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BVG Films and DAR Motion Pictures will build on their first co-production, Haunted , billed as India's first Stereoscopic 3D film, to make two more 3D films in two to three years.
The combined budget of the movies will be Rs 100 crore.
The co-producers announced on Tuesday that they have partnered UFO Moviez India Ltd to drive conversion of cinemas across India to become 3D-compliant.
According to a DAR Motion Pictures spokesperson, the number of 3D-compliant screens in India stood at 120 during the start of the year, up from around 60 during the release of Avatar (2009). The functional movie screens in India is estimated at 9,000, with 4,000 to 5,000 doing regular business.
“We estimate the current number of screens that have converted to be 190 to 200, and we're confident that Haunted will be released on May 6 in 3D in 250 to 300 screens,” he added.
Reliance Entertainment is distributing Haunted .
The number of 3D-compliant cinemas in India is set to go up to 1,200 in two to three years, driven by companies such as UFO Moviez that enable the conversion, and players like DAR that are subsidising screen owners for the initial cost, said the DAR official. Another key factor driving conversion is the availability of Indian content.
“In major metros, a lot of the theatres have converted to 3D. Now we're seeing conversions in tier-2 and tier-3 towns. Excitement for 3D is high in these markets,” the spokesperson added.
Market watchers observe that the yield in ticket price and yield is higher for 3D movies viewed on 3D screens, sometimes going up three to four times that of 2D movies.
The remaining two movies in the BVG-DAR deal will be edge-of-the-seat 3D action thrillers, a genre decided on based on research.
Mr Arun Rangachari, Chairman, DAR Capital Group, said, “Given our complete belief in this technology and the chicken and egg situation between the film exhibition and distribution fraternity and producers in India with regards 3D films, we decided to take the plunge with Vikram (Bhatt) through Haunted and are very glad to have found a like-minded partner in UFO.”
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