Hong Kong—Dec 9, 2010
Scrabble Entertainment Signs Up with Hollywood Studios for Middle East Deployment
Scrabble
Entertainment, India’s first and only digital cinema deployment entity, is
going international. After deploying 220 screens across 23 cities in India, and
with plans for a further 250 screens by next year, Scrabble Entertainment will
now foray into the Middle East. The company will deploy over 400 screens in the
region over the next two years. To facilitate the deployment in this region,
Scrabble has so far signed non–exclusive digital cinema deployment agreements
with FIVE major Hollywood studios,
namely 20th Century Fox International, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
International, Paramount Pictures International, Universal Pictures
International and Warner Bros Pictures.
The
roll out will commence in early 2011 and will cover the United Arab Emirates,
Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordon and Syria. Scrabble will be the
first deployment entity in the Middle East, a region that shares similar
characteristics to the Indian theatrical marketplace. Scrabble’s decision to
expand in its deployment footprint to the Middle East is therefore not
surprising. The benefit of digital cinema will be realized by all players in
the Middle East market, from content owners, to distributors to exhibitors.
“Scrabble
Entertainment has already managed to gain a strong foothold in the Indian
entertainment market. We now have a much better understanding of the business.
Since our funding and infrastructure is in place, it’s time to move to other
markets.” said Ranjit Thakur, commenting on his expansion plans. “The Middle
East, for many reasons, was our obvious first choice.”
Scrabble
will soon begin bringing Middle East theatrical exhibition into the digital
age, converting 100% of the screens within each cinema complex to a full
digital cinema infrastructure. In response to the broad 3D slate announced by
the major studios, Scrabble aims to significantly increase the number of
screens capable of playing 3D content within the region. Going forward, it is
clear that having just one or two screens equipped with 3D in a large complex
is not enough.
Scrabble
has played a vital role in the advent of digital cinema in India and it is now
set to repeat this feat in the Middle East.
