In an audacious move, billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance Entertainment has bought or leased out more than 200 cinema theatres in America for an undisclosed sum, and plans to launch a cinema chain under the brand name ‘Big' from May.
This is the biggest South Asian venture in the entertainment sector in the United States, but not the first: Pyramid Saimira bought the Richardson, Texas-based FunAsia cinema chain in 2007. It has theatres in Texas, Chicago, Bay Area and Virginia.
Apart from Bollywood films, Reliance Entertainment will screen regional movies from the South and second-run Hollywood films in these theatres.
Some Hollywood insiders believe the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, which controls Reliance Entertainment, has invested close to $250 million in the venture. Add to this the money being spent to renovate the theatres, including installing air-conditioning and attractive concession stands, and the investment could approach $500 million.
Reliance Entertainment will run the chain with the help of the Tennessee-based management company Phoenix Theatres, headed by a former top executive of Regal chain theatres, Phil Zacheretti. Reliance could buy more theatres that will also show first-run mainstream films and this could pave the way to the purchase of multiplexes.
Text: Arthur J Pais / Syed Firdaus Ashraf
Image: Anil Ambani, chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. | Photograph: Pal Pillai/AFP/Getty Images
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