“Billa 2 is my next film,” says Ajith

A press note from IN Entertainment (INE), part of Hinduja Group, states that its next venture will be Billa 2. Putting an end to all the speculations, the press note states Ajith as having said: “Billa 2 is my next film and we start filming in early April 2011. Prequel to Billa is an exciting premise and I am delighted to be working with close friends Suresh Balaje and Vishnu and am glad that we have a strong company like INE backing this project.”

Vishnuvardhan will begin the project in April 2011 as planned and plans are on to release the film between December 2011 and February 2012.

INE has tied up with Suresh Balaje and George Pius of Wide Angle Creations, who had produced Billa (2007) starring Ajith, Nayanthara and Namitha.

With this press statement it now looks certain that Billa 2 will commence in April.

Mankatha – the team moves

Venkat Prabhu, Ajith and team are packing their bags and will leave for Mumbai by this month end, sources report. The director has completed canning the shots in Chennai and this schedule has just come to an end.

After a few days break, the entire team including Ajith, Trisha, Arjun, Premji Amaren and Vaibhav will fly down to Mumbai where some significant scenes will be shot in the Dharavi slums, we are told.

Kamal likes Aaranya Kaandam

Aaranya Kaandam may be facing umpteen numbers of problems at the Censor Board, but has caught the attention and won praises from none other than the multi-faceted and talented star, Kamal Haasan.

The film was screened specially for Kamal Haasan by its producer SPB Charan recently. Soon after watching the show, the actor showered praises on the film’s director Thiagarajan Kumararaja and the lead stars Jackie Shroff, Ravi Krishna and Sampath.

It may be mentioned here that Aaranya Kaandam won the Grand Jury Award for Best Feature Film at the South Asian International Film Festival in October 2010.

Ameer to direct Deiva Magan with Vikram!

Director AL Vijay and Vikram have been denying that their film together is titled Deiva Magan. We now know the reason behind this. The talk in Kollywood is that actor-producer Prabhu’s son Vikram Prabhu is soon to make his acting debut with a film to be directed by Ameer and this film has been titled Deiva Magan.

Ameer and Vikram Prabhu are keen on keeping the title for themselves for sentimental reasons as Deiva Magan was a blockbuster that starred Vikram Prabhu’s grandpa Sivaji Ganesan.

Nadigar Sangam building to be demolished

The South Indian Nadigar Sangam building in T Nagar, Chennai will be demolished in March this year. A decision to this effect was taken during the General Body meeting held recently chaired by its President Sarath Kumar, Vice-Presidents Vijayakumar and Manorama, Treasurer Vagai Chandrasekar and others.

There are four buildings in the sprawling 19-acre land which houses a gym, Dubbing Artistes Association, and two more auditoriums and all of them will be demolished. The construction work will go on for three years and until then the Sangam will function in a building right opposite to the present premises.

John Woo, Spielberg, Tarantino & SRK coming together this year

Secretively and unknown to the media world, Percept Ltd has launched a new global concept in entertainment. Called 'Champions Of World', the concept will bring together under one roof, the most celebrated super-icons of sports, cinema, music, business and other fields of entertainment and entrepreneurship.

Percept has chosen to kick off the iconic series with cricket. On Wednesday February 2, six of cricket's most iconized captains from the world over would be coming together for a live interaction with fans everywhere. 

The six international cricket captains who are flying into Mumbai on Wednesday from different parts of the world are Clive Lloyd, Arjun Ranatunga, Steve Waugh, Alan Border, Imran Khan and our own Kapil Dev. The event will telecast and placed on the internet for fans across the world. 

It is reliably learnt that these cricket icons comprising the first in the 'Champions Of The World' series, would be participating in a special charity match to coincide with the World Cup. Likewise iconic 'Champions Of The World' from the global entertainment industry would be participating in a non-competitive jamboree to coincide with the film-awards season in 2012. The icons from the entertainment industry expected to come together later this year include Steven Spielberg, John Woo, Danny Boyle and Yash Chopra. 

Says a source close to the project, "Percept is already in advanced talks with the names you've mentioned and also Harvey Goldsmith, Bob Geldof, U2's Bono, Quentin Tarantino and Michael Douglas, who's a personal friend of Shailendra Singh. All these giants of the entertainment industry along with our own Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan will come together on one platform to announce an entertainment event at the end of 2011 or beginning of 2012 ." 

Says Shailendra Singh, "The idea behind the 'Champions Of The World' events is to bring together the most celebrated names in genre-specific bunches to India under one roof. We kick-start with cricket's six most iconized captains this week at a suburban hotel in Mumbai. We would be putting them together in an event that would go beyond what the IPL has to offer. As for the giants from the entertainment business we are close to sealing deals with some of the biggest names in Hollywood and beyond. I cannot reveal their names at this time." 

Box Office Preview: 'Roommate' vs. the Super Bowl

LOS ANGELES - This is one of the toughest weekends for the movie industry, with the Super Bowl stealing Sunday audiences and blocking them from packing the multiplex. It's not uncommon to see a 60 percent drop from Saturday to Sunday.

