MUMBAI: Eros International has inked as many as three deals with China’s state owned film and entertainment companies to promote, co-produce, distribute and unlock value in respective intellectual properties for Sino-Indian films across all platforms in both the countries.
After signing a co-production deal with China Film Group Corporation (CFGC), Eros has now signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with Shanghai Film Group Corporation (SFG) and Fudan University.
The collaboration with the Shanghai Film Group Corporation incorporates exploitation of intellectual property rights owned by each party in their respective markets, development, co-production and distribution of film projects for both India and China. The treaty paves the way for Eros to become the preferred Indian film partner in China.
Eros has also entered into an association with Fudan University, which includes the ability for Eros to license Fudan’s IP for remakes or co-productions in India. Fudan will also assist Eros in obtaining publishing licenses for the promotion and distribution of the films from the Eros library in China across various platforms including dubbing them or remaking them to suit local audience tastes.
The MoUs were signed by Eros International managing director Sunil Lulla at the recently concluded India-China Business Forum in Shanghai, attended by Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi.
Lulla said, “This is a very proud moment for us at Eros to be associated with the biggest and most-respected Chinese media companies. We are humbled by the gestures that make us the most preferred partner in the field of media and entertainment and we are committed to helping both countries expand their market and audience instantly to over 2.5 billion people. We are really excited about the possibilities and the potential and making films together is just the tip of the ice-berg as we hope to extend these partnerships across all platforms including online.”
China Film Group Corporation chairman La Peking said, “Wish India and China collaboration will be more and more fruitful.”
Shanghai Film Group Corporation president Ren Zhonglun added, “Eros is a very respectable company, which we always looked forward to working with. This strategic partnership MoU between Eros and SFG fits into the general background of the collaboration between two countries - India and China. It is also the fruit of collaborative effort on resource sharing by filmmakers from two countries. China and India together have 2.5 billion population with great market potential. As Asian countries, we share a lot of similarities in terms of culture, religion and art. There is big space in movie co-operation. We expect to visit back to India and Eros in the near future to further our collaboration.”
As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, Eros International signed its first ever Sino-Indian co-production deal with Chinese state owned production company CFGC to co-produce the movie Da Tang Xuan Zang (Monk Xuan Zang) based on the life of a Chinese monk.
The Chinese movie market is sized at $4.8 billion, second only to the US, and grew 34 per cent in 2014. China produced over 600 films in 2014. The number of theatre screens in China has also quadrupled since 2010 with 5,397 screens added in 2014 alone, taking their screen count to 23,600. As per industry projections in the next five years, China is expected to surpass the US to be the world’s largest box office. In comparison, India’s widest release to date has been across just 5,000 screens.
