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the first quarter that movie is Spiderman. The film airs
on 30 January at 9 pm. On the corporate side Shruti Bajpai who used
to be HBO's marketing director South Asia has been promoted to HBO
South Asia country manager. Speaking on the initiative Bajpai said,
"Spiderman was one of the biggest theatrical releases in India and
worldwide. The films that we will showcase in The Big
One slot have done enormously well both critically and commercially.
Spiderman is also keeping with our tradition of releasing
a big movie in January.
"In 2002 it was The Mummy and in 2003 we had Mission
Impossible II. Looking ahead we will be showcasing some of the
biggest movies from last year over the next couple of years. Together
they have earned around 70 per cent of the worldwide box office
revenues. When we talk about building up quality partnerships, we
mean it. "
HBO looks
to rougish Denzel to spice up the action |
In February, its big blockbuster is The Scorpion King with
wrestler The Rock. Another film is Training Day for which
Denzel Washington won an Oscar. In terms of original content, the
channel will continue to showcase its own award winning movies like
The Gathering Storm, Live From Baghdad as well as
Mira Nair's Hysterical Blindness. The channel is also considering
bringing in another high value quality show besides Sex And The
City.
"The show has held up extremely well since its launch. That is
the test of any show and so the second season will commence this
year. It has been in the top 10 for English general entertainment
shows. It has bettered expectations in terms of the average ratings
it got." Bajpai said.
Wrestler
turned actor The Rock will strut his stuff on HBO |
It's Oscar time next month. To celebrate the mood, the channel
will have the block From The Greatest To The Latest. Every
weekday at 9 pm an Oscar winner and nominee will be showcased back
to back like Ben Hur and The Grinch. The films will
get more and more new as 29 February approaches which is when the
Oscars will be handed out, while ironically, the rights to telecast
the show live have been bagged by arch rival Star Movies. Another
theme will be The Rise of The Machines. The block will showcase
Arnold Schwarzenegger. In March for the International Women's Day,
the channel will showcase the best work that actresses have done
for Hollywood.
Maintaining that 2003 was a good year for the channel, Bajpai said
that December saw 11 of the top 15 movies coming from the HBO stable.
This was when it ran the Best of 2003 block. For the prime time
9-11 pm slot, its share was 42 per cent. AXN, Zee MGM, Hallmark
and Star Movies shared the rest. Bajpai claims that primetime share
was also highest when you took into account other niche channels
like Discovery and Cartoon Network.
She points out that there had been a great deal of innovation in
terms of targeting viewers. " We were the first English movie channel
to create a special block for youth which was HBO Generation
Me. Our themes got bigger and better. Our Summer Action Marathon
gave us a higher channel share than the competition. We were also
able to expand our viewer base with the HBO Filmmaker series.
That catered to the discerning viewer."
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