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The book-to-screen adaptation is a tried and true formula that has led to some of the best movies of all time, like "Jurassic Park" and "The Wizard of Oz," which unknowingly paved the way for the success of "Wicked." However, not all adaptations receive the same praise. Movies like "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" and the messy adaptation of "The Dark Tower" have been criticized for glossing over too many details. This proves that not all books, no matter how easy they might seem to adapt were meant for the big screen.

While some books are destined for a cinematic future, others have been deemed unfilmable. Perhaps a plot relies too heavily on mystical beings, sometimes tales are controversial and unsettling, which could turn away moviegoers. It's a label that some filmmakers walk away from, while others...

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla) will spotlight the acclaimed stage adaptation of “Life of Pi” during its expanded Industry Days program. The panel “Bringing Life of Pi to Life – From Page to Stage” will explore the journey of transforming Yann Martel’s beloved novel into groundbreaking theater featuring innovative puppetry and staging.

Cast members Savidu Geevaratne, Sharayu Mahale and Sorab Wadia will participate in a conversation about representation, adaptation and the cultural significance of a South Asian-led narrative on Broadway and beyond.

The panel is part of Iffla’s robust two-day industry forum scheduled for May 8-9, 2025, at the Landmark Theatres Sunset in Los Angeles, which has been expanded following last year’s successful inaugural edition.

“Following the tremendous success of last year’s inaugural Industry Day, the expanded Industry Days offers a vital, curated space for visionary creatives from South Asia and its diasporas to connect,...

Exclusive: Oscar-winning filmmaker Ang Lee has boarded 76 Days, a documentary from Joe Wein, based on Steven Callahan’s New York Times bestselling memoir Adrift: 76 Days Lost At Sea, as an executive producer.

Lee comes to the project after collaborating with Callahan on his 2012 Oscar winner Life of Pi. He had the author serve as a consultant on that film, examining an unbelievable story of survival at sea, after learning about Callahan’s own incredible tale in the same vein.

On the eve of February 4, 1982, in the middle of the night, there was a loud boom as a whale collided with Steven’s boat. Within minutes, his small craft was flooded with a rush of water. He grabbed what he could, heaved his life raft into the ocean, and snatched his emergency kit. Without food or water, for an incredible 76 days the inflatable raft was his home as he drifted across the Atlantic Ocean.

The ending of Life of Pi leaves viewers questioning the true meaning of the story, as the movie tells two different versions of his adventure at sea. The film stays close to the source material, with Pi's story ending in a Mexican hospital bed, but the details and interpretation are left up to the viewer's preference. The ending challenges viewers to consider the themes of faith, belief, and the power of storytelling, as Pi's goal was to make others believe in something greater than themselves.

Life of Pi explained that Pi ended his story in a Mexican hospital bed, but the 2012 movie's ending was also a little confusing about the truth of what happened to Pi and Richard Parker. Ang Lee's Life of Pi earned critical acclaim along with solid box office numbers. However, for every mention of Life of Pi's 3D or its amazing CGI tiger, there's confusion about the movie's meaning.

M. Night Shyamalan was once close to directing two Harry Potter films, but he could not fit them into his schedule. His upcoming thriller, Trap, perfectly paves the way for him to direct an installment or two of HBO's Harry Potter series.

M. Night Shyamalan missed the opportunity to direct a big film about 20 years ago, but his new thriller could perfectly pave the way for his return to the unrealized project. Considering how M. Night Shyamalan has been directing films since the early 90s and has delivered timeless thrillers like The Sixth Sense and Signs, it is not surprising that he has been linked with several renowned movie franchises and has even dropped out of many potentially career-defining opportunities. For instance, Shyamalan was always interested in adapting Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi.

However, despite initially making plans to traverse the novel to the big screen, he later...

Ang Lee who is known for his work on Marvel’s Hulk, directed 2012’s adventure drama film Life of Pi, based on Yann Martel’s 2001 novel of the same name. The movie starred debutant Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Rafe Spall, Adil Hussain, and Gérard Depardieu in significant roles. The story follows two survivors of a shipwreck who are on a lifeboat stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days.

Upon its release, the movie received critical acclaim with an appreciation for Lee’s direction, screenplay, music, visual effects, and cinematography. The movie was nominated for eleven awards at the 85th annual Academy Awards and managed to win four out of them. Ahead of the 96th Academy Awards, a comment from a veteran cinematographer about Life of Pi has resurfaced on the Internet.

