New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) The over $2 billion Indian film industry finally managed to lure Hollywood biggies like Warner Bros and Walt Disney to invest in it in 2008. What's more, some homegrown production majors also managed to penetrate Western projects.
Among notable deals were Yash Raj Films collaborating with Walt Disney, Ramesh Sippy with Warner Bros for the next Akshay Kumar-starrer and Reliance BIG Entertainment with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG to produce 36 films.
'People across the world are looking forward to Indian films. They are keen to watch Indian cinema. Our films are appreciated by both critics and audiences worldwide and for that good collaborations with good content will definitely work wonders in the future,' Girish Johar, associate vice-president of UTV Motion Pictures, told IANS.
In 2007, Sony Pictures Entertainment-owned Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures was the first Hollywood studio to collaborate with an Indian production house. They co-produced 'Saawariya' with Sanjay Leela Bhansali Films.
Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'White Nights', 'Saawariya', which introduced Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor, was a box office disaster, but it did not dissuade other Hollywood production majors from investing in the Indian film market.
Following Sony, Hollywood studio Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures tied up with Raghav Bahl's TV 18 group and created a movie investment fund in early 2008.
Joining the league was Walt Disney Co. that invested in the Rs.13 billion ($324 million) Indian animation segment by inking a joint venture with Yash Raj Films (YRF).
Their first co-production 'Roadside Romeo' tanked at the box office, but Hollywood production house will still come out with at least one animated film every year with voice-overs from Bollywood actors.
Another mega Hollywood giant to enter the Hindi film industry was Warner Bros. It ventured as distributors with the dud 'Saas, Bahu Aur Sensex' and is now co-producing Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Chandni Chowk to China' (2009) with Ramesh and Rohan Sippy.
Warner Bros also signed a three-movie deal with People Tree Films and a one film tie-up with Tandav Films, which produced 'Khosla Ka Ghosla'. The production house has also brought in internationally acclaimed Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur to direct a $200-million Hollywood fantasy-epic 'Larklight'.
While the Hollywood studios' production ventures bombed at the Indian box office, India's UTV Motion Pictures, which collaborated with 20th Century Fox to co-produce M. Knight Shyamalan's 'The Happening', raked in $31.5 million at the US box office in the opening weekend. Read More...
Among notable deals were Yash Raj Films collaborating with Walt Disney, Ramesh Sippy with Warner Bros for the next Akshay Kumar-starrer and Reliance BIG Entertainment with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG to produce 36 films.
'People across the world are looking forward to Indian films. They are keen to watch Indian cinema. Our films are appreciated by both critics and audiences worldwide and for that good collaborations with good content will definitely work wonders in the future,' Girish Johar, associate vice-president of UTV Motion Pictures, told IANS.
In 2007, Sony Pictures Entertainment-owned Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures was the first Hollywood studio to collaborate with an Indian production house. They co-produced 'Saawariya' with Sanjay Leela Bhansali Films.
Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's 'White Nights', 'Saawariya', which introduced Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor, was a box office disaster, but it did not dissuade other Hollywood production majors from investing in the Indian film market.
Following Sony, Hollywood studio Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures tied up with Raghav Bahl's TV 18 group and created a movie investment fund in early 2008.
Joining the league was Walt Disney Co. that invested in the Rs.13 billion ($324 million) Indian animation segment by inking a joint venture with Yash Raj Films (YRF).
Their first co-production 'Roadside Romeo' tanked at the box office, but Hollywood production house will still come out with at least one animated film every year with voice-overs from Bollywood actors.
Another mega Hollywood giant to enter the Hindi film industry was Warner Bros. It ventured as distributors with the dud 'Saas, Bahu Aur Sensex' and is now co-producing Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Chandni Chowk to China' (2009) with Ramesh and Rohan Sippy.
Warner Bros also signed a three-movie deal with People Tree Films and a one film tie-up with Tandav Films, which produced 'Khosla Ka Ghosla'. The production house has also brought in internationally acclaimed Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur to direct a $200-million Hollywood fantasy-epic 'Larklight'.
While the Hollywood studios' production ventures bombed at the Indian box office, India's UTV Motion Pictures, which collaborated with 20th Century Fox to co-produce M. Knight Shyamalan's 'The Happening', raked in $31.5 million at the US box office in the opening weekend. Read More...
© Copyright 2008 Indo Asian News Service.
Source AOL News
No comments:
Post a Comment