Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros are to end their Brazilian distribution alliance - formed less than two years ago - at the end of November.

According to Fox Warner Brazil general manager Marco Oliviera, Brazil's improving economy and rapidly expanding exhibition market have prompted both companies to go it alone.

"Both companies are doing so well [in Brazil] that they have decided they would be better off independent," Oliviera said. However Fox and Warner will retain their joint distribution operations in Argentina, Chile and Peru.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros International Theaters is understood to have chosen Brazil as the location of its first cinema circuit in Latin America. The circuit faces competition from UCI and Cinemark, the most entrenched international exhibitors in the market. Hoyts General Cinema opened its first multiplex in Brazil last year.

Brazil, Latin America's largest territory, has begun to recover from the plunge of its currency, the real. In early 1999, the real lost nearly half its value against the dollar but is currently stands at 1.75 to the dollar.