BHUBANESWAR: Satellite-based digital cinema network UFO Moviez is all set to aggressively promote Odia films in pockets outside the State having sizeable Odia population.
The market leader in delivering films via satellite directly to the theatres, UFO is working with the cinema halls in states like Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to simultaneously release Odia films across the country, including Odisha.
“There is substantial migrant Odia population in regions like Surat in Gujarat, Hyderabad and bordering areas of Andhra Pradesh, Raipur in Chhattisgarh and even in Kerala. We have been getting enquiries on Odia films and have started work on delivering films there on the release date itself. The hall-owners are also keen to screen Odia films where the Odia concentration is quite high,” chief operating officer (COO) Pankaj Jaisinh told the media here on Monday.
UFO Moviez now commands almost an absolute control over the digital movie network in the State with over 120 of the around 140 operational theatres using its services.
Making an entry into Odisha in 2006, UFO till now has digitised and delivered more than 67 Odia films. It has close to 2,800 digital cinema installations spread across 1,300 cities in the country. It has so far released over 4,085 films in 30 languages and conducted more than 9.2 million shows.
“The satellite-based delivery system provides a win-win situation for all from movie-makers to theatre-owners. Flicks can be delivered through satellite to innumerable screens irrespective of the geographical locations on the same day, thus eliminating the burden of having to make reel prints and sending them through messengers,” Jaisinh said.
The company is now in the process of optimising several theatres in the Capital to make Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) compliant screens and thereby release Hollywood movies of all the major studios, on the same day of worldwide release. UFO recently acquired controlling stake in Scrabble Entertainment Limited which holds virtual print fee (VPF) contracts with major studios like Warner, Fox, Disney, Universal, Paramount and Sony. Scrabble has already deployed 400 DCI screens in the country and the number is expected to grow to 1,200 by end-2012.