielberg said in a statement.
Set in the year 2045, the film explores a time when humanity is depends on virtual reality software OASIS to engage in work and play to escape the desolation of the real-world.
The movie is based on Cline's ...

Wanted 'Star Wars' rights for 'Ready Player One', says Spielberg

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Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has said he feels "joy and honour" in collaborating with South superstar Chiranjeevi on his next Telugu film, "Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy".
The 75-year-old actor is currently here to shoot for the film, in which he has a a guest appearance.
"'SYEERA... Narasimha Reddy'... The joy and honour of working with Chiranjeevi Garu," Amitabh tweeted along with photos from the film's set.
"NIRVAAN... And the call of the Himalayas!" he said in another tweet.
Bachchan had recently shared his look test from the film in which he can be seen sporting a long grey hair and beard.
He is expected to complete his part of the shooting within a week.
The veteran will be next seen in "102 Not Out" playing a 102-year-old father to his 75-year-old son, portrayed by Rishi Kapoor.
Apart from this, the megastar will also be playing a pivotal role in "Thugs of Hindostan", also starring Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh.

Joy and honour to work with Chiranjeevi, says Amitabh Bachchan

Actor Varun Dhawan has lent support to Australian skipper Steven Smith over the ball-tampering controversy and hopes that fans will "forgive" him for his actions.
Smith, along with vice-captain David Warner, has been banned for a year for ball-tampering during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Cameron Bancroft, who was caught on camera trying to tamper the ball with a sandpaper, has been banned for nine months.
Yesterday, a teary-eyed Smith made an appearance in front of Australian media after he reached Sydney, and said he regretted his actions.
Varun took to Twitter and wrote, "Watching Steven Smith apologise and look broken is very sad. I'm sure the fans will forgive him."
"He looks beyond remorseful I hope and pray he will come out of this ordeal a better cricketer. The mental, the emotional trauma, I'm sure is bigger then any ban," he added.
On the work front, the actor will be next seen in Shoojit Sircar's "October", which also stars debutante Banita Sandhu.
The .

Varun Dhawan comes out in support of Steven Smith

Prabhudeva feels blessed to have taught dance moves to two of Indian film industry's stalwarts, Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, for "Thugs of Hindostan", and says it was more of a "learning process" for him.
The actor-director has choreographed two songs in the Vijay Krishna Acharya-directed film, which also features Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh.
"I am lucky to do that song with Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan in the same frame. It is a learning process... Everyone can learn and observe things from them, the way they do scenes, the way they act, walk, or say dialogues.
"They both believe in putting tremendous amount of hard work. They are a source of inspiration," Prabhudheva told PTI.
He is known as the Michael Jackson of India, but so far he has not directed any dance-based movie in Bollywood.
The reason why it has not happened yet as the ace choreographer finds it extremely tough to helm a dance film.
"I have seen the hard work that Remo D'Souza puts in the dance film and ..

Working with Big B, Aamir a learning experience: Prabhudheva

Director Ali Abbas Zafar has said that he has "locked" the script for his next "Bharat", which once again features Salman Khan in the lead.
The film is an official adaptation of 2014 South Korean film, "Ode to My Father", which narrates modern Korean history from the 1950s to the modern-day through the life of an ordinary man and events such as the Hungnam Evacuation during the 1950 Korean War.
The 37-year-old director shared the news on Twitter.
"God paints a beautiful picture as we lock the final script draft of #Bharat the film... End phase of writing holiday," Ali tweeted.
"Bharat" will mark the director's third collaboration with Salman, after "Sultan" and "Tiger Zinda Hai".
The film will hit the theatres on Eid next year.
Rest of the cast is yet to be finalised.

Ali Abbas Zafar finalises 'Bharat' script

Actors Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston are set to reunite for a new Netflix comedy "Murder Mystery".
Sandler, 51, and Aniston, 49, last worked together on the 2011 comedy film "Just Go With It".
The new film will be directed by Kyle Newacheck from a script by James Vanderbilt, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The story is about a New York cop (to be played by Sandler) and his wife (Aniston), who become prime suspects in the murder of an elderly billionaire while vacationing in Europe.
The film marks Sandler's sixth collaboration with Netflix, while it is for the first time Aniston is working with the streaming giant.
Sandler earlier worked with Netflix on "The Ridiculous Six", "The Do-Over", "Sandy Wexler" and most recently Noah Baumbach's "The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)".
He is also awaiting the release of "The Week Of" on the streaming platform.

Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston to star in Netflix's 'Murder Mystery'

Actor Amber Heard has come aboard the cast of indie drama "Gully".
The "Justice League" star joins Charlie Plummer, Alice Eve, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Jacob Latimore, and Jonathan Majors in the project.
The film will be directed by Nabil Elderkin while the script has been penned by Marcus Guillory, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It follows three disaffected teenagers, all victims of childhood trauma, who are running a hedonistic riot. Heard will play the role of Plummer's mother in the film.
The project will be produced by Brad Feinstein, Tom Butterfield, Ben Pugh, Corey Smyth and Alex Georgiou.
Joseph F Ingrassia, Gabriela Revilla Lugo, Andy Brunskill and Kweku Mandela will serve as the executive producers.
Heard, 31, will be next seen in "Aquaman", where she will reprise her "Justice League" role of Mera. The film will hit the theatres in December this year.

Amber Heard to star in 'Gully'

"X-Men: Dark Phoenix" will be going for some major reshoots as the release of the mutant action film has been pushed back to February 14, 2019.
Directed by Simon Kinberg, X-Men franchise writer-producer, the movie was scheduled to be released on November 2 this year.
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter the change in release date is responsible for the reshoots. The movie was in the postproduction stage and according to insiders it had come in slightly underbudget.
Some sources, however, said that the third act would need some rework, hence the reshoots.
"Dark Phoenix" is Kinberg's first directorial and rumour has it that he is yet to pen anything. But one insider expects the shoot to cost under USD 10 million.
The reshoots are believed to take place in late summer or early fall.

'X-Men: Dark Phoenix' to go in for major reshoots

Actors Evan Rachel Wood, Richard Jenkins, Gina Rodriguez will star in a new heist film.
To be directed by Miranda July, the film is about a woman named Old Dolio, whose life is turned upside down when her parents, amateur con artists, invite an outsider to join their biggest heist yet.
The cast also includes Debra Winger, who will play the mother of Wood's character, Old Dolio. Jenkins will play her father, while Rodriguez is portraying a woman who learns of the family's secrets.
The project will be produced by Annapurna and Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment while Youree Henley is the co-producer, reported Variety.
July is best known in Hollywood for 2005's "You and Me and Everyone We Know", which she wrote, starred in and also directed.
Wood is currently gearing up for the second season of her hit HBO show "Westworld", which will begin next month.
Jenkins was recently nominated at the Academy Awards in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role in Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape .

Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez join heist film from Miranda July

Hollywood star Ben Affleck has responded to a recent New Yorker article which suggested that he was depressed and said he is "doing just fine".
The New Yorker article, titled "The Great Sadness of Ben Affleck", had also talked about the 45-year-old actor's large back tattoo of a phoenix, which it called "garish."
@NewYorker I'm doing just fine. Thick skin bolstered by garish tattoos, Affleck wrote on Twitter, making light of his bearded look.
Affleck was recently seen flaunting the tattoo while training alongside his "Triple Frontier" co-stars, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Oscar Isaac, in Hawaii.
The massive tattoo, featuring a colourful phoenix spreading its wings, was first seen in December 2015, when Affleck was working on the set of "Live by Night".
The star reportedly got the tattoo, which symbolises rebirth, after then-wife Jennifer Garner filed for divorce after 10 years of marriage. The pair share children Violet, 12, Seraphina, nine, and Samuel, six.
Affleck, 45, had ..

Ben Affleck talks about his 'garish' back tattoo

Rapper Travis Scott has been sued for cancelling a concert two days after Kylie Jenner gave birth to their first child.
The couple's daughter, Stormi Webster, was born on February 1 this year.
According to documents obtained by The Blast, PJAM Entertainment has sued the rapper - whose real name is Jacques Webster - for cancelling a Minneapolis concert scheduled for February 3.
The company claims that the rapper was paid an advance of USD 150,000 to perform at a Super Bowl Weekend event.
PJAM said that Scott "advised" the promoter that "despite his contractual obligations, he refused to show up for the event."
"As a result of this breach, (PJAM) suffered significant damages including the sums paid to XX Global (the legal agent and representative of Scott) and (Scott) and their booking agent, the sums paid to arrange Webster's travel, the sum's paid to advertise the event, lease the venue and hire staff, and the lost profits (PJAM) would have realised on this event," the company ...

