Warner Bros has filed a lawsuit against Mumbai-based Mirchi Movies related to the title of its upcoming movie “Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Terrors”, which Warners feels is a bit too similar to its “Harry Potter” franchise [more on THR]
Hari is a popular Indian name while Puttar means son in the Punjabi language. It’s said that the storyline doesn’t relate to Harry Potter at all… and judging from the poster alone, I would have ruled that Mirchi is the winner for the lawsuit.
However, I can’t deny the probability that the Indian movie maker is being opportunistic for publicity, which they managed to get it now regardless of whether it was intentional at the first place.
Harper’s Bazaar magazine (Chinese edition) held their sixth annual charity gala in Beijing last Friday (Aug 22) with the attendance of some 300 celebrities, including A-list stars like Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi and former UK’s Prime Minister Tony Blair etc.
The 2008 gala managed to raise 10.35 million Yuan (~USD1.5 million) which will be channelled to the relief work in quake-hit areas in Sichuan province.
Japan’s “CountDown TV” has recently concluded their annual poll for ‘the most wanted artist as girlfriend/boyfriend’ in 2008… with YUI and Jin Akanishi topping the girlfriend and boyfriend category respectively.
CDTV’s Japanese countdown video below which gives a fast glance on the trend setters in J-pop these days… [Hat tip to Thierry]
Top 20 Japan’s most wanted girlfriend 2008
1. YUI 2. Kaori Mochida 3. Ayumi Hamasaki 4. Ai Ōtsuka 5. aiko 6. Ai Takahashi 7. Ai Kawashima 8. Kiyoe Yoshioka 9. Maimi Yajima 10. Yui Aragaki 11. Nocchi 12. Namie Amuro 13. Ayaka 14. Kaela Kimura 15. Kumi Koda 16. Misako Uno 17. Hiroko 18. BoA 19. Mai Kuraki 20. Reina Tanaka
It seems like only singers are being shortlisted for this poll. Korean stars BoA and Jaejoong (from TVXQ) are the only two non-Japanese celebs that made the list.
Korean actor Lee Eon died in a road accident early this morning (August 21).
Lee was on his way home on motorbike after attending the wrap party for drama “Strongest Chilwoo” and crashed into a guardrail. It’s reported that he was already pulse-less when he was sent to the hospital. He was just 27.
The model turned actor was most memorable with his role in drama “Coffee Prince”.
Rest in peace Lee Eon. My condolences to his family.
It’s official, the concert is on. The Malaysian authority have changed their mind with the earlier decision to bar Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne to perform on August 29 in Kuala Lumpur.
Avril told MTV on Thursday that the concert will go ahead as planned; and there were other sources indicating that Galaxy Group, the concert promoter, has successfully appeal to the initial ban. It has been officially confirmed on Friday evening that the show will go on.
Canadian singer Avril Lavigne
Earlier this week, Malaysian authority had made the call to bar Avril from performing at the scheduled KL concert, stating that the concert is unsuitable for Malaysian culture, particularly not when the country is celebrating independence day on August 31.
The decision echoed the call from an Islamic opposition party for the show to be scrapped, that the show is considered too sexy for Malaysians and would promote the wrong values as Malaysia’s independence day is looming near.
The spokesman for the Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry Ministry said that the concert promoter can request a new date for the concert… but it is becoming apparent that Galaxy has managed to appeal to hold the concert as scheduled instead.
It’s deja vu for Malaysians… the authority had barred Indonesian singer Inul Daratista from performing in late July 2008 following similar protest that her performance was ‘too erotic’.
Do mind that Malaysians in general are not that conservative; in fact lots of the Muslims are quite liberal in these kind of matters. Unfortunately the men that make the initial decision were not quite as open minded… glad that the final decision makers are showing more sense.
Taiwanese boyband F4’s Japan Tour 2008 concert tickets are selling like hot cakes at the moment. The group was planning to have three concerts in October initially, but added to seven following popular demand from fans around the world.
The third season of The Amazing Race Asia (TARA) is set to premier on September 11, 2008 on AXN Asia. The franchisee of the popular US reality show is gaining popularity among Asians since making their debut in late 2006 and is back for good.
Hardcore Amazing Race fans might not like TARA for the fact that they are overusing celebrity participants to boost the ratings, as some fans felt that reality shows are meant for ‘real’ people.
Regardless, the strategy seems to be working well for AXN. The likes of Thai actress Paula Taylor and Pinoy model Marc Nelson seemed to gain lots of interest for the race in season two… and it’s not surprising to see that TARA3 is loaded with celebs’ participants yet again.
Among the notable celebrities are Malaysian TV hostess Bernie Chan and actress-producer Ida Nerina, Australian-Filipino model Geoff Rodriguez and Russian-Canadian Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova who run for the Thais (her husband is famous Thai tennis star Paradorn Srichaphan) etc.
The fun part for me about TARA is the variety of people from different nations. The ‘usual suspects’ are from Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
A Korean pair is joining the race for the first time in TARA history… gone were the Indonesian, Japanese and Australian team, which I hope they will be back again next season.
Allan Wu again the host. Hoping for a good race and entertaining show.
SM Entertainment, the Korean talent agency that boost the likes of BoA, Kangta, TVXQ, Super Junior, SNSD, Ara and Lee Yeon-hee etc. will be holding the “08 SM Entertainment Global Audition” in Sept/Oct 2008.
Korean group TVXQ, one of SM’s proud members
The auditions will be held from September 19 to October 25 in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Orange County (CA), New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver. Nationality doesn’t matters, but it seems like they are looking for Asian faces only.
It’s embarassing that SM is calling it a ‘global’ audition when in fact the locations are limited to US and Canada. Regardless, it’s a chance for young Asian talents to try their luck if they are interested with the entertainment business.
Set aside the publicity purpose, SM do mean business with the auditions. If not mistaken Tiffany from SNSD and Henry from Suju-M were discovered from previous auditions… there might be a few more that I’m not aware of.
Check SM’s website for details and updates. Good luck if there is any taker here.
