Best of Hollywood invades Philippine TV

Author: Malaya
Column: Malaya Entertainment

THIS year will be another smashing year for movie lovers as HBO Asia, the leader in home entertainment, brings the best of Hollywood to your television screen. Armed with an impressive 2008 line-up of the latest and biggest Hollywood blockbusters and award-winning "HBO Original Productions," HBO will also introduce significant enhancements to its 24-hour commercial-free movie channels – "HBO+Signature/noticias/" title="HBO Signature">HBO Signature," "HBO+Family/noticias/" title="HBO Family">HBO Family," "HBO Hits," and Cinemax; with the purpose of making the channels even more relevant, accessible, and convenient for viewers.

Seventy percent of the US Top 100 Box Office Movies from 2007, including the top three movies, will premiere on HBO. The top three grossing movies in the Philippines in 2007will also be on HBO.

HBO Asia has movies from mega franchises such as "Harry Potter"and the "Spider-Man," "Bourne," and "Ocean’s" trilogies. HBO Asia continuously dominates the bulk of Hollywood movies year after year because of exclusive output deals with the major movie studios namely Columbia/TriStar, Paramount Pictures/DreamWorks, Universal Studios and Warner Bros.

With the biggest and latest movies scheduled every Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO, viewers can tune-in to premieres of blockbusters such as "Transformers," "300," "The Pursuit of Happyness," and "Dreamgirls." Movies coming to HBO in February include Oscar-acclaimed "Happy Feet," "Memoirs of a Geisha," "The Prestige" and "Blood Diamond." In addition to their Sunday night premieres, these blockbusters are also scheduled intensively at various times within the week they premiere, so viewers can catch their favorite movies at their convenience.

The "HBO Originals Productions" are now anchored every Monday night at 11 on HBO.

"The Sopranos" kicks off as HBO’s Television Event of the Year as HBO Asia brings in all six seasons of the highly celebrated drama series, starting February 4. "Entourage" and "Big Love" fans can also look forward to new seasons of their favorite series this year.

In addition, HBO has in store new critically-acclaimed "HBO Original Movies" such as "Longford," "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," "Life Support," "As You Like It" and "Five Days."

Starting in May, "HBO+Signature/noticias/" title="HBO Signature">HBO Signature," the channel that offers provocative, controversial and distinct programming, will bring viewers more new titles to kick-off their weekends. "Friday Picturehouse" on "HBO+Signature/noticias/" title="HBO Signature">HBO Signature" guarantees a brand-new provocative and entertaining movie premiering every Friday at 10 p.m. More groundbreaking and entertaining series await viewers of "HBO+Signature/noticias/" title="HBO Signature">HBO Signature," with such titles "The Tudors," "The Wire," "Flight of the Conchords" and John from "Cincinnati," lined up for 2008.

Other scheduling enhancements include weekly premieres of movies on HBO, "HBO+Family/noticias/" title="HBO Family">HBO Family," "HBO Hits," and Cinemax. A new set of blockbuster titles are refreshed week after week giving viewers more choice and variety. Plus appointment viewing as movies start at the top of every other hour with prime times at 7 p.m., 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. on HBO, "HBO+Family/noticias/" title="HBO Family">HBO Family," "HBO Hits," and Cinemax, and movies starting every other hour, viewers will know exactly when to tune-in to their favorite movies. Movies on "HBO+Signature/noticias/" title="HBO Signature">HBO Signature" start at every even hour; prime times being at 8 p.m., 10 p.m., and 12 a.m.

To complete the ultimate viewing experience, all five channels have undergone refreshing changes to their overall on-air "look," including elements that help reinforce movie start-times and additions of new and entertaining on-air channel promotions.

In addition, an enhanced version of the HBO Asia website (www.HBOasia.com) now incorporates the latest Web 2.0 tools enabling users to do much more than just set email reminders and synchronize show times of their favorite movies to their Yahoo! or Google calendars. Newly introduced is a handy HBO Widget that, once downloaded, sits on users’ desktops so they can view the day’s program schedules at a glance.

At the end of this month, HBO Asia will launch a highly interactive HBO "Movie Buff" game as a Facebook application, designed to engage users on the popular social networking site with movie trivia based on each month’s line up.

Source: Malaya

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