The Walt Disney Company India and UTV Motion Pictures today announced an agreement whereby The Walt Disney Studios will handle home entertainment distribution for some of the key titles from the UTV Motion Pictures studio. The titles to be distributed as a part of this deal include the latest UTV blockbusters Raajneeti and I Hate Luv Storys.
Other titles included as a part of this deal are UTV’s latest co production Udaan and the film that was India’s official selection for the Academy Awards Harishchandrachi Factory, What’s Your Raashee?, Aage Se Right for which Disney’s Home Entertainment division will handle distribution and marketing.
The Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment division is a leading player in the Indian home entertainment market. The division distributes the full range of Disney branded and non-branded DVD products produced, developed or acquired by the Walt Disney Studios and various television businesses including Disney-ABC, Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney. The popularity of Disney titles amongst Indian families and children continues to grow with past release success including The Lion King, Jungle Book, The Incredibles and Pirates of the Caribbean 2- which are among the highest selling DVDs of all time in India.
Established in 1995, UTV Motion Pictures has played an active role in pioneering the studio model in the Indian film industry and has emerged as a strong player with a slew of successful movies like BAFTA nominated Rang De Basanti, Khosla Ka Ghosla, The Namesake, A Wednesday!, Dev D, Jodhaa Akbar, Kaminey and more. UTV has also successfully distributed films like Aamir Khan's directorial debut Taare Zameen Par & his production Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and Dharma Productions Wake Up Sid. The studio has already delivered two of this year’s biggest blockbuster Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti and I Hate Luv Storys a coproduction with Dharma. The studio has planned an aggressive slate of movies for 2010 -11 including Sanjay Leela Bansali’s Guzaarish, Rajkumar Gupta’s No One Killed Jessica, Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan, and many more.
“We are delighted to be working with UTV once again through our home entertainment business distributing and marketing key titles from their slate on Blu-ray discs, DVDs and VCDs to audiences throughout India,” says Mahesh Samat, managing director of The Walt Disney Company, India. “Disney India’s home entertainment business went direct early last year and in addition to distributing our own Disney titles, by working with key titles from UTV’s film slate, we continue to bring great stories and content to the small screens, entertaining families and children all over India.”
On this announcement, Siddharth Roy Kapur, CEO, UTV Motion Pictures said, “The Walt Disney Company India has established a strong foothold in the Home Entertainment space within a short span of time and we at UTV are thrilled to partner with them for some of our key titles.”
The distribution agreement adds to the Walt Disney Studio Home Entertainment’s growing retail presence, distributing and marketing popular titles to Indian families and fans. In addition to this announcement, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will also look for more local opportunities to provide Indian viewers with a more diverse range of content across genres and languages.
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About The Walt Disney Company in India
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, interactive media and consumer products. Disney is a Dow 30 company with revenues of nearly $36 billion in its most recent fiscal year, and a market capitalization of US$ 67.37 billion as of 26 July, 2010. For more information about The Walt Disney Company please visit: http://corporate.disney.go.com/
The Walt Disney Company (India) Pvt Ltd opened on July 1, 2004 and in less than five years of operation has established a strong foothold in this diverse region. Disney India employs around 161 permanent staff with offices based in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.
About UTV Software Communication Ltd.:
UTV Software Communications Limited is the India’s only global integrated media house with business interests in Television, Movies, Broadcasting, Games Content and New Media. UTV India & its subsidiaries (UTV) create, aggregate and disseminate content of various genres across varied distribution platforms.