Life of Pi Christopher Doyle’s strong opinions on Ang Lee’s Life of Pi winning Best Cinematography...

Sometimes a movie's legacy can spiral out of control, leading to straightforward and clear endings becoming debatably ambiguous. While alternate readings and fan theories are valid ways to engage with the art form, these movies' endings were not meant to leave audiences wondering what really happened. The films may leave the audiences with complex emotions, but their narratives are neatly resolved.

Just because a film does not show every explicit detail, does not mean it leaves it up to the audience's interpretation. It is also the case where sometimes the wrong element of a film's ending will be debated when that is not necessary to the movie's story or themes. While films like A Serious Man or The Lobster end their stories on notes of ambiguity as to what really happened, these films actually wrap up their stories in a deceptively simple and straightforward way.

Life Of Pi (2012)

Many debate...

Get ready for Paranormal Activity, the stage play.

Simon Friend, the veteran producer who brought Life of Pi to Broadway, has picked up the license to the Paramount horror movie series with the intent of bringing it to the West End via his Simon Friend Entertainment.

Levi Holloway, who wrote the horror-tinged Broadway play Grey House, is on board to pen the stage adaptation, which is described as being in early development.

Created by Oren Peli, who wrote, directed, and shot the initial installment,  Paranormal is a horror movie series focused, in most outings, on a family terrorized by a demon. The bulk of them were made between 2009 and 2015. The movies capitalized on the growing proliferation of video and cellphone cameras to tell spooky and jump-scare-filled tales to great effect.

Made on microbudgets, the movies were massive moneymakers, with the first one considered to be among the most profitable movies ever made,...

These days, it feels like so many major Hollywood movies are based on preexisting properties or serving as sequels, prequels, or remakes to popular films that there's no room for fresh ideas. Fortunately, movies based on original concepts do still make an impact on the film industry and continue to garner critical acclaim and commercial support at the box office. Looking back through cinema history, those movies that made their mark without becoming a franchise stand out as truly special experiences.

For the purposes of this article, a movie is considered a franchise if it has at least one follow-up, including follow-ups in active development. Movies are additionally considered franchises if they're based on television series, direct-to-video films, or products, like "Barbie." Movies that receive a line of tie-in merchandising, a non-film adaptation, or that are literary adaptations are not considered franchises here. So, with those provisions, let's rank the...

Life of Pi, the Tony-winning play based on Yann Martel’s best-selling novel, will close this July.

The show will play its last performance on July 23 at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, with Olivier Award-winner Hiran Abeysekera portraying lead character Pi Patel through July 9. Cast member Uma Paranjpe will then take over the role, beginning July 11 until the show closes, in a gender-reversed version of Lolita Chakrabarti’s original script. The show’s closing comes less than fourth months after its official opening.

Life of Pi, which was also adapted into an Academy Award-winning movie, is set to launch a North American tour beginning in fall 2024, with locations and dates to be announced at a later date.

Written by Chakrabarti and directed by Max Webster, the play opened on March 30, 2023 following previews, which began on March 9. The story follows a 16-year-old Indian boy, Pi Patel, who survives more than 200 days...

Life of Pi, Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel, will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, July 23.

The closing date was announced by producers today. Hiran Abeysekera, who won an Olivier Award for his role as the title character Pi Patel, will play his final Broadway performance on Sunday, July 9, with cast member Uma Paranjpe taking over the role on Tuesday, July 11.

Paranjpe’s Pi will be portrayed as female in a gender-flipped version of Chakrabarti’s original script.

A North American tour of Life of Pi is scheduled to launch in fall of 2024, with locations and dates to be announced.

The play opened at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on March 30. It recently won three Tony Awards for its scenic design, lighting and costumes, a more modest showing than the nine Olivier Awards – including Best New Play and Best Featured Actor (Abeysekera) – for its West End staging.

Lolita Chakrabarti’s dazzling stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel Life Of Pi on Jun 11th! Life Of Pi, which won Best Lighting Design of a Play, Best Scenic Design of a Play, and Best Sound Design of a Play, is the first Broadway play with a majority South Asian cast/creative team to win 3 Tony Awards.

Life Of Pi is an epic tale of adventure that is “giving new life to Broadway” (The Today Show). After a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi survives on a lifeboat with four companions— a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger. This remarkable story of hope, faith, and perseverance speaks to every generation. Told through incomparable puppetry and exquisite stagecraft, Life Of Pi creates a visually breathtaking journey that will leave you filled with awe and joy.