An exception was Super Bowl weekend last year, when Sony effectively capitalized on the counter-programming draw of the romantic drama "Dear John" and came up with a $30.5 million touchdown.

Sony should land on top again this year with the dramatic thriller "The Roommate," with a weekend in the $10 million to $12 million range. Although it won't have the popularity of "Dear John," this variation on "Single White Female" set in a college dormitory offers a viable alternative for women looking to escape the football madness at home.

The rest of the top five is a veritable coin toss, with four films expected to land within $2 million of each other. The most likely scenario has Paramount's "No Strings Attached" grabbing second place with around $8 million and benefiting from being perhaps the only film in the top five to be truly "Super Bowl proof." The R-rated romantic comedy held up extremely well in its second weekend and should do so again, given its strong female appeal.

In the wake of 12 Oscar nominations and a SAG Award for best ensemble cast, Weinstein Co.'s "The King's Speech" is gaining broad mainstream appeal as even younger audiences are now lining up to see the biopic. With a 30 percent drop, the film could earn around $7.5 million in its 11th weekend of release. A global ransom of more than $150 million awaits this "King" by the end of the weekend.

Anthony Hopkins in Warner Bros.' devilish thriller "The Rite" topped the box office last weekend and will likely scare up another $7 million to $8 million this weekend as it battles "The King's Speech" for the souls of moviegoers in what looks to be a very tight race.

James Cameron's 3-D action-adventure "Sanctum" from Universal will dive into theaters in fifth place. The marketing campaign for the film has featured Cameron and boasts some amazing images that should draw a crowd comparable to the similarly-themed "The Descent" and "The Cave" and thus collect receipts in the $6 million to $8 million range.

Filmmaker Soderbergh hit with paternity suit in NY

NEW YORK - An Australian woman says Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh fathered her baby daughter, and she's suing for child support.

Soderbergh's lawyer declined to comment Thursday on the lawsuit, and his manager didn't immediately return a telephone call.

Frances Lawrencina Anderson's paternity suit says the "Traffic" and "Ocean's Eleven" director helped pay medical expenses during Anderson's pregnancy, and a DNA test showed he was the father of the girl she had in August.

"(Soderbergh) has acknowledged that he is the father of the child verbally," adds the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a state court in Manhattan. Anderson's lawyer didn't immediately return a call Thursday.

Soderbergh, who won the best directing Oscar in 2000 for "Traffic," married TV personality and novelist Jules Asner in 2003.

Anderson's lawsuit says she and Soderbergh had a sexual relationship at points including December 2009, when his play "Tot Mom" opened in her hometown of Sydney. Soderbergh wrote and directed the play, which reflects on media coverage of the case of slain Florida toddler Caylee Anthony.

Soderbergh, 48, gained acclaim and a screenwriting Oscar nomination for 1989's "Sex, Lies, and Videotape," which he also directed. He also got a directing nomination for 2000's "Erin Brockovich," making him one of few directors to be nominated for two films in one year.

First Look: Kristen Stewart & Garrett Hedlund In 'On The Road'

The first stills from Kristen Stewart's upcoming film, "On The Road," have been released.

In the film, based on the legendary beat generation novel by Jack Kerouac, Kristen plays Marylou, a love interest of Dean Moriarity, which will be played by "Tron Legacy's"Garrett Hedlund. In the book, she's also a love interests of Sal Paradise (Sam Riley), the character based on Kerouac himself.

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Kristen cuddled up to Garrett in the first of the three stills released, while in another photo she looks carefree, dancing in a hall.

Last year, Garrett told MTV News that K-Stew blossoms in the project.

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"[She is] incredible, and in this, everyone is going to get to see how hard a worker she is, the devotion that she puts into her work," he said. "And her performance is going to be exposed highly in this."

"On The Road" -- which also features Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, Elisabeth Moss, Steve Buscemi and Terrence Howard -- is due for release on December 10, 2011.

Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.

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First Look: Reese Witherspoon & Robert Pattinson's 'Water For Elephants' Poster

The poster for Francis Lawrence's upcoming "Water for Elephants" has hit, and if the artwork is any indication as to how the movie was shot, audiences can expect a beautiful film.

The poster, released to Access Hollywood on Thursday, shows "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson in an embrace with a stunningly elegant Reese Witherspoon (who looks ravishing in a dark slim-fitting dress and glamorous soft curls) while "Inglorious Basterds" villain Christoph Waltz looks on from the background.

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The drama/love story - based on the novel of the same name -- tells the tale of a veterinary student who becomes a vet for a traveling circus after his parents are killed. He then falls in love with the head trainer's wife.

Both Robert and Reese have multiple additional projects in the works, with R-Pattz starring in the upcoming "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn," Parts 1 & 2, as well as "Cosmopolis" with (rumored) co-star Keira Knightley. Meanwhile, Reese recently wrapped production on "This Means War" with Chris Pine and "Inception" hunk Tom Hardy.

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