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HONG KONG – Shaw Brothers’ martial arts movies will be available in India on digital VOD for the first time, after their rights owners Celestial Pictures concluded a licensing deal with the newly-launched streaming portal BoxTV.
In an announcement Wednesday, the Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures said BoxTV, which officially launched in February, will be granted multi-year digital VOD rights to more than 100 martial arts movies from its Shaw Brothers library, including films ranging from Chang Cheh’s hard-hitting Blood Brothers to Taylor Wong’s fantasy action film Buddha’s Palm to Return to the 36th Chamber, directed by the late Lau Kar-leung.
“Martial arts content has always been very popular content genre in India. Our association with Celestial Pictures brings to us the Shaw Brothers catalogue, one of the foremost and largest producers of kung-fu/martial arts movies,” said Pandurang Nayak, BoxTV’s business head.
“This is in line with our unique push to get the best of world cinema in a legal and high-quality experience for Internet and mobile users in India,” added Nayak, whose company offers the streaming of movies and television programs on a monthly subscription fee of $3.32 (199 rupees).
Kristen Tong, Celestial Pictures’ head of legal and business affairs, said the distribution deal “affirms the incredible value of our library titles, and also provides our content with great exposure on a new digital platform”. The company has already inked digital VOD agreements in Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia.
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