By Matthew Murphy...

A tiger on the loose terrorizing the inhabitants of an unnamed city becomes the launching pad for a meditation on love, loss and grief in Romanian filmmaker Andrei Tănase’s feature debut, “Day of the Tiger.” The film, which had its world premiere in the Bright Future strand at the Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam, plays this week at the Transilvania Film Festival.

The movie follows Vera (Cătălina Moga), a rundown and emotionally drained veterinarian grappling with some unknown grief as she plods through her daily routine at the zoo. She’s suddenly shaken by the arrival of a tiger that was being kept as a pet by a local gangster, awakening her long-dormant nurturing instincts.

But revelations about Vera’s failing marriage soon rise to the surface. And as the vet and local authorities play a dangerous cat-and-mouse game to catch the escaped tiger, she must engage in her own...

The Drama League today announced the nominations for the 2023 Drama League Awards. Honoring achievements on and Off-Broadway, the nominations were announced this morning by Roger Bart (“Back to the Future: The Musical”) and Justin Guarini (“Once Upon A One More Time”) at the New York Library for the Performing Arts. Winners will be revealed at the 89th Annual Drama League Awards ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on Friday, May 19, 2023.

“I don’t think I’ve experienced a theater season in New York ever like this one,” noted Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks. “There’s been a range, a breadth, an expansion of possibility that has been truly astonishing to witness. Theater makers have inspired not only with their creativity, but also with their drive and determination to serve audiences with vision and talent. These nominees reflect the promise and greatness inherent in the work of theater folk, and I can’t help but be deeply proud.

Seventeen-year-old Pi Patel (Hiran Abeysekera) sets sail on a Japanese cargo from Pondacherry, India bound for Canada with his family and a menagerie of animals from his family zoo.

The Life of Pi, a play based on Yann Martel‘s award-winning novel now playing on Broadway, is light of plot but heavy on the exploration of the human spirit.

After the cargo ship goes down in rough seas, Pi and a Bengal Tiger, named Richard Parker, are adrift on a raft lost at sea locked in a battle over life itself. What happened next is a bit of the mystery that the play attempts to untangle as Pi is questioned by an emissary for the Canadian embassy and the representative of the Japanese Transportation Department.

Using beautiful abstract stage puppeteers, the animals come to life with a bit of magical realism as Pi offers a fantastical version of events. After his inquisitors doubt the story,...

April showers bring May flowers, but Amazon Prime Video’s April slate of new movies contains some bright watches for any leftover rain. The “Judy Blume Forever” documentary arrives toward the end of the month, telling the author’s life story and highlighting the impact her writing made on literature and the world. The doc will precede “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” which releases in theaters at the end of the month.

George Clooney returns to a tropical setting alongside Julia Roberts in the 2022 romantic comedy “Ticket to Paradise,” and his earlier Hawaiian-set film “The Descendants” will be available too. “Bros” provides another rom-com option that landed on the streamer on April 4. And we’ve even got a pick for the whole family.

Here are our picks for seven of the best new movies to watch on Amazon Prime Video in April 2023:

“Judy Blume Forever” Prime Video...

When a character promises a life story so inspirational it’ll make a believer of an atheist, the tale better come through on some big-time convincing. Life of Pi, Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaption of Yann Martel’s heart-tugging 2001 novel opening tonight at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, won’t likely be churning out any religious converts, but renewed faith in the art of puppetry is all but guaranteed.

Starring the winning young actor Hiran Abeysekera, reprising his Olivier Award-winning London turn as the title character, Life of Pi, directed by Max Webster, sticks closer to the novel than to Ang Lee’s 2012 film adaptation, building the plot around a maritime investigation rather than the writing of a book – and, of course, replacing CGI beasties with enough fully articulated life-size puppets to populate a zoo, or at least a lifeboat. All aboard, at one time or another, are a hyena,...

Lolita Chakrabarti’s dazzling stage adaption of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel Life Of Pi will premiere at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street) in March! The five-time Olivier Award-winning, Life Of Pi, begins performances Thursday, March 9, 2023, and opens Thursday, March 30, 2023.

Based on one of the best-loved works of fiction – winner of the Man Booker Prize, selling over fifteen million copies worldwide – Life Of Pi is a breath-taking new theatrical adaptation of an epic journey of endurance and hope.

After a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them; nature is harsh. Who will survive?

