Includes Bollywood, regional, Hollywood films.
By Prabhav Hiremath
MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures, Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Red Chillies Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment are all well-known big banner Indian film production companies with an average of two-three movies being chalked out every year, with huge star cast.
It came as a surprise when Hollywood companies like Walt Disney (with UTV), 20th Century Fox, Viacom 18, Warner Bros., and Sony Pictures decided to make an entry into Indian film space with an intention of either co-producing, marketing or distributing Indian films.
This year has been excellent for these overseas studios with a decent amount of business at the Indian Box Office. And it’s going to get better next year.
Come 2014, Indian audience will see Fox Star Studios’ presence in more than a film every 2 weeks. The Hollywood biggie (20th Century Fox), which entered the Indian market in 2008, has a total of 28 films to be released in 52 weeks in India across Hindi, Tamil and English languages. This comes post Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Bullett Raja released last Friday by Fox Star Studios. Such a pile of films make it the highest for any studio in India.
The line-up, consisting of as many as 9 Hindi, four Tamil and 15 English films have all A-list stars like Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma and Vidya Balan on the line-up in the Bollywood releases.
The studio has some business plans too to execute in the coming months. It includes partnering with Vishesh Films for a three-film deal and with Amol Gupte for Hawaa Hawaai; joining hands with new player like Pooja Entertainment and Films Ltd., and some established one’s like Phantom Films, Illuminati Films and Endemol India.
Fox Star Studios, an Indian Motion Picture company, is a joint venture between Hollywood’s 20th Century Fox and Star, both brainchild of Rupert Murdoch. The studios’ track record includes some of the big films released over a period of time like Slumdog Millionaire in 2009, and My Name is Khan in 2010.
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