http://www.gulfnews.com/business/General/10271079.html
Bollywood film smashes revenue records Staff Report Published: December 29, 2008, 23:33 Dubai: Following its Christmas day debut across 22 countries, a film starring Aamir Khan Ghajini, has grossed $4 million, in countries outside India, over the Christmas weekend. Distributed by BIG Pictures - the motion pictures brand of Reliance BIG Entertainment Ltd (RBEL) - opened with revenues of $920,000 (Dh3.38 million) in the Middle East, the highest paying opening weekend for a Hindi film. Its opening in North America grossed $1.4 million, the second highest opening weekend for a Hindi film in 2008. The film will now open in four more countries; Myanmar, Uganda, Malaysia and Morocco in the coming weeks. _____ _____ The Bollywood title opened in the Middle East and North America setting new records, while in the UK it the had the biggest opening for a 15 rated film. Ghajini opened simultaneously in Ireland, Norway, Germany, Denmark, Holland, Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, New Zealand, Fiji, Mauritius, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia where it has broken all previous Bollywood release records. Overseas releases "Ghajini's performance demonstrates that overseas audiences are equally accepting, of quality action films, which are still a rarity, coming out of India. We are extremely pleased with the films opening, which has created bench marks in various international markets like North America, Australia, The Middle East" says Jawaher Sharma, COO of BIG Pictures. A Geetha Arts production, Ghajini is a remake of the critically acclaimed South Indian (Tamil language) film with the same title, also directed by A.R. Murugadoss which garnered the Best Actress Award for Asin Thottumkal at the South India Filmfare Awards. She also acts in the remake. The film also stars Aamir Khan, Asin Thottumkal, Jiah Khan, Mohit Ahlawat, Pradeep Rawat and Riyaz Khan. Ghajini features new music from Golden Globe® nominee (Best Original Score - Slumdog Millionaire) and Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborator A.R. Rahman, with lyrics by Prasoon Joshi. Reliance BIG Entertainment Ltd is the flagship media and entertainment arm of Indian conglomerate, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), with significant presence in film entertainment, broadcasting and new media ventures. With investments over $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) in its Filmed Entertainment business RBEL's motion picture brand BIG Pictures has built a formidable film production slate in Hindi, English and other Indian languages, which it markets and distributes worldwide. Projects They have projects with leading production houses and Indian directors such as Vidhu Vinod Chopra, David Dhawan, Indra Kumar, Ravi Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, Sudhir Mishra. Shaji N. Karun, Shyam Benegal, Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadev Dasgupta, M.S Sathyu and Amol Palekar, On the Hollywood side, BIG Pictures has projects with Nicolas Cage's Saturn Productions, Jim Carrey's JC 23 Entertainment, George Clooney's Smokehouse Productions, Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment and Jay Roache's Everyman Pictures.