The cast for the Broadway production has been announced and it includes some of the cast from the original London West End production.

Hiran Abeysekera, who won the 2022 Best Actor Olivier Award for his performance of the title character in the London stage production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s Life of Pi, will lead the Broadway cast when the play arrives at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre next month.

Joining him will be Fred Davis and Scarlet Wilderink, who shared the Olivier for Best Supporting Actor as the puppeteers behind “Richard Parker” the tiger.

Life of Pi begins performances Thursday, March 9, at the Schoenfeld, with an opening night of Thursday, March 30.

Based on Yann Martel’s best-selling novel, Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation won a total of five Oliviers including Best New Play. In addition to Abeysekera, Davis and Wilderink, the Broadway cast will feature Brian Thomas Abraham as Cook/Voice of “Richard Parker,” Rajesh Bose as Father and Avery Glymph, Mahira Kakkar, Kirstin Louie, Salma Qarnain, Sathya Sridharan, Daisuke Tsuji, and Sonya Venugopal.

Also in the cast: Nikki Calonge,...

We’re now about halfway through the 2022-23 Broadway season, and there are currently nine productions of plays set to open this spring. Could we be seeing any of them contend at this year’s Tony Awards? Below is a plot overview of each play as well as the awards history of its author, cast, and creative teams, plus the opening and (where applicable) closing dates.

“Pictures From Home” (opens February 9; closes April 30)

This stage adaptation of Larry Sultan’s 1992 photo memoir is a comic and dramatic portrait of a mother and father, and the son who photographed their lives. As Larry tries to capture his parents, their reality explodes from the frame in an exploration of the power of art and how much it reveals.

Adapted for the stage by WGA nominee Sharr White, the production stars Tony winner Danny Burstein, three-time Tony winner Nathan Lane, and four-time Tony nominee Zoë Wanamaker.

This post contains spoilers for "Life of Pi."

The ending of "Life of Pi" hinges on a single question: which story do you prefer? It's a question posed as much from one character to another as it is from the movie to the audience. Ang Lee's Oscar-winning 2012 adaptation of the Yann Martel novel, "Life of Pi," raises the storytelling stakes about as high as they can go, as the adult Pi Patel (Irrfan Khan), tells a tale of survival at sea that is said to be so powerful it will make the listener/viewer believe in God.

That's what the Writer (Rafe Spall) has heard, anyway. It's a tall order to fill, and Pi responds accordingly, with a tall tale that involves his younger self surviving a wrecked freighter on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker and other zoo animals. As the Writer extracts this tale...

The stage version of Yann Martel’s brilliant novel Life of Pi is getting ready to hit the stage lights of Broadway! The 2022 Olivier Award-winning Best Play, will move from London to Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in March 2023. Performance of this dazzling theatre experience begins March 9th, with opening night on March 30th.

Life Of Pi is currently playing at Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End where it won five Olivier Awards including Best New Play, Best Scenic Design and Best Lighting Design. In an historic first for the Olivier Awards, the seven performers who play Royal Bengal tiger ‘Richard Parker’ were collectively awarded Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The London production with its cutting-edge visual effects has garnered great critical acclaim, with one review calling it breathtaking and another saying it is not to be missed!

Based on one of the best-loved works of fiction...

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The stage version of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel Life of Pi , which was also adapted into an Academy Award-winning movie, will arrive on Broadway in March, producers said Monday.

Written by Lolita Chakrabarti and directed by Max Webster, the Olivier Award-winning play will open at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on March 30, 2023. Previews for the show, which will announce its cast at a later date, will begin on March 9.

The story follows a 16-year-old Indian boy, Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, who survives over 200 days stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger, a hyena, a zebra and an orangutan after a cargo ship wrecks and sinks in the Pacific Ocean. Themes center on spirituality and metaphysics and explore not only the nature of reality but both how it is told and perceived.

In a statement, Chakrabarti describes her adaptation process as “daunting,...

Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel Life of Pi will premiere at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre with performances beginning Thursday, March 9, 2023, ahead of an official opening on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

The Broadway staging is produced by Simon Friend, Daryl Roth, Hal Luftig, Mark Gordon and Playing Field. Prior to Broadway, Life of Pi will make its North American Premiere at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, co-led by Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus and Executive Director Kelvin Dinkins, Jr. from December 4, 2022, through January 29, 2023.

