Bollywood is only a faint blip on the radar of one of Hollywood’s biggest studios, and that has turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Wikileaks’s data ambush on Sony Pictures has thrown into cyberspace a mountain of email messages between the company’s various executives, starting from former studio co-chairperson Amy Pascal. It isn't surprising the Hindi film industry is mentioned in mailing lists subscribed to by Sony’s top executives. Also revealed by the leaks: Veep actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus adored The Lunchbox, while Sony’s regional offices didn’t want to release Vinod Chopra’s Broken Horses, recommending that it be directly sent to television or DVD.
Emails between Michael Lynton, Chief Executive Officer of Sony Pictures, and Chopra discuss the possibilities of a US-wide distribution deal for Broken Horses, which is Chopra’s first English language production, features American actors, and has been filmed in America. A meeting was scheduled over Sony’s possible acquisition of the movie, involvement in online promotions, assistance in theatre bookings and screenings for “Media and Tastemakers.” The studio’s Classics division eventually picked up the distribution rights, but in an email to an unidentified person, Steven Bersch, president of Sony Pictures Worldwide Distribution, made it clear that regional offices didn’t want to release the movie.
“All of our guys passed (including U.K. and India); it’s possible Vinod may be arranging for his own theatrical release in India,” Bersch said in his email. “That’s it. We had told IM Global/Reliance when they asked us to buy the picture that it was almost certainly a video/TV play (not theatrical for us), so non…” (The reply is truncated.)
Another set of emails revolve around Ritesh Batra’s feted debut feature The Lunchbox. The 2013 production was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for the North America market and appeared to be a shoo-in as India’s official entry for the 2014 Academy Awards. However, the Indian selection committee decided to send Gyan Correa’s The Good Road instead. Lynton reacted, “I LOVE that movie, glad you liked it too. stupidly the Indians wouldn't allow it be their candidate for the oscars!”
Other emails reveal Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the actor from Seinfeld and Veep, adored The Lunchbox. Describing it as her “favorite movie of the year”, Louise-Dreyfus added, “Wasn’t it so interesting to consider how so many of the relationships in the film lacked connection, either physically or emotionally?”
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Wikileaks’s data ambush on Sony Pictures has thrown into cyberspace a mountain of email messages between the company’s various executives, starting from former studio co-chairperson Amy Pascal. It isn't surprising the Hindi film industry is mentioned in mailing lists subscribed to by Sony’s top executives. Also revealed by the leaks: Veep actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus adored The Lunchbox, while Sony’s regional offices didn’t want to release Vinod Chopra’s Broken Horses, recommending that it be directly sent to television or DVD.
Emails between Michael Lynton, Chief Executive Officer of Sony Pictures, and Chopra discuss the possibilities of a US-wide distribution deal for Broken Horses, which is Chopra’s first English language production, features American actors, and has been filmed in America. A meeting was scheduled over Sony’s possible acquisition of the movie, involvement in online promotions, assistance in theatre bookings and screenings for “Media and Tastemakers.” The studio’s Classics division eventually picked up the distribution rights, but in an email to an unidentified person, Steven Bersch, president of Sony Pictures Worldwide Distribution, made it clear that regional offices didn’t want to release the movie.
“All of our guys passed (including U.K. and India); it’s possible Vinod may be arranging for his own theatrical release in India,” Bersch said in his email. “That’s it. We had told IM Global/Reliance when they asked us to buy the picture that it was almost certainly a video/TV play (not theatrical for us), so non…” (The reply is truncated.)
Another set of emails revolve around Ritesh Batra’s feted debut feature The Lunchbox. The 2013 production was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for the North America market and appeared to be a shoo-in as India’s official entry for the 2014 Academy Awards. However, the Indian selection committee decided to send Gyan Correa’s The Good Road instead. Lynton reacted, “I LOVE that movie, glad you liked it too. stupidly the Indians wouldn't allow it be their candidate for the oscars!”
Other emails reveal Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the actor from Seinfeld and Veep, adored The Lunchbox. Describing it as her “favorite movie of the year”, Louise-Dreyfus added, “Wasn’t it so interesting to consider how so many of the relationships in the film lacked connection, either physically or emotionally?”