Travis Scott sued for cancelling show after daughter's birth

"Hichki" director Sidharth P Malhotra today revealed that the film, which stars Rani Mukerji in the lead, was initially supposed to be male centric.
The film, which released last Friday, featured the actor as a teacher with Tourette's Syndrome.
Sidharth said he was living and breathing the script for nearly five years before he narrated it to producer Aditya Chopra, Rani's husband.
Back then, Aditya was busy with his directorial "Befikre" and suggested he narrate the story to Maneesh Sharma.
The director said things changed when Maneesh came up with the idea of flipping the script around.
"Maneesh called me and said, 'What if we change the character to female? Because it was always a male centric film, never female centric'. For five years, I was looking for heroes in my mind. At that point I was like, 'Where did the heroine (angle) come from?'
"But I went back and thought about it, looked at the script and finally made the changes. Today we are celebrating the success," Sidharth told 

'Hichki' was supposed to be male-centric: Sidharth P Malhotra

Filmmaker-archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur will host renowned filmmaker Christopher Nolan for three days and he hopes the director's trip to India will draw attention to the cause of film preservation and restoration.
Nolan, known for modern classics such as "Memento", "The Prestige", "Inception" and the Dark Knight series, may be one of the most innovative and visionary filmmakers of the current generation but he has his feet firmly planted in tradition, being one of the last directors to shoot on photochemical film when rest of the world has gone digital.
He has often spoken about restoring old film reels and, in fact, is slated to present the 70mm print of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece "2001: A Space Odyssey" at the Cannes Film Festival to mark the movie's 50th anniversary.
Dungarpur has been at the forefront of restoration efforts in Indian cinema and even made a film, "The Celluloid Man", on Indian archivist PK Nair but the filmmaker feels the film industry here is still ...

Hope Nolan's India trip highlights cause of film preservation: Dungarpur

Actor Rani Mukerji is happy that the audience accepted her film "Hichki" and did not let her marital status come in the way.
The 40-year-old actor said the film's success is a clear indicator that it does not matter if the actor is married or "is a mother".
This is her first film after the birth of her now two-year-old daughter, Adira.
"It (success) means a lot to me because I was coming back after a baby, so obviously there were so many questions. I am happy you accepted me with open arms and have told me very categorically that my marital status, the fact that I am a mother, doesn't bother you," Rani told reporters.
"What you really want is (for) me (to do) good content films. Thank you so much for all the love," she added.
The film, which released last Friday, featured the actor as a teacher with Tourette's Syndrome. "Hichki" is directed by Sidharth P Malhotra and backed by Maneesh Sharma and producer Rani's husband Aditya Chopra.
When asked what are her future plans, the actor ...

Glad my marital status didn't matter to the audience: Rani

Actor Rajkummar Rao says it took him some time to come out of the character of British-born Pakistani terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh he plays in "Omerta".
The 33-year-old actor, who stars as one of the most dreaded terrorists in the upcoming film directed by Hansal Mehta, said it was his first attempt at playing "an anti-hero" and it was an "exhausting" experience for him.
"My first as an anti-hero and exhausting as an actor. To feel the hate towards another human-being without any remorse can take quite a toll. It took me a while to shed this character," Rajkummar said in a press release.
The second poster of the film was revealed today, in which the actor can be seen being taken away in a police van.
The intense dramais based on the life of Sheikh, who was freed in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999 and was later accused of killing journalist Daniel Pearl.
Rajkummar reunites with frequent collaborator, Mehta, with whom he has worked in films such as ...

Took me a while to shed 'Omerta' character: Rajkummar Rao

Reacting to CBSE's decision of re-examination of Class 12 economics and Class 10 mathematics papers, actor Rani Mukerji today said the retests should not be a matter of concern for students if they are well prepared and the syllabus does not change.
In the wake of reports claiming paper leaks of the two papers, the Central Board of Secondary Education announced the retests yesterday.
When asked to comment about CBSE's decision, Rani told reporters, "If the students are prepared for the exams and the syllabus doesn't change, it doesn't matter if the exams are held again. If students are just mugging up then it'll be a problem. If they're preparing from day 1 then it doesn't matter."
The 40-year-old actor was speaking at the success celebration of her recent release, "Hichki", in which she plays a school teacher who has Tourette's Syndrome.
"Of course, it changes their vacation plans a bit. That might take a beating I guess. But in terms of students, I am sure they all are very bright," 