Life of Pi is directed by Max Webster, with Set and Costume Design by Tim Hatley, Puppet and Movement Direction by Finn Caldwell, Puppet Design by Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell, Video Design by Andrzej Goulding, Lighting Design by Tim Lutkin, Sound Design by Carolyn Downing, and Original Music by Andrew T Mackay.

“Having started work seven years...

Want to win tickets to see Life of Pi? Enter our giveaway!

Yann Martel’s best-selling 2001 novel, Life of Pi, was first adapted by director Ang Lee and writer David Magee into an award-winning film in 2012. Ten years later, writer Lolita Chakrabarti and director Max Webster have adapted it into a stage play that’s won five Olivier awards, including Best New Play and Best Set Design.

Life of Pi tells the marvellous story of Pi Patel, a boy from Pondicherry, India named after a French swimming pool who was raised in a zoo. He boards a Japanese cargo ship headed to Canada with his family and all of their animals, only to end up stranded at sea for 227 days on a lifeboat with an adult Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

The stage adaptation takes audiences from Mexico to India, to Manila, and through a carnivorous island somewhere in the...

Exclusive: Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi) has signed on to star alongside Sharmila Tagore, Manoj Bajpayee and Kaveri Seth in the film Gulmohar for Chalkboard Entertainment, Autonomous Works and Fox Star Studios, which is currently in production in New Delhi.

Rahul Chittella’s feature directorial debut tracks the final four days, leading up to Holi, of the Batra family as they pack their belongings to move out of their 31-year-old family home. Amid the chaos of packing up the house, the film interweaves individual storylines of various members of this house, who are recognizable characters to most of us, and portrays their interpersonal relationships, as we unfold secrets of the past, tensions of the present and uncertainties of the future.

Sharma will play Aditya, the eldest child in the younger generation of this family, who is an independent, self-aware, slightly vulnerable but extremely ambitious character, and is currently at the...

Charismatic Indian actor who starred in British, Us and Hindi cinema, including Slumdog Millionaire and The Warrior

The charismatic actor Irrfan Khan, who has died aged 53 from a colon infection following diagnosis of a neuroendocrine tumour, had a successful career in British and Us cinema while also headlining blockbusters in his native India. His contrasting roles in two recent Oscar-winners alone hinted at his range: in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (2008), he was the incredulous police inspector putting the screws on the plucky young hero (Dev Patel), while in Ang Lee’s film of Yann Martel’s Booker-winning fable Life of Pi (2012) he was a more benevolent presence as the narrator spinning the tall tale of a tiger and a child lost at sea.

He was also in Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited (2007), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and Jurassic World (2015), in which he was the billionaire owner of a dinosaur park.

Over 100 well-known names – including writers, actors, directors and musicians – have signed a pledge supporting Lorde's decision not to perform in Israel.

The statement was published in The Guardian following backlash over the Kiwi singer’s cancellation of her concert in Tel Aviv. It is a direct response to a full page ad published in the Washington Post on January 1 which called Lorde a bigot and also attacked her homeland of New Zealand.

“We deplore the bullying tactics being used to defend injustice against Palestinians and to suppress an artist’s freedom of conscience. We support Lorde’s right to take a stand,” reads the letter in The Guardian. "Shmuley Boteach, the author and promoter of the advert, supports Israel’s illegal settlements and wrote last month on Breitbart to thank Donald Trump for “electrifying the world” with his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in defiance of international law.

Fearing that the golden age of television will make the public overlook cinema’s charms, studios and their filmmakers are desperate to find ways to lure audiences into the theater. Much of their arsenal relies on technology, including immersive 3D, eye-popping visual effects, bone-shattering immersive sound — and now, 3D delivered at a super-high frame rate via Ang Lee’s “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.”

Read More: At CinemaCon, the Studios Look Out Theatrical Windows and Say It’s Sunny

In banking on Lee, new Sony chairman Tom Rothman believed lightning could strike twice. In 2012, as the chairman of 20th Century Fox, he introduced Lee’s 3D spectacle “Life of Pi” as a potential Oscar contender and game-changer. At CinemaCon 2016, Rothman launched Sony’s presentation with Lee’s true-life drama about an Iraq War vet (Joe Alwyn) who is celebrated as a hero. There was palpable excitement over the prospect...

Fearing that the golden age of television will make the public overlook cinema’s charms, studios and their filmmakers are desperate to find ways to lure audiences into the theater. Much of their arsenal relies on technology, including immersive 3D, eye-popping visual effects, bone-shattering immersive sound — and now, 3D delivered at a super-high frame rate via Ang Lee’s “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.”

