MUMBAI: Newly launched Lionsgate India is stitching together plans to remake two high-concept international properties in collaboration with Azure Entertainment and Lionsgate affiliate Globalgate. The two remakes, the first titles under the new partnership, are of hit Mexican comedy Instructions Not Included and South Korean action thriller The Terror Live for India.
Headed by former Reliance MediaWorks executive Sunir Kheterpal, Azure is backed by The Three Sisters: Institutional Office. It positions itself as a content development and production company with a mix of remakes and adaptations as well as in-house development of large-scale projects.
Instructions Not Included (2013) was produced by Lionsgate’s Pantelion Films and became the highest-grossing Spanish-language film in North America. It has already been remade in France by Vendome/Mars Films as Demain Tout Commence and is being developed in other territories.
Azure and Globalgate will also produce an Indian version of The Terror Live, which was a hit for Lotte Entertainment in 2013 and is under discussion for multiple other remake deals. Azure and Lionsgate India are currently finalising the writers and directors for the two projects.
“We’re pleased to partner with the world-class creative team at Azure on our first major local-language film production initiative in India. Instructions Not Included and The Terror Live are two great story-driven properties from the Globalgate library that have already demonstrated their appeal worldwide,” said Lionsgate India managing director Rohit Jain.
Azure has a two-picture deal with Warner Bros, including a reworking of Hong Kong crime classic Infernal Affairs”; a three-film deal with France’s Gaumont; and deals in Spain to remake mystery thriller The Body with Rodar y Rodar and The Invisible Guest with Atres. Azure is also working on an adaptation of Sophie Kinsella’s global bestseller Can You Keep a Secret? and Sushant Singh’s Mission Overseas.
Globalgate is a consortium led by Lionsgate and involving 10 other content companies. Operated by William Pfeiffer, it will be at the Cannes Film Festival scouting for further content.
