Fox Star Studios India is making claim to be the biggest film distributor in the world’s second most populous nation. The company will next year release 28 movies across India, it announced today.
Fox Star Studios is a five-year-old joint venture between 21st Century Fox’s Indian pay-TV market leader Star Television and Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox.
The 2014 slate comprises 9 Hindi films, 4 in Tamil and 15 Hollywood pictures, sourced from Fox and through Fox’s five year international distribution relationship with DreamWorks Animation.
Though their market share is still under 10%, Hollywood films are making a growing impression at the Indian box office due to dubbing in multiple local languages and nationwide releasing, practices which have rarely been applied to Indian movies.
FFS’s line-up for India release includes “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (Jan.3, 2014), “Rio 2” (April 11, 2014), “X Men First Class: Days of Future Past” (May 23, 2014), “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (June 13, 2014), “Dawn of The Planet of the Apes” (July 18, 2014), “Night At The Museum 3” (Dec. 26, 2014), and “The Book Thief” (Feb. 7, 2014).
On the Hindi side FSS’s slate comes from a 3 picture deal with Vishesh Films and new alliances with Pooja Entertainment and Films Ltd, Phantom Films , Illuminati Films and the recently announced deal with Endemol India to deliver “Traffic.” Other highlights include “Omen Remake,” directed by Vishal Mahadkar set for a Sept. 14 release, and Anurag Kashyap’s “Bombay Velvet” set for a Christmas Day 2014 outing.
“The studio is making a strong statement about scaling up and becoming a key player in the Hindi film industry as also working with diverse talent cutting across genres,” said Vijay Singh, FSS’s CEO.
Stars featured in the Hindi slate include Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi, Arjun Kapoor and leading ladies Katrina Kaif,Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma and Vidya Balan.
In the Tamil film scene, FSS has pacts with C.V. Kumar’s Thirukumaran Entertainment, Next Big Films and with producer Atlee Kumar, who previously delivered hit “Raja Rani.”
Source: Variety.com