Read More: At CinemaCon, the Studios Look Out Theatrical Windows and Say It’s Sunny

In banking on Lee, new Sony chairman Tom Rothman believed lightning could strike twice. In 2012, as the chairman of 20th Century Fox, he introduced Lee’s 3D spectacle “Life of Pi” as a potential Oscar contender and game-changer. At CinemaCon 2016, Rothman launched Sony’s presentation with Lee’s true-life drama about an Iraq War vet (Joe Alwyn) who is celebrated as a hero. There was palpable excitement over the prospect...

A rare misstep for the Oscar-winning director is an adaptation of Ben Fountain’s acclaimed novel flattened by ill-fitting experimentation with new technology

There’s a lot going on in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, an alternately somber and boisterous film about the effect of combat on America. But despite the great wealth of compelling psychological, interpersonal and social drama that this promises, the complexities are left to those behind the camera to unravel. For director Ang Lee, he sees his latest project as a way to revolutionize how we experience cinema.

It’s a lofty goal but Lee’s coming off the back of his Oscar win for the visually stunning adaptation of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, a film that dazzled us with 3D wonders, arguably placed ahead of emotional engagement. But that was a project that demanded a skilled special effects team, a story too extraordinary to be told without.

Ang Lee with Life Of Pi producer Elizabeth Gabler, star Suraj Sharma and novelist Yann Martel Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Ang Lee's Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, screenplay by Jean-Christophe Castelli, based on Ben Fountain’s novel, starring Joe Alwyn with Kristen Stewart, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund, Vin Diesel and Steve Martin, will have a Special World Première Presentation at the 54th New York Film Festival. In 2012, Ang Lee presented the World Première of Life Of Pi in 3D on the opening night of the 50th New York Film Festival.

Ang Lee's Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones: "Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk astonished me, and it moved me deeply—in the grandest way, as a story of America in the years after the invasion of Iraq, and on the most intimate person-to-person wavelength. Ang Lee has...

A heavyweight roster of world premieres from the leading lights of Canada’s film industry will grace the Toronto International Film Festival next month.

New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.

Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.

Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.

Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...

A heavyweight roster of world premieres from the leading lights of Canada’s film industry will grace the Toronto International Film Festival next month.

New work from Deepa Mehta, Bruce McDonald and Chloé Robichaud are among the Canadian features set to receive their world premieres, while Xavier Dolan and Kim Nguyen earn North American premieres for their latest films following their Cannes debuts.

Wednesday’s announcement included the slate of Canadian short films, the festival’s four Rising Stars, and participants in the Talent Lab and Telefilm Canada Pitch This! programmes.

Talent Lab alumnus Andrew Cividino is named the 2016 Len Blum Resident. The film-maker will take up residency at the Festival Tower for three months later this year and receive one-on-one script consultations with screenwriter Blum, mentoring from Tiff’s industry and programming teams, and support from Tiff partners.

Cividino will work on his screenplay, We Ate the Children Last, a feature...

Nine months ago, Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos took a boat out from Florida and never came back. The pair's tragic story continues to fascinate the country, as seemingly all "lost at sea" stories do. There's a primal element at stake in these tragic tales: The unstoppable power and mystery and of the ocean and our continued fascination with exploring it, despite knowing full well the dangers. Below, read twelve chronicles of people lost at sea who survived against the odds, their stories captivating the nation. Tami Oldham AshcraftAshcraft was 23 years old and an experienced sailor who had been cruising...

Nine months ago, Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos took a boat out from Florida and never came back. The pair's tragic story continues to fascinate the country, as seemingly all "lost at sea" stories do. There's a primal element at stake in these tragic tales: The unstoppable power and mystery and of the ocean and our continued fascination with exploring it, despite knowing full well the dangers. Below, read twelve chronicles of people lost at sea who survived against the odds, their stories captivating the nation. Tami Oldham AshcraftAshcraft was 23 years old and an experienced sailor who had been cruising...

If you have been living and routinely interacting with other human beings over the last month, you’ve probably heard one or two words involving this year’s Academy Awards and the heated controversy over the startling lack of both films and people of color among the nominees. Personally, I think that the real focus of concern ought to be less on the back end-- awards handed out for films which were financed and/or studio-approved, scheduled for production and filmed perhaps as much as two or three years ago-- and more on addressing the lack of cultural and intellectual and experiential diversity among those who have the power to make the decisions as to what films get made in the first place. This is no sure-fire way to ensure that there will be a richer and more consistent representation of diverse creative voices when it comes time for Hollywood...

