Gran Turismo’s not the only game venturing into Hollywood, folks. Today at its Gamescom 2013 presser, Sony announced that it’s teaming up with Ubisoft to produce a movie based upon the forthcoming next-gen game Watch Dogs. Sony Pictures will be collaborating with the publisher to make it happen, but unfortunately, other details about the movie are scarce, but we’re sure the when, where, who and how will be revealed eventually. Stay tuned.
Yes, Sony is, in fact, working on a film version of its long-running simulation racing video game series Gran Turismo. A Sony Computer Entertainment UK rep told our sister site Joystiq that said film is “being made,” but provided no other information.
Yesterday, reports surfaced of the film being tied to Mike de Luca and Dana Brunetti (of The Social Network and 50 Shades of Grey production fame), with support from a trio of Sony Pictures execs. Of course, none of this sounds too far-fetched given the presence of Sony Pictures president Michael Lynton at the PlayStation E3 press conference. He promised Sony Pictures’ support to the PlayStation 4 in the form of original programming, and a movie based on a massive PlayStation franchise sounds like a good start. For now, however, few details are confirmed beyond the project’s existence.
Filed under: Misc, Gaming, HD, Sony
Source: Joystiq
To use UltraViolet these days, you have to live in one of a few English-speaking countries. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will change that soon: the company just teased its plans for the digital locker service in mainland Europe. According to the firm’s David Bishop, Germans will get cloud access to Sony movies in late September — possibly September 30th, as DECE hinted in April — while the French will have their turn sometime in the fall. Neither Sony nor other studios have provided additional launch dates, although we know that neighboring countries like Belgium and the Netherlands should be next on the list.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Source: Handelsblatt (translated)
Tonight NBC revealed it is bringing back comedy Community for a fifth season. While NBC has been criticized for shifting the premiere date for this last season and dumping showrunner Dan Harmon, Variety suggests its renewal may be related to something apart from the show. The Sony Pictures-produced show could have followed the path of Cougar Town to cable but there’s also new competition for content from sources like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. All are willing to pay for quality original content and would love to snatch up the audience that’s already watching on NBC.
One needs only look at Arrested Development or the Kickstarter for Veronica Mars to see how much hype “saving” a show brings in the digital realm. Another boost for the show is likely to come from reruns on Comedy Central, all of which adds up to a renewal order which at one time seemed unlikely to happen. Finally, NBC has other elements that are certainly in play, like stabilizing a Thursday night lineup with familiar shows as it prepares for the Winter Olympics early next year. When the show comes back it will unfortunately be without Chevy Chase’s Pierce Hawthorne character, so a Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne 2 is probably not on the table. If you’re not familiar with the show’s pursuit of “six seasons and a movie” and wonder what all the hype is about, check after the break for one man’s theory of Community as a “postmodern masterpiece.”
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Alison Brie (Twitter), Joel McHale (Twitter)
Sony Pictures films from Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics, TriStar, and Screen Gems will remain first-run exclusive to Starz-included cable packages through 2021, Sony Pictures and Starz announced this morning. The deal was previously set to expire with the closing of 2016’s box office, but Sony and Starz apparently were cozy enough to ink another five years on the contract; it’s unclear how much money changed hands to make this happen.
Starz boasts a sextet of films headed to its pay television channels this year from Sony Pictures, including The Amazing Spider-Man and Zero Dark Thirty — digital streaming services like Netflix have been stripping away many cable television first-run deals as consumers migrate to streaming services from traditional cable plans. Starz itself once pushed films to Netflix, but famously ended that deal in late 2011. Disney, however, recently signed just such a deal with Netflix, promising first-run exclusivity starting in 2016. And us, well, we just want a stable place to watch hit John Travolta vehicles like Wild Hogs and Battlefield Earth. Is that so much to ask?
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Having already ploughed through Warner Bros.’ catalog, execs at Sky have just added the latest wares from Sony Pictures Television to their UK and Ireland playlist. Forthcoming titles like After Earth will arrive on Sky Movies six months after they’ve finished in cinemas, and will join other Sony pictures — like Men in Black 3, The Amazing Spider-Man and Django Unchained — in being Sky-only for another twelve months after that.
Filed under: Misc, Home Entertainment, HD
If Baidu didn’t already have reason to take pause at Youku and Tudou’s recent merger, it might now: the newly joined Chinese video giant just announced a five year licensing deal with Sony Pictures. The agreement will put some 300 Sony titles on Youku Premium’s ad-free platform, providing subscribers with classic, critically acclaimed and recent tiles such as Groundhog Day, Across the Universe, and Men in Black 3. The Sony deal also gives Youku Tudou a complete set of major Hollywood content providers, complimenting similar deals with Warner Brothers, DreamWorks, Paramount, Disney, NBC Universal, Lionsgate and Twentieth Century Fox. Check out the firm’s official announcement after the break.
Filed under: Misc, Internet, HD
Youku Tudou signs 5-year deal with Sony Pictures, completes its collection of Hollywood studio licenses originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If you’ve spent all of this effort launching an All-3D channel, it’s probably wise to ensure you’ve got enough content to keep your schedules full. That’s why 3net founders Sony, Discovery and IMAX are teaming up to launch 3net Studios, with facilities opening in California and Maryland. The new business will be used to bring together the best and brightest minds in stereoscopic media to produce footage for the channel. It’ll begin announcing the first projects in the next few weeks, but unless there’s space for a 3D version of Dan Harmon’s Community, we won’t be listening.
Continue reading Sony, Discovery and IMAX launch 3net Studios to produce in-house 3D content
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Sony, Discovery and IMAX launch 3net Studios to produce in-house 3D content originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Since no blockbuster movie in 2012 can have a home release without a second screen companion app for fans to dig through extra content while they watch, Sony has, naturally, announced one for The Amazing Spider-Man. Just like the only three movies to best its take at the box office this year (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and even The Hunger Games), Spider-Man’s app syncs with the movie in a Timeline Mode that pulls up featurettes, storyboards and the like, while Production Mode lets users sift through the moviemaking process, then select particular clips to play on their TV. Unlike some of the others it is not only on iPad but also Android, however the press release indicates it’s restricted to Sony’s own Tablet S and Xperia Tablet S. Still, we were able to initiate the 500MB+ download and access it on non-Sony tablets including the Nexus 7 and an CyanogenMod HP TouchPad, so your mileage may vary. You can check out the apps for free at the links below, a preview trailer embedded after the break and snag the movie itself for $25 on Amazon, delivered November 9th.
Filed under: HD
Spider-Man Blu-ray comes with a Second Screen app for iPad and Sony’s Android tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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While Redbox’s parent company Coinstar rejoiced over earnings results that showed revenue growth that was partially due to last year’s price hike, the kiosk movie renter had more good news after extending its DVD licensing deal with Sony Pictures. This means Redbox can rent Sony movies the same day they go on sale in stores and has the option to license Blu-ray movies as well through September 2014, when Sony will have the option of two one-year extensions. We’ll still have to wait and see if it can work out an arrangement with Warner and Disney, and what its streaming service has to offer, but more new movies right away is always good.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Redbox, Sony extend distribution deal, keep the movies flowing with no delays originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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