UTV to produce films with Fox, Sony

Abir Pal / TNN / Aug 21, 2006, 01:54 IST

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UTV, a listed media and entertainment company announced that it will co-produce international movies along with Fox Searchlight Pictures and Sony.

MUMBAI: After experimenting with crossover cinema, Indian film-makers are now gearing up to take on Hollywood on its home turf. UTV, a listed media and entertainment company announced that it will co-produce international movies along with Fox Searchlight Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Overbrook Entertainment; a production company owned by Hollywood actor Will Smith.
In two separate deals signed in Los Angles and New York over the weekend, $37 million will be invested by UTV, to produce movies that will include an action thriller starring Will Smith.
UTV will also invest $30 million in the new ventures signed with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Overbrook Entertainment; $10 million of which will go towards the Will Smith starring action flick and $20 million towards a computer graphic animated motion picture, to which again Will Smith will lend his voice. Both movies will be distributed through Sony Pictures Entertainment, which may in due course also contribute to the equity.
In another deal, UTV and Fox Searchlight, a subsidiary of 20th Century Fox, is jointly producing I Think I Love My Wife, a romantic comedy starring Chris Rock. Shot primarily in New York, the $14 million film will be released in US in February next year. This is UTV's second venture with Fox, after Mira Nair directed The Namesake, slated for a March 2007 release.

"This is the culmination of 18 months of discussions and for UTV, these projects are a big step in reaching key North American markets and expanding our presence globally," said Ronnie Screwvala, CEO, UTV Motion Pictures.
UTV's deal comes close after Anil Ambani's Adlabs inked a deal with Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park Entertainment. Adlabs shall be producing the David Ellis directed horror film, Asylum along with Hyde Park.

UTV shall be splitting profits and costs down the middle with Fox. In the deal with Overbrook, which UTV calls a "phased profit sharing" deal, Will Smith is expected to play a key role in firming up directors, scripts and the cast, with the primary financial commitment coming from UTV.
Indian film-makers strapped for cash are tying up with entertainment companies hungry for content, international studios with local film-makers and now Indian entertainment companies, eying the US box-office, with global ones.
While crossover films catering to the sizable Indian diaspora have met with some success, competing in mainstream Hollywood is a completely different ball game.

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