Ex-'Idol' judge Cowell leads UK invasion at Emmys

NEW YORK: Simon Cowell, former supremo of the "Idol" talent shows, headed a list of Britons sweeping awards at the 38th International Emmy Awards in New York.

Cowell, who shot to fame as a judge on "Pop Idol" and "American Idol" before going on to develop the "Got Talent" and X Factor franchises, won the special honorary International Emmy Founders Award.

Newscorp CEO Rupert Murdoch surprised guests at the Hilton hotel by appearing on stage to hand Cowell the award at the ceremony hosted by former "Beverly Hills 90210" heartthrob Jason Priestley.

Other Brits winning honors were Helena Bonham Carter for best female performance for her role as children's author Enid Blyton in "Enid" and Bob Hoskins, best male actor, for playing pub owner Paddy Gargan in "The Street."

"The Street," set along a Manchester road, also picked up the best drama award.

Britain featured heavily in last year's International Emmys, which focus on non-US television programming.

But this was a truly global affair with Portugal winning its first International Emmy for the telenovela "My Love."

The comedy prize went to "Traffic Light" from Israel's Kupperman Productions/Keshet Broadcasting.

Romania won in the Arts Programming Category with "The World According to Ion B" and South Korea won for the first time in the Documentary Category with "Mom and the Red Bean Cake.

DiCaprio in plane engine scare: report

NEW YORK: Hollywood heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio, star of "Titanic," was among passengers on a Delta Airline jet forced to make an emergency landing in New York after losing one engine, a report said Monday.

DiCaprio, 36, "avoided disaster at 30,000 feet," Us Magazine website reported.

The plane, bound for Moscow, had to return to John F. Kennedy airport shortly after take-off Sunday when an engine suddenly shut down.

The website quoted a representative saying that the actor "wishes to commend the actions of the pilot and flight crew in bringing the plane to a safe landing."

DiCaprio, who was on his way to Russia to attend a meeting on tiger preservation efforts, even "signed autographs for all the crew members when they landed," the celebrity news magazine said.

Shilpa 'too ill' to celebrate first marriage anniversary

MUMBAI: Shilpa Shetty was unable to celebrate her wedding anniversary over the weekend because she has a throat infection.

The Celebrity Big Brother star and actress told her Twitter followers about her failed plans.

She tweeted: "My 1st Wedding Annvrsy tomw,n ws diagnosd with Pharyngitis yestday,sick like a dog..was supp 2 leave town bt cudnt:(Wat a horrible start (sic)."

Shetty married the tycoon Ray Kundra last year in a low-key ceremony.

The star, who describes herself as "actress, entrepreneur, wife" on the social network, famously got together with Kundra only nine months after a divorce from his first wife.

Salman screens Ash's film

Here's proof, again, that Salman Khan has a large heart. He held a private screening of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's film Guzaarish for his family.

Simply because Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whom the actor is fond of, sent him a print of the film and asked for feedback. Salman was joined by his parents and brothers. Yesteryear actresses Waheeda Rehman, Sadhna, Shammi, Nanda and Asha Parekh, and Salman's Dabanng co-star Sonakshi Sinha, were also there.

Bhansali's office confirmed that Salman had the screening. Apparently, he told Bhansali to go all out in promoting the film as he thought it would get a slow opening but would pick up post weekend. Bhansali is doing exactly that.

New Harry Potter movie breaks box office records

LOS ANGELES: The new Harry Potter movie has broken box office records around the world, taking some 330 million dollars globally in one of the biggest weekends of all time, its makers and estimates said Sunday.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One" made 125.1 million dollars in the United States and scored Britain's biggest ever opening weekend with 28 million dollars, said Warner Brothers, the studio behind the franchise.

In Australia the movie made 15 million dollars while it earned 12 million in Russia -- both the highest opening weekends of the Potter series, which will climax with the Part II of "Deathly Hallows" next year.

"This is truly a motion picture phenomenon, and it is just the beginning for the penultimate release of the franchise," said Dan Fellman, head of US distribution.

Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, head of international distribution, added: "We are thrilled by the enthusiastic response of international audiences.

"It's a testament to the extraordinary vision of J.K. Rowling; the talents of the filmmakers, cast and everyone involved in the production; and to the hard work of our distribution and marketing teams around the world."

Industry daily the Hollywood Reporter hailed the latest Potter triumph.

"The box-office wizard has outdone himself," it said, reporting the box office smash.

"'Hallows: Part 1' has a good shot at mounting a year's-best theatrical run if the film maintains momentum through the upcoming Thanksgiving span and beyond," it added, referring to the coming week's annual US holiday.

In the new movie -- the sixth and penultimate in the series -- evil Lord Voldemort and his evil henchmen control huge swathes of the wizarding world and Harry is constantly in danger.

