Category: Movies

MUMBAI: Nimbus Home Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nimbus Communications Limited, plans to invest Rs 1.5 billion over three years as it targets a nationwide presence in the home video segment.

A bulk of the investments will be towards movie content acquisition. “Content will take away 50 to 60 per cent of our investments. We have currently entered into annual licensing deals with most of the content owners,” says Nimbus Home Entertainment COO Sanjay Sharma.

Though the spotlight is on Bollywood films, the company is also aquiring regional language movies. Nimbus boasts of already having access to 16,000 titles. “We mainly have Hindi movies. We also have Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Bhojpuri and Punjabi titles. Besides, we have world cinema titles,” says Sharma.

Nimbus will soon add Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam movie into its portfolio, elaborates Sharma.

Marketing will consume Rs 500 million over three years. Nimbus will be spending on cross-promotional retail tie-ups, customisation of offers and store-centric activities as a part of its marketing initiative.

Nimbus has launched its first four stores and eight distribution centres (stock points) in Mumbai and will now be expanding to Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune.

The plan is to open 140 stores in 40 cities over the first year. “We are targeting 120 cities over three years. We will be having over 240 Showtime Video stores. We are also looking at the franchise route. Besides, we are in talks with big retail chains to have a tie up with them,” says Sharma.

Nimbus Home Entertainment will operate under the Showtime brand and will offer DVD rental and sale services with an online and offline presence.

“We want to initiate customer participation. By providing services to them through our stores, distribution network, SMS system, phone-ins and even with our delivery boys, we will be bringing in more choices for the customers. We will also try to help them in deciding what movies they want to take for viewing,” says Sharma.

Nimbus hopes to rope in 500,000-750,000 subscribers in the first year. “We expect to have 3 million subscribers by the end of the third year. We will have 15-20 per cent market share,” says Sharma.

Nimbus expects a turnover of Rs 600 million in the first year of operations. “We will operationally break even when our revenue touches Rs 1.2 billion. The operating margin in this business is 35 per cent,” says Sharma.

MUMBAI: Adlabs Cinemas, part of the Reliance ADAG, has opened a three-screen, 1045 seater multiplex in Hyderabad.

“The new multiplex will have three world class viewing screens with a total seating capacity of 1045 seats, seven food kiosks, DTS sound, Xenon projection systems, and wide screens,” an official statement said.

With the latest addition the company will boast of 61 multiplexes and 163 screens all over India.

Adlabs Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra said, “We have been waiting to enter Hyderabad in a big way. Hyderabad is a very attractive city for Adlabs due to the large cosmopolitan population and rising mall culture, as well as the people‘s love of films.

“Our first cinema here is located in the heart of the city and is easily accessible to students, young working people and is also a training centre hub. We believe that our property will more than do justice to the high expectations of the people of the city.”

MUMBAI:International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) will honour Nobel Prize laureate Dr Rajendra K Pachauri with IIFA Global Leadership Award at the FICCI-IIFA Global Business Forum.

FICCI IIFA Global Business Forum will be held with the objective to enhance the India-Thailand partnership. Heavyweights from Thailand and Indian business fraternity will attend the event and discuss the opportunities in investment, trade, infrastructure, real estate, gems and jewellery, among others.

The business forum will be addressed by Indian ambassador to Thailand Latha Reddy, FICCI SVP Harsh Pati Singhania, and other eminent panellists.

Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar Raj is set to premiere on the first day of the IIFA weekend.

This year the performances in the award function are designed to showcase four movies which will release in the year. The films include Love Story 2050, De Taali, The Mission Istanbul and Acid Factory.

Some of the big stars who will perform in the award function are Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Govinda, among others.

IIFA Fashion Extravaganza is set to take place over the two days and will be hosted by Karan Johar. The Fashion show will witness some of the high profile Indian designers presented by the film stars.

Wizcraft International Entertainment director Sabbas Joseph said, “IIFA promises to create a magical experience. From a serious business forum to glamorous performances and a spectacular IIFA Fashion Extravaganza, no stone has been left unturned in order to deliver the ultimate experience. We are committed to providing the best entertainment to our audiences and IIFA Bangkok will reinforce our vision of bringing people together at the grandest celebration of Indian cinema.”

Star Plus is the official telecast partner of the award function, to be telecast on 29 June. The channel has roped in Idea Cellular as the associate sponsor.

