UTV in list of top 20 distributors in US

New Delhi, Jul 27 (UNI) Riding on the excellent box office earnings overseas of a diverse genre of films in its stable this year, from 'Taare Zameen Par' to 'Jodhaa Akbar' to 'Race' and ''Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa', UTV Motion Pictures have emerged as the top 20 film distributors in North America, company sources said.

Based on the US box office performance of films distributed by it in the overseas market in the first 6 months of 2008, UTV Motion Pictures is now amongst the top 20 film distributors in North America, the sources said.

UTV releases grossed 5.48 million US Dollars in the first 28 weeks of the year, making the company the leading Indian motion picture distributor in the United States and the only foreign language movie distributor in the Top 20.

UTV is the first Indian film studio ever to have crossed the 5 million US Dollars revenue mark in the first half of the year.

The Company achieved this feat with only three releases this year Jodhaa Akbar ( 3.44 million US Dollars), Race ( 1.37 million US Dollars) and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na ( 539,857 US Dollars and counting).

The box office total was also supported by Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par which was released in December 2007 but which continued its run well into 2008.

Entering the Top 20 is a major achievement for an Indian studio, given the fact that the market for Indian movies in the US is a small fraction of the mainstream American market. This is especially remarkable considering that UTV is one of the youngest Indian film distributors in North America, having established operations in the US only four years ago in 2004.

''The US market is one of our Top 3 priority markets worldwide and our sustained and relentless drive to produce and release quality content and then market and distribute it effectively, has helped us emerge as one of the top distributors in the most competitive market in the world." Said CEO, UTV Motion Pictures Siddharth Roy Kapur.

UTV has followed this stellar box office performance in the first half of 2008 with the release of Shahid Kapur-Vidya Balan starrer 'Kismat Konnection' on July 18, 2008. 'The movie' has raked in over 280,000 US Dollars in just its opening weekend and is still going strong.

UTV's forthcoming films include Madhur Bhadarkar's latest 'Fashion', 'Delhi 6'- Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's follow up to 'Rang De Basanti' and a co-production with Sohail Khan Productions 'Main Aur Mrs Khanna' starring Salman Khan. The company's first solo Hollywood production 'The Exterminators' starring Heather Graham is currently in production in the United States.

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