Indian media and entertainment company Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) has signed a five-picture deal with Florida-based animation house Motion Pixel Corporation (MPC) and its animation studio Estudio Flex in Costa Rica.

The deal covers five 3D animated full-length feature films, which will feature Indian and international actors, songs and dances presented in a Bollywood format.

The first of these films, Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena,is currently under production and scheduled for release early next year. Under the terms of the deal, PNC will handle creative aspects, from script development to movie soundtracks, and will also enlist Bollywood and international talent to lend their voices to the animated characters.

MPC will handle all components of the animation through Estudio Flex. The five movies will be dubbed into numerous languages and released globally. PNC will hold the copyright for the films along with India and global rights. MPC will get 50% of the movies' total worldwide revenue.

Three of the five films will be based on titles from PNC's catalogue which includes Bollywood Calling, The Mystic Masseur, Kaante, Jhankaar Beats and Chameli.

MPC chairman Manny Bains said: 'We are extremely excited to be working with PNC. We believe that taking both the multi-billion dollar animation sector and the ever-growing global Bollywood market ahead in tandem could well surpass all industry expectations.'

PNC founder Pritish Nandy said: 'We have seen some of the animation work done by Manny and his team at MPC and they will totally redefine what we know as animation movies in India.'

'These will be movies for all ages irrespective of language preference. From action movies to romances, comedies and horror, we will cover every genre. For the first time Bollywood movies will be truly going global.'