The IIFA Weekend 2008 is being held in association with Gitanjali with support from Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). The IIFA Premiere is powered by PVR and the venue partner is Major Cineplex, Bangkok. The IIFA Fashion Extravaganza is presented by Mufti and Audi, in association with Diamursa, Gitanjali Style Fest and co-sponsored by Alta Moda.

MUMBAI: Ashok Amritraj‘s Hyde Park Entertainment is setting up a multi-million dollar fund in Asia for the production of feature films.
The fund aims to raise $55-$73 million. Hyde Park‘s Asia offices will be based in Singapore.

Hyde Park will produce or co-produce three to four films per year, which will include a mixture of English and local or regional language films to target international as well as national or regional market.

The company aims to establish long-term producing partnerships with local production houses in India, Japan and South Korea.

The fund has positive support from Singapore‘s Media Development Authority, though it is not going to put in money behind the fund.

Singapore‘s Media Development Authority CEO Christopher Chia said that he expects the production funding to raise Singapore‘s position as a global media city.

In Asia Hyde Park has projects like “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li,” which is based on the Japanese “Street Fighter” video game authorization; and “The Other End of the Line,” a romantic comedy that will be released by MGM.

In India, Amritraj has a three-picture deal with Adlabs Films. Adlabs is also believed to be involved in co-financing films with Hyde Park Asia.

Headed by Lisa Wilson, Hyde Park International will handle all foreign territories. Hyde Park Asia will arrange North American distribution for the company‘s films.

MUMBAI: Regal Entertainment Group, the owner and operator of movie theater circuit in 551 locations in the US, is set to partner with RealD 3D to upgrade 1,500 screens with 3D technology.

The rollout will allow most U.S. markets to have 3D capability and will commence upon the completion of the Digital Cinema Implementation Partners (DCIP) initiative.

The consummation of the announced deal is subject to completion of definitive agreements and is dependent upon DCIP finalising the necessary digital cinema conversion arrangements.

Regal and RealD aim to work together to market and develop the RealD 3D platform in key Regal markets and theatres throughout the U.S.

“We are pleased to announce a significant expansion of our existing partnership with RealD. We believe RealD is a leader in digital 3D technology and will provide an exceptional 3D experience for our customers. We look forward to the finalisation of the DCIP deals, which will allow Regal to commence the expanded 3D rollout,” said Regal Entertainment Group CEO and chairman Mike Campbell.

“We are happy to become Regal‘s partner for premium 3D cinema. Regal has always been a leader in innovation and in bringing new forms of entertainment to their audiences. 3D is the fastest-growing area of filmmaking and Regal‘s unprecedented commitment to a nationwide RealD 3D platform represents a win for everyone,” said RealD chairman and CEO Michael Lewis.

MUMBAI: Eros International and US independent film and television studio Lionsgate have agreed to form a distribution joint venture in South Asia.

The venture will sell content across all formats including cinema, home entertainment, television and new media. The aim is to become a leading aggregator of western content for the Indian market, selling it in original and dubbed language versions within South Asia.

The announcement was made today at Cannes Film Festival by Eros International chairman and CEO Kishore Lulla and Lionsgate Co-Chairman and CEO Jon Feltheimer.

The joint venture is designed to combine the respective strengths of the two partners by allowing Lionsgate to monetise its library and new films within South Asia using the distribution network and infrastructure of Eros International.

In addition, Lionsgate will acquire North American home entertainment distribution rights to 20 select titles from Eros‘s library that have most potential for a wide mainstream release in North America. Eros has a library of over 1900 film titles.

With this deal, the two partners aim to monetise their respective libraries through one another‘s networks and distribution channels.

Said Lulla, “With this joint venture with Lionsgate, we can now leverage our respective distribution networks and help monetize and unlock value from our deep content libraries. We believe that Eros‘s initiative in aggregating and distributing Western content, particularly format and remake rights custom-tailored to Indian consumers, will give us a distinct competitive advantage in the South Asian market place. It will allow us to benefit from the growing box office, home entertainment, television market and digital new media opportunities. This also demonstrates our commitment to our content partners to showcase the best of Indian entertainment to as wide an audience as possible in North America through this alliance.”

