Lionsgate, Eros ink distribution pact
CANNES -- North America's Lionsgate and India's Eros International are joining forces to distribute Lionsgate and other English-language content to the 1.3 billion-person South Asian market.
The companies will split profits 50/50 on the as-yet-unnamed venture, which will produce original films using both U.S. and Indian talent and remake properties from each company. Lionsgate will draw on Eros theatrical (which controls 40% of the Indian market), home entertainment, television and new media distribution channels for its catalog titles, and vice versa. Original and dubbed-language projects will be released.
Lionsgate co-chairman and CEO Jon Feltheimer said that the distribution deal will begin immediately, and new production plans will be launched in about three months. Eros chairman and CEO Kishore Lulla estimates it will start with about two-to-three soon-to-be-announced projects and eventually ramp up to 10-20 productions a year using English- and Indian-language talent in the vein of such films as "Bend it like Beckham" for crossover appeal. By the end of the year, at least one exec will be hired to work specifically for the venture.
Lionsgate also will acquire North American home entertainment distribution rights to 20 top features from Eros' library of 1,900 titles.
Feltheimer, who announced the deal with Lulla on Eros' Cannes yacht office boat, said the company will be open to service deals or additional partners in the arrangement, citing Lionsgate's recent formation of a new pay TV channel with Viacom's Paraount and MGM as one example of similar collaboration.
The execs met 12 years ago when Feltheimer was at Sony Pictures Entertainment and entered into a TV deal with Eros. Feltheimer said his main motivation for the new venture was the untapped potential of the market in India, the second-largest English speaking nation in the world.
Lionsgate has had some of its biggest hits with violent genre fare, many of which would be considered too extreme for Indian audiences. Feltheimer sidestepped the issue when asked about it, instead mentioning possible remake properties such as "Dirty Dancing" and "The Eye" as films suited to the partnership.
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