By Patrick Shanley

Managing Editor

While more and more blockbusters are being released in 3D, the medium has not necessarily translated into Oscar night success stories. While the glasses may sometimes be uncomfortable for theater-goers, the immersive quality that 3D provides makes it a big money maker for CGI-heavy films and big summer releases.

Oscar, on the other hand, has historically preferred more traditional visuals, i.e. the 2D variety. Only six films that have received wide releases in 3D have been nominated for best picture in Academy history, and none have won. Director Robert Zemeckis is hoping that his latest film, The Walk, which was released this Wednesday, will become the seventh 3D film to earn a nomination and finally take home the big prize.

Here’s a look at the last six films widely released in 3D that were nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards:

Avatar...

By Patrick Shanley

Managing Editor

The Big Short, the star-studded drama about the mid-2000’s housing bubble collapse from director Adam McKay, is the latest adaptation of author Michael Lewis’ works. The film, which will premiere on closing night of the 2015 AFI Fest in Los Angeles, follows recent Lewis adaptations The Blind Side (2008) and Moneyball (2011), both of which received best picture nominations.

Lewis is hardly the only author to have his works adapted for the big screen in recent years, but the recognition of his films by the Academy are noteworthy.

While young adult authors Suzanne Collins and James Dashner have had major commercial success recently with The Hunger Games and Maze Runner franchises, respectively, there have not received notice come Oscar season.

On the other hand, recent best picture nominees that have been adapted from written works are generally isolated incidents for the authors. Annie Proulx had her short...

By Patrick Shanley

Managing Editor

The Walk, the true story adaption of high-wire artist Philippe Petit’s (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) 1974 walk across the World Trade Center from director Robert Zemeckis, premiered this Saturday at the 53rd New York Film Festival. The film has been receiving major Oscar buzz for Gordon-Levitt and Zemeckis, and hopes to garner a best picture nomination.

However, the film’s rating, PG, makes it a bit of a rarity in relation to recent Oscar success. Though it is not considered a children’s film by any means, with moments of extreme tension and drama, The Walk is nonetheless a family-friendly picture and its Npaa rating reflects that.

Since the turn of the new millennium, the majority of best pictures noms and winners have been rated PG-13 or R, a trend Zemeckis is hoping to buck this season.

Here’s a look back on recent films that were...

By Patrick Shanley

Managing Editor

The 53rd New York Film Festival will begin this Saturday (postponed from today due to Pope Francis‘ visit) with Robert Zemeckis‘ high-wire biopic The Walk opening the event.

The Joseph Gordon-Levitt-starring picture, in which he plays French high-wire artist Philippe Petit, is Zemeckis’ first film since 2012’s Flight which earned two Oscar nominations, but none for Zemeckis himself.

Premiering on opening night in New York has led to Oscar success for films in past years, and with a season that has so far not seen a frontrunner, The Walk is hoping to capitalize.

Here’s a look at films that have premiered on New York Film Festival’s opening night and gone on to receive recognition from the Academy:

Chariots of Fire (1981): The drama about two runners competing in the 1924 Olympic Games opened the 19th Nyff on its way to winning four Academy Awards,...

Ang Lee is set to shuffle around his directorial work-load, which means that instead of overseeing a 3D take on Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.s infamous Thrilla in Manila bout, he will direct an adaptation of Billy Lynn.s Long Halftime Walk. It.s been close to 24 months since Lee wowed both audiences and critics alike with Life Of Pi, which was deemed so superb that he even landed himself the Best Director Oscar for his efforts. As you can imagine, his take on Yann Martel.s book meant that cinema-goers from around the globe soon began asking the filmmaker about his next project, and when he revealed that it would be another 3D film that revolved around the legendary 1975 boxing match, excitement over the movie immediately exploded. However, budget problems have started to disrupt pre-production, and Lee has become so incensed by the delays that he is now...

Last year, the Oscar-winning visual effects studio behind Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, succumbed to millions in debt and filed for bankruptcy. Rhythm & Hues, received the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1995 for Babe, in 2008 for The Golden Compass, and in 2013 for Life of Pi, but that wasn’t enough to keep the studio together. The new documentary short film Life After Pi takes a look at the broken system that destroyed the company that brought to life the fantasy adventure novel by Yann Martel. “We run this company for the people. To have hurt them so badly, it’s really the antithesis what we wanted to do,” says a regretful John Hughes, the company’s beloved founder, in one interview. The 30 minute self-funded documentary was made by R&H employees and is part of a larger documentary titled Hollywood Ending, that “delves into the larger, complex challenges...

