EXCLUSIVE: Hot off the $15m-plus triumph of its Warrior adaptation in India, the US studio is understood to be lining up further Hindi-language features for 2016.
Studio brass have been encouraged by the early success of their first Hindi-language film, which has generated $15.4m in its first two weekends on the sub-continent and $17.2m overall including a handful of diaspora territories.
Now Lionsgate, which co-produced the $12-15m remake while Endemol India and Dharma Productions co-financed, is understood to be planning more.
The studio declined to identify titles but Screendaily understands the roster could encompass Bollywood remakes from the 16,000-strong library or original content made in association with Endemol India and Dharma Productions as well as other Indian entities.
Indeed sources said one major property has already attracted significant interest from local producers.
“We got very interested in India a couple of years ago and Jim Packer [president of worldwide television and digital distribution] and I took a trip to Mumbai and Delhi and met with production companies,” said Lionsgate evp of international sales Wendy Reeds on the genesis of Brothers.
“We spoke about our IP and asked if they were interested in remakes and Endemol India jumped on board. They thought it made for a great story that had not been done before in India, so we did the deal pretty quickly.
“Endemol then brought on Dharma Productions and Karan Johar, who is one of the best producers in the business, and brought the whole package together with the stars and made the movie.”
Rohit Tawari of Morris St Advisors brokered the Brothers deal for Lionsgate in India. The parties struck a worldwide satellite pre-sale to Viacom 18 and also closed a music rights deal. The film will also be released on DVD.
Brothers – India’s first MMA film – is an adaptation of Gavin O’Connor’s 2011 release Warrior starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton.
Fox Star presented the film in India and it opened on August 4 in approximately 4,000 theatres via Fox International.
Akshay Kunar, Siddarth Malhotra and Jackie Shroff star and Karen Malhotra directed the story of estranged brothers set against the background of the competitive MMA world.
Reeds (pictured) said the storyline followed that of the original faithfully, save for an enhanced backstory and the obligatory Bollywood dance sequence.
“It’s the same story,” she said. “Our executives saw the films in the Lionsgate offices when they sent an early version in Hindi and were able to follow it pretty closely.”
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