Tag: FIGHTER

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Bollywood Films Lite Blogs

‘Fighter’ Soars to Global Success, Tops Weekend Box Office with $25.1 Million

As per Variety, in third position, Amazon MGM’s Jason Statham action-thriller ‘The Beekeeper’ earned $18.3 million and has a worldwide cumulative box office of $104 million, including $42.2 million from North America after three weekends on release…reports Asian Lite News  

Hrithik Roshan-starrer ‘Fighter’ was the highest grossing film of the weekend at the global box office, with box office revenues of $25.1 million.   The film, directed by Siddharth Anand, whose previous film, Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ‘Pathaan’, was one of the biggest Indian hits of 2023, also stars Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor, reports Variety.   ‘Fighter’ revolves around the Indian Air Force and was released on January 25, ahead of Republic Day, a public holiday.

The film depicts Indian conflicts with Pakistan and was banned across the Middle East where there is a large Pakistani migrant worker population.   ‘Fighter’ released across 23 territories and recorded a $24.5 million worldwide weekend, with $20.8 million of that total earned in international territories, i.e. outside North America. Including the Thursday numbers, it had worldwide cumulative collections of $25.1 million, as per the data from ComScore.   In North America, ‘Fighter’ collected $3.7 million over the three-day weekend and $4.3 million over four days. In India, it collected $17.7 million over four days. In second place worldwide was Columbia Pictures’ romantic comedy ‘Anyone But You’ with $19 million. After its sixth weekend on release the film has $127 million worldwide, with $71.1 million in North America.   As per Variety, in third position, Amazon MGM’s Jason Statham action-thriller ‘The Beekeeper’ earned $18.3 million and has a worldwide cumulative box office of $104 million, including $42.2 million from North America after three weekends on release.

  On the worldwide ranking, Warner Brothers’ chocolatier origin story ‘Wonka’ starring Timothee Chalamet, placed fourth with $13.7 million. After seven weekends on release, the film has a sweet $552 million worldwide, including $195.1 million in North America.   Rounding off the top five was Searchlight’s double Golden Globe-winning offbeat comedy ‘Poor Things’ distributed internationally by Disney, with $13.04 million.

The film has collected $51 million worldwide, including $24.7 million in North America, after its eighth weekend on release.

Mahesh Shetty Opens Up on the Bond with Hrithik

Actor Mahesh Shetty, who stars in the action movie ‘Fighter’ opened up on working with Hrithik Roshan, and shared about their off-screen bond, and heaped praised for the latter’s dedication and hard work. Mahesh plays the role of Squadron Leader Rajan Unninathan, a wingman to Patty (portrayed by Hrithik Roshan). Patty and Unni have a great on-screen dynamic. Whether it’s breaking all boundaries to save the country or standing by your partner’s side in a difficult situation, we saw them go through an emotional journey to protect their country and share a sense of patriotism. Talking about his experience working with Hrithik, Mahesh said: “In the Air Force lexicon, a Wingman is a pilot who flies alongside the leader of a flying formation providing mutual support, so their bonding is always on another level. This was the brief where we started from and hence Hritik and I started bonding well before the shoot began.” “The way he greeted me as ‘yaara’ on sets was so enduring and the whole team was like one big family. He is extremely genuine, and no doubt looks like a Greek God but even as a person, he is amazingly sweet and has a funny bone. The way he narrated stories to us always left us in splits and looking forward to more,” he shared. Mahesh added: “Not once did any of us feel that we were working with a huge star since there were no airs or tantrums thrown around. He is the Hritik Roshan for a reason and the reason is only dedication and hard work.” ‘Fighter’ is directed by Siddharth Anand, and stars Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor in pivotal roles. On the professional front, Mahesh will be next seen in the series ‘Kan Khajura’ which is an adaptation of the Israeli show ‘Magpie’.  

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-Top News Saudi Arabia UK News

Saudi Arabia pushes to join fighter jet project with UK, Italy and Japan

Iranian fighter jet crashes, no one killed

A senior UK defence source said: “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the UK’s strategic partnerships and UK defence is keen to deepen work on GCAP…reports Asian Lite News

Saudi Arabia has asked the UK, Japan and Italy to be made a full partner in their joint effort to build the next generation of fighter jets, in a move backed by the British government.

Companies from the UK, Japan and Italy are working together to build a new fighter jet and other systems such as drones under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), also known as Tempest. The programme aims to deliver the first planes by 2035, a tight turnaround.

The addition of Saudi Arabia to the programme could be attractive for the partners because of the potential for sharing the billions of pounds in costs with one of the world’s biggest defence spenders, but may create tensions between them.

It could also add to already complex negotiations involving three governments and several companies from each country. In the UK the lead manufacturers are the engine maker Rolls-Royce; the tank and plane manufacturer BAE Systems, which has a significant-sized business in Saudi Arabia; and the UK arms of Italy’s Leonardo and the European missile-maker MBDA.

