First 3-D porn released in theatres...

(This makes me giggle quite a bit...--jef)

...Beats ‘Avatar’ record in Hong Kong

By Agence France-Presse
Thursday, April 21st, 2011

HONG KONG (AFP) – A Hong Kong movie billed as the world's first 3D porn film has broken the city's first-day box office record previously set by Hollywood blockbuster Avatar.

3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy took in HK$2.8 million ($360,000) on its first day last week, outpacing director James Cameron's science fiction epic which drew HK$2.6 million, the porn movie's publicist told AFP Thursday.

The film has taken more than HK$15 million since its release, she added.

Curious movie-goers from all walks of life -- office workers, retirees and students -- stood in long queues outside Hong Kong cinemas on the film's first day last week, eager to catch an eyeful of the steamy 3D action.

Loosely based on a piece of classical Chinese erotic literature, the $3.2-million Cantonese-language movie features orgies, swinging and some very graphic sex scenes.

Set in the Ming dynasty, the film chronicles the story of a young man who, after being introduced to the erotic world of an aristocrat, realises his ex-wife is the love of his life.

The film stars Japanese adult actresses Yukiko Suo and Saori Hara.

The movie, which opened in Taiwan last Friday, and has sparked strong interest in many Asian markets, including Japan and South Korea, as well as Europe and the United States, according to the producer.

Travel operators were reportedly organising moviegoing excursions to Hong Kong and Taiwan for tourists from mainland China, where strict censorship rules prevent any screening of the film.
3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy opened ahead of reported plans by other filmmakers to produce similar 3D porn movies.

Italian director Tinto Brass has announced he is to produce a 3D remake of his 1979 erotic film Caligula, while Hustler plans to release a pornographic spoof of Avatar, the top-grossing movie of all time.

Trading in Film Futures Contracts Approved

June 14, 2010
By MICHAEL CIEPLY


LOS ANGELES — Federal regulators on Monday approved a plan by Media Derivatives Inc. to begin trading futures contracts based on box-office revenue, though the film industry has continued to lobby Congress to ban such film-related trading.

After delays to consider objections from movie studios and others, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a request to trade futures and option contracts tied to the opening weekend box-office revenue of the movie “Takers,” a crime thriller set for release in the United States on Aug. 20 by Screen Gems, part of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents Sony and the other major studios, has opposed such contracts, arguing that they will be easily manipulated and may hurt the performance of films, as market players begin looking for ways to affect a movie’s opening.

In approving the Media Derivatives request, the commission said that the exchange created to handle the contracts had obtained an agreement from Rentrak, which compiles box-office numbers for the studios, to bar its employees from trading in the contracts.

The exchange would also require any studio that uses the contracts as a hedge against the performance of its own films to set up a firewall between employees who do the trading and those who work on a film.

In a dissent that accompanied the commission’s approval, Bart Chilton, one of the commissioners, said the need to wall off studio employees from their own films pointed to what he called a “fundamental flaw” behind the approval, since such contracts were intended to help those in businesses manage financial risk.

Last week, 40 members of the House signed a letter telling leaders of the agriculture committee, which oversees commodities trading, of their support for legislation to block or limit film-related exchanges.