CBSE retests not an issue if syllabus remains same, says Rani Mukerji

Sarah Jessica Parker almost stopped short of an endorsement for her "Sex and The City" co-star Cynthia Nixon, who is in the running for the office of New York governor.
The 53-year-old actor said she is looking forward to talking to Nixon about her bid.
"Cynthia has been my friend and colleague since we were little girls. I look forward to talking to her about her New York state gubernatorial bid," Parker said in a short statement to Page Six.
Nixon received rousing endorsement from another "SATC" alum Kristin Davis, who tweeted in support of the actor the day she announced her campaign.
"I am so proud of @CynthiaNixon, no one cares more than she does about EVERY person getting a fair change and a good education. I know that she would be an excellent Governor!" Davis had written.
Kim Cattral also backed Nixon -- who played career-driven lawyer, Miranda Hobbes on the hit show -- in a reserved tweet.
"I support and respect any former colleague's right to make their own career choices," .

Sarah Jessica Parker weighs in on Cynthia Nixon's NY governor bid

"Baaghi 2" is yet to hit theatres and whatever the fate of the film may be, the makers have already planned a third film in the franchise.
The film will be once again directed by Ahmed Khan.
"We will begin the work on it in full swing from next month. The scripting will take some time and designing the action, too, will take time, as we have to take it several notches higher," Khan told PTI.
"... It all depends on how and when the script shapes up and what action I can think of and come up with, and what Sajid Nadiadwala approves. 'Baaghi 3' should look better."
"Baaghi 2", releasing tomorrow, is a sequel to the 2016 film of the same name which was directed by Sabbir Khan.
Khan says he was in a way familiar with the action thriller as he had choreographed a song for "Baaghi" back then.
"With a sequel, you are already riding on a winning horse. There have been successful franchise films like 'Hera Pheri', 'Phir Hera Pheri', there is 'Golmaal' and 'Dhoom' series. Sequels are doing well .

Audience find franchises better than stand alone films: Ahmed Khan

Disha Patani says she is looking for stronger roles and cannot go on a film signing spree to appear active in the public eye.
The 25-year-old actor, who made her Hindi film with "M S Dhoni: The Untold Story" in 2016, says she would want to be associated with "good stories" that help her register her presence.
"The story matters to me a lot. I can't do something I don't like. Just for the sake of being out there... Showing people I exist, I can't do that... Because it's a lot of work. Filmmaking is not easy. You have to give your 1,000 per cent. You don't get to sleep, eat.
"I'm not happy to do it if I'm not happy with the story. I look for stronger roles, for the parts that would help me leave an impact. People should like the characters I play. Maybe, that's why I find it hard to find roles," Patani told PTI in an interview.
The actor also featured in "Kung-Fu Yoga" with Sonu Sood and international action legend Jacky Chan last year.
Patani will next be seen in "Baaghi 2", opposite ..

Can't do back-to-back films to prove my existence, says Disha Patani

James Ivory, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Call Me by Your Name", has called out director Luca Guadagnino for the absence of frontal nudity in the critically-acclaimed gay love story.
Guadagnino had said that display of nudity in the film, which features a breakout performance by Timothe Chalamet opposite Armie Hammer, was irrelevant but Ivory has a different take on that.
"When Luca says he never thought of putting nudity in, that is totally untrue," Ivory, 89, told The Guardian in an interview.
"He sat in this very room where I am sitting now, talking about how he would do it, so when he says that it was a conscious aesthetic decision not to  well, that's just bullsh--.
Ivory, who adapted the story from Andre Aciman's novel of the same name, said avoiding nudity in films always seemed "phony" to him.
"When people are wandering around before or after making love, and they're decorously covered with sheets, it's always seemed phony to me. I never liked doing that. And I don't do .

James Ivory criticises lack of nudity in 'Call Me by Your Name'

Popular TV host Rannvijay Singh believes there is a perception problem in India when it comes to content as people think that nothing could be bigger for an actor than movies.
"In India, the perception is that nothing is bigger than a film. It is not like that. Films are not the endpoint," Rannvijay told PTI.
Rannvijay, who has appeared in films such as "London Dreams", "Action Replayy", "Mod", believes an actor should not limit himself to just one medium.
"As an actor you should be happy that your content is getting consumed, be it on Instagram, Youtube, in the form of a web series or TV and films," he said.
Rannvijay came to limelight with "Roadies" back in 2003, and since then he has been a constant part of the reality show, whether as a contestant, a host or as a gang leader.
"I was a Roadie in the first year and then for the next five years, I was the host. I also started judging it and then I became a gang leader and now I am hosting again."
"Roadies: Extreme" will see Neha ...

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