Adding Saudi Arabia would probably prove controversial because of criticisms of its record on human rights, including its involvement in the war in Yemen and the 2018 murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The murder led to the country and its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, briefly being frozen out of international deals, but censure has since faded.

Within the trio of GCAP partners, the UK is understood to be leading the effort to add Saudi Arabia. However, Japanese officials have expressed firm opposition to the Saudis joining, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the request. Japan has been slowly loosening controls on weapons exports that were part of its legacy of pacifism after the second world war.

A senior UK defence source said: “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the UK’s strategic partnerships and UK defence is keen to deepen work on GCAP. We see Saudi Arabia as a key partner in the fighter programme and we are working to ensure strong progress as soon as possible.”

Saudi Arabia has had its eye on joining Tempest for some time. It signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK in March saying that the countries would carry out a “partnering feasibility study” to look at a future combat air partnership and closer industrial collaboration. Its defence minister, Khalid bin Salman, tweeted that the deal meant the country would join the international jet effort, only for the UK to hurriedly say it was a separate agreement.

It is thought that the talks on Saudi Arabia joining formally are still at a relatively early stage, and are being handled in the UK by the Ministry of Defence. Any formal agreement would require the prime minister’s signoff.

Saudi Arabia has recently tried to make itself less reliant on the US for its weaponry and is trying to build up a domestic weapons industry, said one Middle East analyst.

On Monday the kingdom signed a deal with Turkish defence firm Baykar Tech to manufacture drones – which have played a prominent role in Ukraine’s defence against Russia – in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia spent the equivalent of 6.6% of its GDP on its military in 2021, compared with 2.2% for the UK, 1.5% for Italy and 1.1% for Japan, according to the World Bank.

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Bollywood Lite Blogs

Hrithik’s ‘Fighter’ shooting begins

Hrithik starting 'Fighter'

The makers of the film are eyeing for the January 25, 2024 release of the film in theaters…reports Asian Lite News

Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan, who was most recently seen in ‘Vikram Vedha’, has finally started the shoot of his next movie ‘Fighter’ in which he will share the screen with Deepika Padukone.

The movie, which will be directed by Hrithik’s ‘War’ director, Siddharth Anand, will also star Anil Kapoor in the lead.

Taking to social media, Marflix Productions, the banner producing ‘Fighter’, shared a picture of Hrithik Roshan along with director Siddharth Anand flying off for the shoot. In the caption, they wrote “And it begins”. #FIGHTER (sic).”

‘Fighter’, which is an aerial action film, marks the first ever on-screen collaboration of Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan and the actor’s third collaboration with director Siddharth Anand after ‘Bang Bang’ and ‘War’.

The makers of the film are eyeing for the January 25, 2024 release of the film in theatres.

Earlier, Hrithik had taken to his Instagram, to share a new poster which he captioned: “25th January 2024 – see you at the theatres! #Fighter.” Deepika, on the other hand, captioned the post, “Fasten your seat-belts! #FIGHTER, India’s first aerial action film, releases on 25th January 2024 (sic).”

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-Top News USA

F-35 fighters arrive in South Korea

The aircraft deployed from Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, US Forces Korea (USFK) said in a statement…reports Asian Lite News

US Air Force F-35A stealth fighters arrived in South Korea on Tuesday on their first publicly announced visit since 2017 as the allies and nuclear-armed North Korean engage in an escalating cycle of displays of weapons.

Joint military drills had been publicly scaled back in recent years, first in 2018 because of efforts to engage diplomatically with North Korea and later because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May, has sought to increase public displays of allied military power, including exercises, to counter a record number of missile tests conducted by North Korea this year.

North Korea also appears to be preparing to test a nuclear weapon for the first time since 2017.

The six F-35As will be in South Korea for 10 days, South Korea’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

“The purpose of this deployment is to demonstrate the strong deterrent and joint defense posture of the US-ROK alliance while at the same time improving the interoperability between the ROK and US Air Force,” the ministry said, referring to South Korea by the initials of its official name.

The aircraft deployed from Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, US Forces Korea (USFK) said in a statement.

A USFK spokesperson said it was the first public deployment of the 5th generation fighter aircraft to South Korea since December 2017, but did not elaborate whether there had been unannounced visits.

A former senior US official previously told Reuters that during diplomatic talks many drills had in fact continued but had not been publicized.

South Korea has purchased 40 of its own F-35As from the United States, and is looking to buy another 20. The South Korean air force F-35As will be among the aircraft participating in the joint drills, USFK said.

North Korea has denounced joint exercises as well as South Korea’s weapons purchases as an example of “hostile policies” that prove US offers to negotiate without preconditions are hollow.

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