South Korea's Mars Entertainment has made a number of acquisitions including a deal for The Halcyon Company's Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.

Christian Bale will star in the fourth in the Terminator series to be directed by McG for a 2009 release. Warner Brothers hold US rights while Sony recently picked up most international rights.

'We're thinking of a wide release, on par with the size of Transformers,' said Michael Kim, CEO of Mars. CJ Entertainment opened Transformers locally on 851 screens last June. Its 7.4 million admissions made it the biggest foreign film in Korea.

Mars has also acquired Summit Entertainment's Knowing, a thriller starring Nicolas Cage directed by Alex Proyas and three films from the UK's Pathe - Duchess, starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes, and the thrillers Hush, directed by Mark Tonderai, and Eden Lake, directed by James Watkins.

Founded by veteran buyer Kim last year, Mars enjoyed success with Lust, Caution, which was distributed locally through CJ Entertainment, taking $12m.

The company is planning to release Jet Li and Jackie Chan vehicle Forbidden Kingdom through Cinema Service on April 24 in Korea, on 300 - 350 prints.

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