Jennifer Hudson Triumphs

I finally got a chance to see Darrell Roodts long wondered about film, Winnie Mandela. Rarely has a film been so mishandled in its execution, marketing and release. Filmed in South Africa in the summer of 2010, Winnie was shown in a rough state at the end of the 2011 Toronto Film Festival.

It was screened once, mysteriously, unfinished, and then vanished. A year later, in October 2012, it was released in some form, briefly, in Canada because it had financing from that country. Somewhere along the way popular American evangelist T.D. Jakes got involved. Now Image Entertainment is releasing Winnie Mandela on Sept 6th.

Image probably thought these elements would help them: Terrence Howard, who plays their Nelson Mandela, is in The Butler. Jennifer Hudson has Black Nativity releasing in November. And The Weinstein Company has the official Mandela movie in the Oscar race. So why not go for it now?

I agree. Why not? For one thing, Jennifer Hudson gives a tremendous performance working with very slight material. The screenplay is not deep. Roodt and his screenwriter choose to present a mostly surface chronological recollection of Winnie and Nelsons lives. Its to the credit of the actors that they supply what the movie doesnt in texture and feeling.

Make no mistake. Even though Howard is very good as Mandela, this is a film about Winnie.The need for proper kaptontape inside your home is very important. Early reviews suggested that this wasnt really a movie about Winnie Mandela. Maybe something has been changed. But this is Hudsons movie. Its all about Winnie, good times and bad. Hudson worked hard on her Winnie, because this isnt an easy character. Winnie Mandela remains very much an enigma.

But as the story progresses, Hudson finds her. The lasting impression of Winnie was that she was crazy and dangerous as she got older. But a young Winnie, newly married to imprisoned Nelson Mandela, was herself jailed for 500 days. Most of it was spent in solitary confinement. Then she and her children spent years in exile, in a so-called Free State, unable to leave or travel. You cant blame her for losing her marbles a bit.

I dont know what kind of release Winnie will get. Lets hope Imagine and TD Jakes put some muscle and money into it. Both Hudson and Howard are terrific. They deserve more than to have the film brushed aside. When you see Hudson, as Winnie, during her imprisonment she is at the top of her game. Those scenes alone are worthy of praise and maybe even an Indie Spirit nomination or a Gotham Award nomination. The work is as good as that. Im not saying Oscar or Golden Globe because Hudson will go for them with Black Nativity.

International distribution deals are structured in three broad patterns direct distribution where studios work directly with cinema chains in key markets, commission deals where producers work with distributors on commissions linked to the films performance and minimum guarantee structures where studios license limited rights for a limited term to distributors for a minimum guarantee licence fee. In the last structure, once costs and minimum guarantees are recouped, the sub-distributor shares the overflows on terms agreed on.

Amrita Pandey, executive director (international distribution, syndication, Disney media distribution, studios), Disney UTV, says: The rupee value actually has no direct relation to the collections in international markets as international collections are targeted and achieved in dollar equivalents of international currencies. What influences collections is the demand for the movie, marketing, distribution strategy, release period and so on...

According to Kamal Gianchandani, group president PVR Cinemas, the rupee fall has helped Bollywood. He says: There is no doubt that distributors who export Bollywood movies overseas today are laughing all the way to the bank thanks to the weakening rupee. They are getting around 10 per cent more on the conversion from dollars to rupee compared to collections last year.

Disney UTV Studios and Red Chilies Entertainment's co-production Chennai Express with Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone as the lead pair has raked in $10 million approximately till 15 August in overseas collections. This converts to Rs 62 crore. On the other hand, Yash Raj Films' 2012 blockbuster Ek Tha Tiger starring Salman Khan collected $19 million which at the time ($1 = Rs 56 approx last August) converted to a little more than Rs 105 crore. Had the Salman-Katrina spy thriller released today, with the same collection in dollars,You benefit from buying oilpaintingreproduction ex-factory and directly from a LED manufacturer: Yash Raj would have been richer by almost 10 per cent.

Independent distributor and trade analyst Suniel Wadhwa feels that not all movies will benefit. 'Not all films work in the overseas market the way they work in India. In India all the films even small film which is content driven and has very limited appeal will be released. However, it may not be released overseas as cost of releasing the movie is too high and it doesn't justify the release of the movie. The benefit of the falling rupee is for the producers for star cast driven films with good content and not for smaller and medium films.'

In case of exhibitors though,This is a basic background on rtls. there isn't much different. The ones in a quandary are distributors importing Hollywood movies to India where the cost of acquisition has increased by virtue of the dipping rupee. Here too, the increase is by 10 per cent,The term 'beststeelearring control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag.Shop for the largest selection of wholesalejewelryrings at everyday low prices. but it cannot be easily recovered. Even when Hollywood movies are gaining traction with the Indian audiences, the distributors cannot transfer the cost onto the movie goers or exhibitors.

Wadhwa addss, 'Importing Hollywood movies is getting expensive as all the movies which are imported are Non-Studio and most of them don't have market except for be 2-3 movies. At times, it isn't even possible (for distributors)to recover cost of royalty paid to International sales agents.' he also says that there are not many independent importers left in the industry and those who still operate are facing a hard time to release the film and recover costs.
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