Pyramid Saimira deals with VMG for 12 films

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
Pyramid Saimira Theatre (PSTL), India's largest digital theatre chain company, has entered into a commercial arrangement with London based Vision Media Group (VMG) to acquire and distribute about 12 films from VMG.

VMG is a content house of repute having produced more than 30 films in 4 years in India and abroad in various languages. The vision of VMG is to produce and acquire the best and most existing content and to tie up with the biggest and best theatrical chains in the country and abroad for distribution.

It may be also noted that VMG would invest Rs 100 crore in Pyramid Saimira Content Fund Management, an asset management company (AMC) floated by PSTL. The AMC is in the process of raising $150million content fund in the first phase. The fund has plans to raise $500 million by the end of the current fiscal.

The content fund is expected to help film-makers produce films without delays. Producers will have to sell the copyright and marketing rights of the film to PSTL. Though the funding may not necessarily cover the financing of the film, sources said venture capital funds and high net worth individuals have shown interest towards investing in it.

With one leg in the film production business as well as control over exhibition, Pyramid Saimira's business model eliminates the traditional middleman - the distributor. By virtue of its control over hundreds of screens, the company is able to simultaneously show a film in multiple locations, which, to some extent, cuts piracy.