David Magee, who pushed a young boy and a tiger out to sea on a raft and whisked viewers into the head of Peter Pan’s creator, will once again deploy his gift for the fantastic by adapting “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair” for the big screen. Magee has been nominated for Oscars for his screenplays for “Finding Neverland” and “Life of Pi,” a biopic of author J.M. Barrie and an adaptation of Yann Martel’s examination of perilous ocean travel with big cats, respectively. “I have always loved ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and I endlessly imagined myself finding my own.

Whether you would like to admit it or not, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare not only transformed the First Person Shooter genre forever, but gaming as an ideal more generally. Spending ten hours a day locked in your room was no longer just seen as something the clammy, sexually inexperienced losers did. Now, anyone could pick up and play without fear of extradition, meaning Modern Warfare sold almost as many copies as Yann Martel’s dreamlike novel, Life of Pi.

From then on, every year saw a new Call of Duty title and every year, they got a little worse. Because of this, I coined the term, the ‘Call Of Duty Line’, because it became very obvious that fans were divided on which Call of Duty title was the straw that broke the marine’s back. A metaphorical line in the sand where they think the series peaked. Everybody’s different,...

Life of Pi is available on Sky Movies on demand from Friday 8 November, a week before it appears on Sky Movies Premiere. Oscar-winning director Ang Lee brings Yann Martel's 'unfilmable' bestseller to the big screen in visually ravishing style. When the ship taking his family from India to Canada hits a storm, zookeeper's son Pi Patel (newcomer Suraj Sharma) finds himself adrift in the Pacific with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan...

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee brings Yann Martel's unfilmable bestselling novel to the big screen in visually ravishing style. When the ship taking his family from India to Canada hits a storm, zookeeper's son Pi Patel (newcomer Suraj Sharma) finds himself adrift in the Pacific with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan... and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

El James's Fifty Shades trilogy has topped the Amazon UK all-time bestseller list.

The combined list for physical and Kindle books had Fifty Shades of Grey in top place, followed by sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.

> '50 Shades of Grey': 23 funniest quotes from El James's novel

Following the explicit trio was all three books in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in fourth followed by The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

"Of all the millions of books customers have purchased in the past 15 years, it's fascinating to see which have proved most popular with the British public," said books manager at Amazon.co.uk Darren Hardy.

"Sales of Kindle books have been hugely influential in determining these rankings, with El James's sales on Kindle for the Fifty Shades Trilogy cementing her place as our most successful author ever.

The force is strong for Alfonso Cuarón's 3D science fiction thriller, which broke records at the Us box office this weekend

• Hollywood report: Gravity weighs in at No 1

• Watch the Gravity trailer

Oscar-tipped science fiction thriller Gravity opened in top spot at the Us box office at the weekend with $55.6m (£34.6m), in the process breaking the all-time record for an October debut.

Alfonso Cuarón's 3D spectacular, which stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts coping with a disaster in space, already looks on course to be this year's Life of Pi. Ang Lee's spectacular 3D adaptation of the Yann Martel fantasy novel took more than $609m (£379m) around the world after opening in November 2012, with Lee going on to take the Oscar for best director in March.

Gravity has benefited from almost universally positive reviews: it currently maintains a hugely impressive 98% "fresh" rating on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

Life of Pi. Paan Singh Tomar. The Namesake. Maqbool. From Hollywood to Bollywood, Irrfan Khan has grown from strength to strength. Born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, Irrfan made his critically acclaimed debut in Bollywood as a main lead actor in 2005 with Rog. Before this, he acted in numerous TV soaps such as Sparsh and Bharat Ek Khoj. Gaining a scholarship at National School of Drama in 1984, Irrfan’s destiny was set for acting. Having achieved three Filmfare awards and a National Film Award, Irrfan has also been awarded the Padma Shri- the fourth highest civilian award in India.

Irrfan Khan will be attending the London Indian Film Festival and will be speaking about his life and his work with director Asif Kapadia on the 20th of July at the BFI, Southbank.

Here, we explore Irrfan’s acting career with a special focus on our three favourite films from Bollywood and Hollywood.