Reliance Group Partners with U.S. Company for 3-D Movies

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Photo: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Dec. 9 – Major Indian conglomerate Reliance ADA Group will partner with a Los Angeles-based company to convert movies into 3-D in a US$40 million facility in Mumbai set to open in January.

When it opens the facility will be the largest of its kind in the world also capable of post-production, visual effects and film restoration. In-Three Inc. will work with Reliance to convert 15 to 25 films annually into 3-D format.

This is not Reliance’s first foray into Hollywood. The company is led by Indian billionaire Anil Ambani and already owns 500 theaters all over the world. In August, it formed a joint venture with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio for a contract to produce five to six films a year.

The Indian film industry has potential to be as big as its information-technology outsourcing industry with its supply of low-cost, English-speaking workforce.

“I think it’s an area where India has a natural advantage,” said Anil Arjun, chief executive of Reliance MediaWorks, the unit of Reliance ADA Group that provides film services told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s not just that we have a large volume of affordable labor to build scale, but also the talent and skills to do creative work.”

In-Three Chief Executive Neil Feldman said in a statement that the company was looking for an international partner that could help it deliver its pipeline of projects with “the level of quality our studio clients expect.”