Looking at increasing its footprint in India, Paramount Pictures on Wednesday announced a strategic alliance with Viacom 18 to distribute and market their releases across the sub-continent. President Andrew Cripps spoke to Varada Bhat on their alliance and plans for the Indian market. Edited excerpts:
You have joined hands with Viacom 18, what is your India strategy?
I think for us this association is about growth. Alliance with a strong local partner gives us the scope for national distribution of our films, instead of going for several sub-distributors. We can build our movie marketing strategies and do promotions activities while leveraging media assets of Viacom 18 such as MTV, VH1 and other internet platforms.
What's your view about the Indian market in the context of Hollywood movies?
Personally I feel the market is on the path of growth. One can no longer make money with action and horror movies. Part of this is because the middle class has developed taste for different genres of movies. For instance, our movie No Strings Attached did exceedingly well here a few months back. We compare this market to Russia and Brazil 10 years ago. We have seen those markets expand rapidly in a short span. Now, Russia is the sixth biggest territory we have internationally. I see the same characteristics in the India today. For instance, Transformers is now being released with 550 prints in four languages. In the next four-five years, India should be in the top 10.
After Avatar, there has been a 3D rush. What do you think is the future of this technology?
3D is here to stay. 2010 was certainly the year when 3D had a major impact on the box office, with eight of the top 15 international titles (presented) in 3D. But, as an industry, we have to be careful what movies we make in 3D. Like Transformers is the perfect example. This way the audiences will not only recognise, but also embrace the technology. And they are willing to pay a premium for 3D because it is a whole new experience.
So far Paramount Films operated here as Paramount Films India ? What happens to that?
We have joint venture with Universal Studios called United International Pictures (UIP). We are working with our partners Universal to understand their plans for the company. They have to make a decision on what they want to do in the next couple of months.
Do you plan to enter into co-production deals with film production houses such as Sony and Warner ?
This is something we are definitely going to look at. Our short-term objectives are proper launch for the venture and focus on the marketing of the movies. If there are other opportunities from this alliance, we will look at it.
Do you plan to have theme parks here as well?
You never know. India is a huge country with a lot of consumers
From this alliance, would you also be looking at distributing and marketing Viacom 18 motion pictures releases globally?
Yes, definitely. There is huge audience of Indian films. Wherever we can, we will allow them to use our global distribution infrastructure.