Four leading entertainment firms have joined forces to establish a new movie studio to cash in on the growing Thai movie industry.
M Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Major Cineplex Plc, Bangkok Film Studio, True I-Content and Matching Studio, set up Transformation Film with 175 million baht in registered capital. Its first movie, Tukkae Rak Pang Mak (Chiang Khan Story), will hit cinemas on Thursday.
Chief executive Sa-Nga Chatchairungruang said Transformation Film's objective was to help raise the standard of Thai films to international level.
The collaboration between the four will also reduce costs and pool the strengths of each to grow the business internationally.
This is the first time in Thai movie history for an alliance involving both upstream and downstream — digital platform and public relations from True I-Content, production from Bangkok Film Studio, production equipment from Matching Studio and movie distribution from M Pictures.
"We see the Thai movie industry has a bright future, particularly exporting titles to China, where they love Thai stars and share common interests," said Mr Sa-Nga.
Transformation Film plans to expand its business abroad by joining hands with China Film Group and Beijing Media Group for joint production and release of movies in Southeast Asia, China and South Korea, where Thai stars can attract moviegoers and receive good feedback.
The company expects to produce four to six movies a year with estimated revenue of 300 million baht.
Mr Sa-Nga said the company set to release two movies this year at a cost of 80 million baht.
The two films are Tukkae Rak Pang Mak and Single Lady.
About 70% of revenue will come from ticket sales and the rest from content sales in every format for both domestic and foreign markets.
Mr Sa-Nga said Thai movies sometimes faced uncertainties due to changes in viewers' tastes.
The Thai movie industry is expected to have flat growth this year at 3 billion baht in revenue, with Thai movies accounting for 30%.