The venture will also explore the production of Indian formats and remakes based on Lionsgate and third-party film catalogues. It has plans to create crossover films that will tap into India‘s local language market as well as audiences outside India.

Said Feltheimer, “Our partnership with Eros is a superb opportunity to extend the Lionsgate brand to more than a billion new consumers worldwide as well as providing a platform for Eros content through our established network in North America. This venture reflects Lionsgate‘s growth strategy on two levels- it continues the process of leveraging content already paid for into new distribution platforms, digital and traditional, around the world, and it extends our commitment to partnering with some of the top content owners and distributors around the globe.”

India, the second largest English speaking nation in the world, has a population of over 1.3 billion and a 400 million consuming middle class.

Eros’s partnership with Lionsgate follows its recent collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment, in September 2007, to co-invest in, jointly develop and produce a slate of Hindi and crossover films with broader appeal to be released in India and around the world.

NEW DELHI: Media Entrepreneur and Hollywood film producer Bhuvan Lall and eminent animator Ram Mohan are to be members of the juries of the 32nd International Animated Film Festival of Annecy in France next month.

While Lall is a member of the Television and Commissioned programmes Jury, Ram Mohan will be a member of the Feature Films Jury at the Festival taking placing from 8 to 14 June. This year’s Annecy is special as it is paying a tribute to Indian production with three programmes of short films and two features.

There will be four juries: the short film jury has Z Big from Poland, Helene Tangay from Canada, Stephen Flint Muller (Germany), John Canemaker from the United States, and Richard Williams from the United Kingdom; and the Graduation films jury has Sylvie Porte and Allain Burose from France and David Silverman from USA.

“Apart from Lall, the other members on the TV jury are Nicole Keeb from Germany and Michel Beaudet from Canada. The Feature jury has, apart from Ram Mohan, Barry Purves from UK and Matt Greening from USA,” said Annecy Festival head of programming Laurent Million.

The Indian films in competition are in three categories. Vibrant Gujarat by Mihir Upadhyaya is the sole short film in competition. There are three TV films in competition: Camouflage and Ostrich by Priya Kuriyan, and Neki and Pooch Pooch Belly Dance by Suresh Kumar Eriyat. The three commissioned films in competition are Papa Chunnilal by Suresh Kumar Eriyat. Happy Durga Puja by Santosh D. Kale and Happy Dusshera by Kavita Singh Kale.

Apart from these, the animated feature Return of Hanuman by Anurag Kashyap and the graduation film Frobidden Fruit by Subhangi Subramaniam are out of competition.

The festival will also have an animation feature film, Sita Sings the Blues from the United States by Nina Paley of Indian origin. The film is a musical adaptation of Valmiki’s Ramayana.

The films in the Colours of India section in different categories include 30 animation films from the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad), 15 each from Vaibhav Studios and Famous House of Animation of Mumbai, six from Nick India, five from the Animagic Special effects Pvt Ltd., two each from Industrial Design Centre and Tata Interactive Systems of Mumbai, and one each from Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics of Mumbai, Gitanjali Rao, Underground Worm, and Big Imagination of Pune. There is also one animation film from Flickerpix of Belfast.

Annecy has been the animation industry‘s leading international competitive festival for the past 45 years, presenting and promoting animation in all its different forms. The competition is open to feature films, short films, commissioned TV films and graduation films each using different animation techniques. The Festival includes film premieres, retrospectives, exhibitions and screenings.

Located close to the International Animated Film Festival, the market for Animation film is the global animation event for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing animation content across all platforms. This three-day event brings together 1700 companies and key decision makers in animation for TV, cinema, VOD, video games, mobile phone and publishing and provides through different networking platforms, the best environment to imagine, buy and sell animation from today and the future.

Lall told indiantelevision.com, “Annecy has long been known to have recognized cutting edge animation from all over the world and I am looking forward for participating in the prestigious event as a member of the Jury.”

MUMBAI: Anil Ambani has announced big plans to enter Hollywood movies. Reliance Big Entertainment, the media and entertainment company of the Reliance ADA Group, has inked a string of “development deals” with Hollywood talent: Nicolas Cage‘s Saturn Productions, Jim Carrey‘s JC 23 Entertainment, George Clooney‘s Smokehouse Productions, Chris Columbus‘ 1492 Pictures, Tom Hanks‘ Playtone Productions, Brad Pitt‘s Plan B Entertainment, and Jay Roach‘s Everyman Pictures.

