"We will put a part of the fund in developing infrastructure for our distribution and exhibition network in North America, Europe, Australia, Malaysia and the Middle East," said Reliance Big Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney during the Marche du Film, the Cannes fest's marketing conclave.
Reliance BIG Entertainment had early this year launched a 250-screen chain of movie theatres across 28 US cities under the BIG Cinema moniker. This chain is over and above the 160-screen cinema chain the company has already acquired in India. It plans to have 400 screens in India by next year.
Alongside its deal with top eight Hollywood stars including Brad Pitt, Reliance BIG Entertainment also announced a package of 69 movies to be made in nine Indian languages with varying budgets in the next two years.
Moreover, the company has also finalised a few collaborative ventures with leading Indian filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Madhur Bhandarkar, Sudhir Mishra and Vivek Agnihotri, besides Excel Entertainment, sponsored by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar.
Chopra will make two English movies under this deal. They are "Broken Horses," to be directed by himself and "Taalismaan", which will be directed by Ram Madhvani.
"Broken Horses," based on a story written by Chopra himself, has been scripted by Abhijat Joshi and Jason Richman.
"Taalismaan" is the movie adaptation of "Chandrakanta," a fantasy-romantic Hindi novel written by Devkinandan Khatri in 1892.
The six movies that Reliance BIG Entertainment will make with Excel Entertainment include "Rock On!", "Luck By Chance", "Voice From the Sky", "Don II" (a sequel to the Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Don" of 2006), "7 Minutes" and "Accident Spot".
Benegal will make two movies, Bhandarkar four, Agnihotri three, Vashu Bhagnani five and Mishra two movies in the next two years.