my m8 wanted to go and watch this tonite i said OK but i prefer to watch SAW.... he phoned back to say forget B&P its got mostly shit reviews online and in the UK press lets go and watch SAW it might be good !!!

SAW is fucking good its one mind f*** of a flim totally orignal and with 1 particular shocking scene oh and a TWIST !!!

B&P i'll watch when C4 show it on tv for free

Home > Box Office Update Monday, October 11, 2004

http://www.variety.com/boxoffice


TOP STORY
U.K. loves 'Bride'; fish swim o'seas
Sony int'l division passes $1 bil mark

By Don Groves

A jaunty world preem by "Bride and Prejudice" in the U.K. and top-ranked debuts by "Shark Tale" in 12 markets helped juice the weekend B.O. in a traditionally flat period.
Meanwhile, Sony was crowing Sunday that its international division has crossed the $1 billion threshold for the third consecutive year. The studio noted that only two other majors, Disney and Warners, have notched $1 billion for three years in a row domestically and overseas.

Columbia TriStar Intl. senior exec VP Mark Zucker predicted his banner will finish 2004 at about $1.2 billion, which would be its second best result behind 2002's $1.3 billion, a company record.

"Bride and Prejudice," a Bollywood musical-romance inspired by Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" and directed by "Bend It Like Beckham" helmer Gurinder Chadha, rang up an estimated $2.7 million in Blighty. That was the territory's No. 2 title next to "Shark Tale," which swallowed a hefty $4.4 million in previews.

Factoring out those sneaks that will be lumped in with the pic's first-weekend bounty, the DreamWorks toon was the top earner overseas, netting an estimated $9.4 million in 16 markets, spurring cume to $19.2 million.

It's the Dollar Power and Pound Power.

Despite being declared a flop, it earned a heft Rs 12.5 cr in the first 3 days from UK alone. No other Indian Film did ever come close to this BO performance before.

i saw the movie on a bootleg dvd (english version) i liked it but not as much as bend it like beckham.

Well I wouldn't call it an Indian film. I haven 't wasted my time with this one, I think I'll pass. I've heard too many negative things about it. From the clips I've seen Aishwariya's acting looks terrible and it looks like she's trying too hard. The scene of her singing in English made me cringe. When I came out of seeing another film last week, the cue for bride & prejudice was long, extending to outside the cinema - mostly asians of course. I wasn't surprised - the asian community in UK usually turns crap films into box office hits!

Chadha honoured at the Commons

http://www.ndtv.com/ent/newstory.asp?se ... ns&Id=3102

Wednesday, November 3, 2004: (London):


Gurinder Chadha, NRI director of Aishwarya Rai-starrer Bride and Prejudice has been honoured at the House of Commons for her outstanding achievement and contribution to the British film industry.

Describing her hit film Bend It Like Beckham as the biggest British-financed and distributed film, Keith Vaz, MP, and former minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was impossible to quantify the achievements of Gurinder Chadha.

"Her hit film Bend It Like Beckham is the biggest British-financed and distributed film and Bride and Prejudice is the No1 in the Box Office chart in Britain," he said.

"Gurinder Chadha has made a fantastic contribution to the British film industry over the past fifteen years. She is one of those rare British film-makers who has won artistic and popular acclamation from all over the world," he added.

Chadha, who was emotionally moved, said it was for the first time a film director was honoured in the House of Commons "in this way." Recalling the hardships her father faced when he came here from Kenya over three decades ago, she said: "It was a very difficult time to get a job because he had a turban and beard."

"The films I make are rooted in the heart of British Asians and they are a testimony to the fact that how much progress the British Asians have achieved over a period of time," she added. (PTI)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/movie ... CkIYZQkMWQ

November 7, 2004
ONES TO WATCH -- The Class Acts

By KAREN DURBIN

Saving Elizabeth Bennet From Bollywood

Gurinder Chadha''s impudent makeover of "Pride and Prejudice" - called "Bride and Prejudice" - as a gaudy, bawdy Bollywood musical has a lot going for it, including colorful locations in Amritsar and Goa and whole towns full of singing, dancing extras. But none of that would matter without Aishwarya Rai. As Lalita Bakshi, the latest and by far the most glamorous incarnation of Jane Austen's tartly independent Elizabeth Bennet, Ms. Rai doesn't just carry the picture. She also saves it from its occasional leaps into the taste void, as when she tosses off the lyric, "I just wanna man who'll give me some back/ Who'll talk to me and not to my rack!" with such deadpan aplomb that you almost don't wince. Variously referred to as "Ash" and "the queen of Bollywood" by the fans of her many Indian films, Ms. Rai, who just turned 31, is a former model and architecture student who was crowned Miss World of 1994. But she's more than just a knock-down, drop-dead gorgeous face. She's even more than a talented singer, graceful dancer and vibrantly confident actress in at least two languages. Ms. Rai is that rarity, a true megawatt movie star on the order of Liz Taylor, another incandescent screen presence whose beauty occasionally got in the way of the plot. In "Bride and Prejudice" (Dec. 24), when the American hotel-chain heir Charles Darcy (Martin Henderson) snubs her, he doesn't seem snooty so much as bloodless and dim. But never mind. Snubbing him right back with fiery elegance and political convictions worthy of Arundhati Roy, she manages to strike enough sparks for both of them. Ms. Rai deserves to be an international star.

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2004/nov/18bride.htm

Bride And Prejudice's US release postponed

Arthur J Pais in New York | November 18, 2004 | 15:05 IST

Never mind how excited The New York Times is about Aishwarya Rai -- a recent piece on Bride And Prejudice said she deserved to be an international star --- distributor Miramax isn't ready to roll out the musical on Christmas Day.

The film was to open in a handful of theatres in Los Angeles and New York in December in the remote hope of getting Oscar nominations. Its release in North America is now postponed to the second week of February.

It is not uncommon for Hollywood distributors to juggle the release date when the market seems too crowded or the test screenings suggest the film needs more time and less competition to find an audience.


There are times, though, that a Hollywood distributor releases a film ahead of the original schedule when there is an overwhelming buzz for it. Warner Bros, for instance, will release the Clint Eastwood directed Million Dollar Baby, a story of an older boxer and his ambitious protege (Hilary Swank) in December. The film was to open next year. But test screenings suggested it stood an excellent chance of nabbing Oscar nominations including one for Hilary Swank.

Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein, who scored a big hit with the musical Chicago and had admired Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham, had very high hopes for Bride And Prejudice. But the much-hyped film opened to mixed to downbeat reviews in the United Kingdom and India. It opened at top spot in the UK but with a not-so-great $3 million over the weekend. The same weekend saw Shark Tale taking $4.5 million in previews.

In the second week in the UK --- not to forget India --- the film that cost about $7 million lost a big chunk of its audience. Its gross in the UK is at $9 million, half of what Bend It Like Beckham minted, and the film, fast on its way out, is being shown in just about 50 screens.

Trade publications such as Variety and Hollywood Reporter had wondered, even while giving the film good reviews, whether it would have the kind of legs Beckham had. It was too much of a Bollywood film, they had said.

Exhibitors in England had thought the film would do well in areas with big South Asian population where many Brits were also aware of the tandoori culture. Their analysis held as the film had not many fans in Ireland and in smaller British cities while it scored big in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh.

The postponement of its American release robs Bride And Prejudice of a few chances of nominations for the Golden Globes. Unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globes have a separate section for musicals/comedy --- which makes it easier for some films to get a toe in.

Talented singer...

A film that cost $ 7 million, grossing $ 9 million from UK alone, is profitable using any math or logic.

Good or bad, Declared a Hit (why not) or a flop ??