Renny Harlin’s Extraordinary Entertainment Sets Deal With India’s B4U
Extraordinary Entertainment, the Chinese company recently launched by Beijing-based Renny Harlin and DJ Parmar, has set a three film deal with India’s B4U. The deal was unveiled in the margins of the Shanghai International Film Festival.
The deal between the two is described as a co-development agreement. Details on financing and distribution were not disclosed.
The first film is “Operation Wild” a large scale action adventure written by Brian Brightly with Harlin set to direct. The film will co-star prominent Indian and Chinese actors, currently not identified. The story involves two elite combat warriors from China and India who lead covert forces to shut down a global wildlife poaching criminal organization.
B4U is a leading Indian entertainment company which operates Bollywood movie and music channels, in over 100 countries. It releases 10-15 movies per year, including recent titles “Queen,” “Airlift” and “Kaabil.”
“These films will highlight the emotional bond and cultural values that are common between the people of China and India,” said B4U CEO Ishan Saksena.
“The enormous success of co-production films like ‘Kung Fu Yoga’ and other Indian films has helped pave the way for Indian content in China. Building on this, we are excited to develop our new China-India film slate beginning with ‘Operation Wild’ and our partner B4U, one of India’s most renowned Entertainment companies,” said Extraordinary’s CEO Parmar.
Indian films have had a strong showing at the Chinese box office in recent months. They have been led by a trio of titles involving Aamir Khan, and his “Dangal” achieving $200 million at the Chinese box office. Following in their wake have been “Hindi Medium,” “Toilet Ek Prem Katha,” and “Baahubali 2.”
Launched at Cannes last month, Extraordinary is already announced as including “Solara,” which Harlin is also to direct and produce with Parmar, from the writing team of Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt (“London Has Fallen,” “Expendables 3,” “Olympus Has Fallen”). “Solara” is a Chinese tentpole sci-fi epic adventure revolving around an international team who have to work together in order to save the earth from a global catastrophe.
Lawyer Cao Yu negotiated the deal on behalf of Extraordinary, which is represented by UTA globally, with legal representation by Stephen L. Saltzman, Paul Hastings LLP, and Haiwen & Partners in China. Brightly is also represented by UTA.
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