Eros announces first ever Indo-China productions

Film studio will release two Indo-Chinese productions featuring talent from both countries

Sunil Lulla promoted film studio Eros International has announced two Indo-China co-productions to be released in FY18 through its feature film studio Trinity Pictures. The studio has roped in directors Kabir Khan to direct travel drama, The Zookeeper and Siddharth Anand to direct cross-cultural romantic comedy, Love in Beijing (both are working titles). The films will be co-produced with China’s Peacock Mountain Culture & Media and Huaxia Film Distribution Company.

The two films mark the first ever Indo-China co-productions and will be set in both India and China. Han Sanping, former Chairman of China Film Group, will be involved as creative producer on both the projects. Sanping has produced more than 300 films and 100 TV series, including Red Cliff, Karate Kid, and Let the Bullet Fly.

The studio has had its eyes set on entering the Chinese film production market for a while now. Group CEO Jyoti Deshpande had revealed in an interview with Business Standard that Eros sees China has a huge opportunity to scale up in terms of footfalls and revenues, if only a script that caters to both the countries’ audiences can be found and executed. 

As per PWC Outlook 2016, China is expected to overtake the US box office in 2016 growing to $10.3 billion. In 2015 the box office grew to $6.3 billion marking a 49 per cent year on year growth. In early 2014 China had just under 19,000 screens and by end of 2015 that number grew to almost 32,000. Overall China is propelling Asia-Pacific’s growth (including Indonesia, Malaysia) with box office revenue across Asia-Pacific expected to grow to $21.11 billion by 2020 and thus continue to emerge as important growth markets for Bollywood.

Last year, Eros International signed memorandums with leading Chinese state owned film companies, China Film Group Corp, Shanghai Film Group and Fudan University for the exploitation of intellectual property rights as well as to develop, co-produce and distribute Indo-China films across all platforms in both countries.

With a budget of $25 million (Rs 168 crore approx.), Khan’s The Zookeeper will have a leading Indian male actor and leading Chinese actress. The film tells of the journey of an Indian zoo keeper who travels China to find a panda to return to India with, in order to save his zoo. Anand’s cross-cultural romantic comedy, Love in Beijing, will feature an Indian actress and leading Chinese male actor and is based on an Indian girl who falls in love with a Chinese man. The production cost for Love in Beijing is approximately $15 million (Rs 100 crore approx.). The films will be shot simultaneously in both languages and are due for release in FY18.

While the original stories were developed by the Trinity Pictures Writers’ Room, creative teams from both Trinity Pictures and the Chinese film companies worked closely on the scripts to create storylines that blend Sino-Indian culture. The films will be shot across India and China with major parts of Kabir Khan’s The Zookeeper shot in Chengdu, while Siddharth Anand’s Love in Beijing will be shot in Beijing and its suburbs.

Jyoti Deshpande, group CEO, Eros International said, “We continue to establish our dominant global distribution network including entry into the Chinese market. We believe China to be a significant market opportunity for Indian films. Following our co-production treaties last year, we are very proud to announce the first of our joint productions going into production soon. With Trinity, we also want to tell stories that transcend the language barrier and have mainstream appeal. We believe our Indo-China co-productions will be game-changing as we pave the way to open up one of the largest film markets in the world.”

Ajit Thakur, CEO, Trinity Pictures added, “It’s a revolutionary milestone for Indian cinema as Eros’ Trinity Pictures becomes the first Indian studio to collaborate with China’s Huaxia Film Distribution Co. Ltd and Peacock Mountain Culture & Media Ltd and deliver our vision for a truly global film. Having two acclaimed directors on board with us is a big leap towards opening one of the biggest and the fastest growing film markets in the world. With these co-productions being shot in both languages, we hope to present compelling film content, weaving in the socio-cultural worlds of both countries, which should appeal to the massive Sino-Indian market."

Creative producer, Han Sanping said, "Creating an entertaining movie for two of the biggest markets in the world is a big challenge. But having good creative people from both India and China working together we are sure to be successful."

Allen Liu, Partner, Peacock Mountain added on the association, “It's exciting to finally pull the curtains over the efforts from writers from both India and China side. Getting the right and the organic story was one of the most important aspect for both the teams from beginning. Hope the movie shapes up to be a true co-production.”