The deals provide for the creation of a development silo for each of the production entities. They also carry the possibility of Reliance co-financing projects that emanate from these these deals.

Reliance Big Picture, the division of Reliance Big Entertainment that will focus on media investments outside of India, sees the development deals as the first major building block in the creation of a virtual studio, or new-generation media company.

Reliance Big Entertainment chairman Amit Khanna said, “Reliance Entertainment has a dominant position in India but, when it comes to motion pictures, it has been obvious that we need to extend our footprint to Hollywood. We are pleased to have devised this unique method of investing, whereby Reliance Big Picture can help advance the goals of several of the most important creators in the global industry. I expect to have further such development deals in the near future”.

The deals are part of Reliance Entertainment‘s long-term strategy for media investments in Hollywood, as it aims to build a fully integrated movie company with substantial holdings in production, distribution and exhibition.

The deals also secure Indian rights for resulting films which Reliance co-finances. Additionally, Reliance expects to attract suitable productions, with appropriate incentives to India.

Reliance Big Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney, “We are totally respectful of the existing first-look deals that each of our partners enjoys, and are confident that the respective studios will welcome our development silos and our subsequent co-financing ability. We are breaking completely new ground and not just as an Indian-based company”.

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) was instrumental in brokering the deals and is advising Reliance Big Entertainment on its Hollywood strategy.

The Hollywood announcement came soon after Reliance unveiled its 69-film two-year plans at Cannes on Friday.

Earlier this year, US-based billionaire investor George Soros picked up 3 per cent stake in Reliance Entertainment for $100 million.

MUMBAI: Big Entertainment, the media and entertainment arm of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group, has lined up 69 films in nine languages for production and distribution over the next two years.

The languages include Tamil (Vikram Kumar), Telugu (Krishna Vamsi), Kannada (Girish Kasaravalli) , Marathi (Amol Palekar), Bengali (Rituporno Ghosh and Buddhadev Dasgupta), Punjabi (Manmohan Singh), Malayalam, Gujarati and English.

Reliance Big Entertainment chairman Amit Khanna in a statement said that the deals include a two-film deal with Vidhu Vinod Chopra including his English-language gangster film Broken Horses, a six-film deal with Excel Entertainment promoted by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani including Shah Rukh Khan starrer Don II.

There is also a two-film deal with Shyam Benegal, four-film deal with Madhur Bhandarkar, three-film deal with Vivek Agnihotri and two-film deal with Sudhir Mishra.

Out of the total films, those in post production stage are Rock On, Sarkar Raj, Love Story 2050, Pathshala, Tamil film Yaavaram Nallam, Hulla, Summer 2007, Punjabi film Mera Pind and Shabri.

Films in production stage are Luck By Chance, Daddy Cool, Singh is Kinng, Sultan-the Warrior, Dulha Mil Gaya, Sikander and animation film Hey Krishna.

Khanna also added that Reliance ADA group at present has 106 operating cinema screens which is expected to go up to 400 by the end of the calender year 2009.

MUMBAI: Eros International has sewed a multi-year international partnership deal with Jaman.com, an online destination for international and independent films.

As per the deal, Eros will distribute approximately 100 Bollywood movies from its catalogue on Jaman.com.

“As the popularity of Bollywood films grow globally, Eros continues to lead in meeting this demand in India and internationally. Our partnership with Jaman allows us to expand our reach even further. We believe this relationship will create new audiences for Bollywood and Eros films all over the world,” said Eros International EVP business and corporate development Marcus Vannini.

The section of Eros titles available on Jaman.com include Sholay, Mother India, Don, Being Cyrus, Heyy Babyy, Omkara, Devdas, Dil Se, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Provoked, Salaam-e-Ishq, Chalte Chalte, Cheeni Kum, Munna Bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna, Bhai, Deewar and Namaste London.

“Eros has an incredible history of innovation and success showcasing blockbuster Bollywood films with stars including Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. We are delighted to bring these movies to new global audiences through our global entertainment platform,” said Jaman.com GM and VP corporate development Faisal Galaria.

Jaman.com will allow viewers to rent or stream free, ad-supported movies from its library including the Eros catalogue, which can then be viewed on PCs, Macs, televisions and home-set-top boxes.