Star to acquire 100 movie titles from China Star

New Delhi, Sep 17: Leading media and entertainment company in Asia Star, through its subsidiary Fortune Star, today entered into an agreement with China Star Entertainment Group, to acquire 100 movie titles for 18 million dollars.

Under the agreement which is expected to strengthen the company's Chinese content library, Star will have the perpetual and worldwide rights to 100 movie titles from One Hundred Years of Film, China Star Pictures, S&W and others -- all wholly-owned subsidiaries of China Star Entertainment Group.

The movie titles, majority of which were produced in the past five years, feature Hong Kong's cinematic icons including Andy Lau, Stephen Chow, Jet Li, Maggie Cheung, Cecilia Cheung and Tony Leung Ka-fai.

The library includes award-winning titles running on Karma, Running Out of Time and Lost in Time; and other box office hits such as Love on a Diet, Needing You, La Brassiere and Okinawa Rendez-vous.

''China Star's film library is one of the most sought after assets in the Hong Kong film industry. We are delighted with the acquisition and will work to ensure that these 100 titles, which have captivated the movie-goer, will continue to be enjoyed by people around the world,'' said Star Chief Operating Officer and Star Entertainment President Steve Askew.

The acquisition will further strengthen the company's Chinese content library and solidify Star Chinese Movies' position as the most powerful Chinese movie channel in the world, he added.

China Star Entertainment Group Chairman Charles Heung said, ''We are delighted to reach this agreement with Star, which is a great partner of ours throughout the years. I am confident that its expertise in content creation, aggregation and distribution will provide movie lovers new avenues in enjoying these 100 movies in the years to come.'' Star 60 television services in nine languages to more than 300 million viewers across 53 Asian countries and controls over 20,000 hours of Indian and Chinese programming.

In partnership with leading companies in Asia, Star businesses extend to filmed entertainment, television production, cable systems, direct-to-home services, terrestrial TV broadcasting, wireless and digital services.

China Star is a leading company in Hong Kong for both movies and TV drama series production and distribution. In Hong Kong alone, China Star movies, consistently account 3-4 of the top ten box office hits. Over the years, China Star productions have been frequently nominated for and won major awards in the Hong Kong Film Academy Awards and other regional industry awards.

UNI