After setting the cinema box office on fire the world over for two weeks and counting -- including in North America, where it has finished in the top ten box office for two consecutive weekends -- the Telugu language science fiction epic Kalki 2898 AD, starring global superstars Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, and Kamal Haasan, was given a special screening in the heart of Hollywood at none other than the historic TCL Chinese Theatre today, Saturday, July 13. Flying in from India to make his very first visit to the world famous movie palace for this landmark event was director and co-writer Nag Ashwin, whose introduction to and discussion of the film can be viewed in my complete video of the event below.
Mumbai, 7th May 2014: Eros International Media Ltd (Eros International), a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry will release the eagerly awaited futuristic fantasy event of the year Kochadaiiyaan: The Legend, a Mediaone Global Entertainment Limited production, directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth Ashwin, worldwide in cinemas on May 23rd 2014, two weeks after its previously announced date of May 9th 2014 to cater to the demand for multiple language and the 2D and 3D versions to release the same day.
Kochadaiiyaan features the unique visual mastery of Photorealistic Performance Capture technology for the very first time in the history of Indian cinema. The film is being released in six Indian language versions Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Bhojpuri and Punjabi, simultaneously in 2D and 3D in over 6000 screens worldwide. Although the entire unit was optimistically gearing up for a 9th May release, due to some unexpected technical issues, this mammoth worldwide release in multiple languages in 2D and #d is now set to release on 23rd May 2014.
The fan frenzy for Rajinikanth's Kochadaiiyaan has begun months in advance and their wait is almost over. Rajinikanth appeared on Twitter for the very first time on 5th of May and he instantly broke the record for the first day followers by any Indian movie star by getting over 2.5 lakh followers on the first day itself.
Kochadaiiyaan is an epic dramatization of good versus evil starring South Indian megastar Rajinikanth in a double role in a larger than life depiction. Also starring in the grand production is leading lady Deepika Padukone together with South India's leading stars R. Sharath Kumar, Nazar, Aadi, Shobana and Rukmini.
Providing the musical score is Oscar®-winning composer A R Rahman, whose list of credits includes a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and two Academy Awards® for his outstanding musical contribution for the multi-Oscar®-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.
Kochadaiiyaan was shot extensively at Pinewood Studios in the UK with a team of world-class technical experts including the London based Centroid Studios, a state-of-the-art facility for Full Body Motion Capture, which has worked on various Hollywood productions including the recent Brad Pitt starrer World War Z as well as Pirates of the Caribbean, Iron Man 2 and Harry Potter, and Counter Punch Studios from Los Angeles, who have been behind successes such as Beverly Hills Chihuahua. They worked in collaboration with Faceware Technologies, United Kingdom, who have worked on The Mummy 3 and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for the Facial Capturing technology. A team of technical experts from South India and China have worked on this technology, with the best production facilities in London, for the overall completion of the project.
PRESS RELEASEKOCHADAIIYAAN COULD SEE
BIGGEST U.S. RELEASE EVER
The magnum opus feature film Kochadaiiyaan: The Legend starring the emperor of Indian cinema Rajinikanth and the reigning Queen of Indian Cinema Deepika Padukone, is set to blaze a trail globally in cutting-edge Motion Capturing with Photorealistic Technology. ATMUS Entertainment is proud to acquire the USA theatrical distribution rights of the Tamil & Telugu versions of the film. Telugu version is coming as Vikramasimha. The movie is releasing worldwide on 09-May-2014 with 3D Premieres in USA on 08-May-2014.
Referred to as India's first of its kind, Kochadaiiyaan is the first Indian film to use full performance capture in its production process, a workflow that was pioneered and optimized on James Cameron's Avatar, in less than 5% budget of Avatar.
Director Soundarya Rajnikanth Ashwin has explored the use of full performance capture in Kochadaiiyaan in its full magnitude. The film's uniqueness also stems from the fact this project combines many modern-era technologies to aid in visual storytelling and bring to life mythological India. The Indian film industry has lauded Soundarya's effort. Soundarya R Ashwin was honored for Technical Innovation in film at the NDTV Indian of the Year awards.