Harry, Hermione and Ron leave behind the safety of school and their families and set out alone to seek out horcruxes, items in which Voldemort has hidden pieces of his soul, so they can destroy them and ultimately bring him down.

Much of the film revolves around a road trip, as the trio travel around Britain to try to stay safe, and focuses on the close friendship between the main characters, in particular the budding romance between Hermione and Ron.

It ends on a cliffhanger, however, as the final resolution will not be known until Part Two, which is due out in July. That will cover a final, explosive battle between Potter and his allies and Voldemort's dark forces.

In the United States, the Potter movie's 125 million dollar take dwarfed the rest of the top 10 in box office tracker Exhibitor Relation's weekly estimate of weekend takings.

Will Ferrell's super-villain comedy "Megamind" came second with 16.2 million, followed by action movie "Unstoppable" starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pinewith on 13.1 million, and roadtrip comedy "Due Date" on 9.1 million.

"The Next Three Days" -- the only other film in the top 5 on its opening week, starring Russell Crowe in a tale of how a married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of murder -- earned 6.75 million.

In sixth place in the US rankings was "Morning Glory," a romantic comedy starring Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton and Rachel McAdams, with 5.2 million, followed by "Skyline" with 3.4 million and "Red" with 2.5 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were "For Colored Girls" on 2.4 million and "Fair Game" on 1.5 million.

New Harry Potter movie bewitches box office estimates

LOS ANGELES: The new Harry Potter movie enjoyed the biggest box office debut of the entire boy wizard series and the fifth largest ever, making 61 million dollars on its first day, estimates said Saturday.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One" made 24 million dollars in midnight Thursday screenings, followed by 37 million for the rest of the day Friday, according to Box Office Mojo.

If confirmed, the Potter movie will have had the fifth best opening day ever, behind the last two "Twilight" movies, "The Dark Knight," and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," Entertainment Weekly reported online.

The Friday figure would also be the biggest opening the Potter franchise, beating "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" which made 58.2 million in its debut last year.

Entertainment Weekly forecast that "Deathly Hallows" could make up to 156 million dollars on its first weekend, although a more conservative estimate would put it at 130-140 million dollars.

"Which as Ron Weasley would say, is 'bloody brilliant,' its box office analyst commented.

In the new movie evil Lord Voldemort and his evil henchmen control huge swathes of the wizarding world and Harry is constantly in danger.

Harry, Hermione and Ron leave behind the safety of school and their families and set out alone to seek out horcruxes, items in which Voldemort has hidden pieces of his soul, so they can destroy them and ultimately bring him down.

Much of the film revolves around a road trip, as the trio travel around Britain to try to stay safe, and focuses on the close friendship between the main characters, in particular the budding romance between Hermione and Ron.

It ends on a cliffhanger, however, as the final resolution will not be known until Part Two, which is due out in July. That will cover a final, explosive battle between Potter and his allies and Voldemort's dark forces.

Box offices estimates by the more widely used box office tracker, Exhibitor Relations, are due out on Sunday, while full weekend figures are published on Monday.

Aish wants to spend quality time with family

MUMBAI: Bollywood’s blue-eyed actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who’s fifth and the final film for 2010 ‘Guzaarish’ recently released in theatres, revealed in an interview that she’s living a fast-paced life ever since she decided to study science in high school.

"I keep joking that the pace of my life has been so hectic ever since high school. From Class 12, when I was a science student, till date it has only been a hectic pace and that's the only pace perhaps my body knows now," said Aishwarya in her interview to a Daily.

As per Aishwarya, 2010 was particularly busy as she had to complete shooting for ‘Raavan’ (that was simultaneously made in Hindi and Tamil), ‘Robot', ‘Action Replayy’ and ‘Guzaarish'.

After the completion of every movie, she even actively took part in the promotional events of all her movies. This increased the workload to the extent that she fell slightly sick due to sheer exhaustion.

However, as always, former beauty queen is not complaining and is happy that all her projects came out good.

After working around the clock for the entire year, Aishwarya is gearing up to spend some alone time with her husband and family members, and is looking forward to a fun-filled holiday to relax.

When asked if she and Abhishek are planning to go on a holiday somewhere special, Aishwarya said, being with one you love is what matters to her most.

"Spending time together itself is quite a holiday for me. It doesn't matter where we are. We will just be happy to make that time together and that we will make sure we do," said the 36-year-old actress.

She further revealed that currently, she’s not actively involved in any new project as she wants a break but is in talks with few filmmakers for future projects.

“There have been talks. Producers are working out the scheduling, and then the announcements will be made accordingly next year,” revealed Aishwarya.