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Fox Studios Opening in Myanmar
07 September 2012
US film studio 20th Century Fox has announced its first official release in Myanmar since it withdrew from the country in the 1960s, according to a report from the Voice of America.
20th Century Fox has authorized the first official release of one of its films, Titanic 3D, to Mingalar Company, Myanmar’s largest private film exhibitor. Mingalar controls 80% of the domestic market with eight cinemas.
Fox withdrew from Myanmar after the coup in 1962, says 20th Century Fox International’s senior vice president Sunder Kimatrai. In the intervening years, copies of Hollywood films were frequently smuggled into the country from Thailand, and shown in theaters, including those owned by Mingalar. Kimatrai says the company is hoping to reverse that trend.
“We have an interest in protecting our intellectual property, it is after all our most valuable asset. As we do anywhere else, we do whatever we can to enforce our property rights,” Kimatrai told the Voice of America. “And certainly in time that is something we would want to consider doing in [Myanmar]. Unauthorized screenings on the internet or in cinemas are a problem that we face around the\ world. In that regard [Myanmar] is no exception.”
Fox has recently entered frontier markets including Vietnam, Cambodia, and Papua New Guinea. Kimatrai says the recent relaxation of sanctions made it seem that it was a good time to take advantage of the changes in Myanmar. Tickets will be selling for up to K3,000 (US$3.50), which is six times as much as a regular ticket price, but Kimatrai says he believes crowds are willing to pay for the higher quality projections.
Mingalar has also recently invested upwards of US$300,000 on new digital projection equipment, which Kimatrai says makes it easier to control the security of copyrighted materials.