South Indian megastar Rajinikanth is cast as the archetypal superhero in the epic dramatization of good versus evil. He performs a dual role with the reigning Queen of Indian Cinema Deepika being paired opposite the younger character. They are joined by current and veteran stars of North and South Indian Cinema such as Jackie Shroff, Shobana and R. Sarathkumar for a global, Pan-Indian cinematic treat. The film is written by ace director K S Ravikumar with music by A R Rahman.
India's first Photorealistic Performance Capture film Kochadaiiyaan: The Legend is not only set to transcend boundaries creating a market first in the realm of world cinema but will cement Indian Cinema's place indefinitely within the global film fraternity.
Expectations for Kochadaiiyaan are sky high since this is Rajini's first film after a long gap due to his illness. The superstar's last outing Enthiran: The Robot was released in 2010 and it was one of the highest-grossing Indian films. There is a huge demand for the screening rights. This is the first time we have large theater chains competing to screen this movie. The movie is sure to entertain the overseas audience and the drive to the theaters is worth.
ATMUS, with its marketing partner AZ India Media is taking every efforts to make it a biggest South Indian release in the USA. As of now, they have booked 101 theaters for Tamil version, among which 91 are screening the 3D version, 65 are screening the 2D version. The Telugu version Vikramasimha is releasing on par with major Telugu releases. A total of 72 theaters are booked so far, out of which 61 are screening 3D version and 38 screening 2D version. Many of the theaters are screening both 3D and 2D versions. For the first time an Indian film is releasing in so many 3D screens.
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Eros International Plc (NYSE:EROS) (“Eros”), a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry announced today that it will release KOCHADAIIYAAN – The Legend, a Mediaone Global Entertainment Limited production, worldwide in cinemas on April 11, 2014.
Directed by Soundarya Rajnikanth Ashwin, Kochadaiiyaan features the unique visual mastery of Photorealistic Performance Capture technology for the very first time in the history of an Indian film. This technology has been previously seen in Avatar, Tintin and Beowulf.
Kochadaiiyaan is a dramatization of good versus evil starring South Indian star Rajinikanth. Also starring in the production is Deepika Padukone together with South India’s other leading stars, R. Sharath Kumar, Nazar, Aadi, Shobana and Rukmini.
Providing the musical score is Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman, whose list of credits includes a BAFTA, Golden Globe and two Academy Awards for his musical contribution to the multi-Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire.
Announcing the release of the film, Ms. Soundarya Rajnikanth Ashwin, the Director of the film said, “The release of Kochadaiiyaan ushers in the next era of Indian cinema. For the first time a full length feature has been made in India using performance capture technology and I truly hope this creates a whole new avenue of film making beyond just live action films in our country.”
Mr. Sunil Lulla, Managing Director, Eros International Media Ltd added, “Eros is proud to present Rajinikanth, which will take the Indian film industry to the next level. We are confident that this will be a landmark film in world cinema as a result of the ground breaking technology used. The film will be released in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Bhojpuri, Bengali and Punjabi in India and overseas in more than 6,000 screens. We will be releasing an English version internationally as well.”
In a major brand tie-up, Eros and Mediaone have also partnered with Karbonn Mobile to launch one million Kochadaiiyaan branded mobile phones to celebrate the release of the film. The exclusive Karbonn Kochadaiiyaan mobile phones will have screen savers and images from the film along with the trailer and the film’s signature music. These special Kochadaiiyaan mobile phones are intended to launch in February 2014.
Kochadaiiyaan was shot at Pinewood Studios in the UK with a team of technical experts including the London based Centroid Studios, a state of the art facility for Full Body Motion Capture, which has worked on various Hollywood productions including World War Z, Pirates of the Caribbean, Iron Man 2 and Harry Potter; Counter Punch, which was integral to the success of Beverly Hills Chihuahua; and Faceware Technologies, United Kingdom, which worked on The Mummy 3 and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for the Facial Capturing technology.
Eros International Plc (NYSE: EROS) is a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry that acquires, co-produces and distributes Indian films across all available formats such as cinema, television and digital new media. Eros International Plc became the first Indian media company to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Eros International has experience of over three decades in establishing a global platform for Indian cinema. The Company has a competitive advantage through its extensive and growing movie library comprising of over 2,000 films, which include Hindi, Tamil, and other regional language films for home entertainment distribution. Eros International has built a dynamic business model by combining the release of new films every year with the exploitation of its film library. For further information please visit: www.erosplc.com.
