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Empire Entertainment, the exclusive theatrical distributor for Sony Pictures Releasing International and Star Studios in the Middle East, and BG Film, an entertainment company offering innovative solutions from production to distribution of Turkish movies and series, have joined forces to distribute and produce high-quality Turkish content and bring the very best of Turkish movies to the MENA region as well as setting up a joint venture based out of Istanbul specialized in entertainment for the Turkish market.
With a healthy slate of eight movies per year ranging from high production blockbusters to educational animations, the partnership allows cinema goers of all ages to enjoy some of the most anticipated Turkish titles on the big screen. The first release is set for October 2022 starting with an animated picture, “Thinking About You” (T.A.Y.).
Always aiming to expanding their portfolio, Empire Entertainment believes Turkish movies could be a major part of the region’s theatrical successes: “We always go the extra mile to provide the best content for entertainment in the region and this partnership with our friends at BG Film will allow us to tap into a whole new world,” says Mario Jr Haddad, CEO of Empire Entertainment.
Additionally, BG Film believes that partnering with a legacy company like Empire Entertainment is the right step towards opening doors of opportunities for exponential growth in the Turkish cinema industry. “Multiple researchers have confirmed that the Arab world remains the biggest market for Turkish movies and series. We believe this step addresses an undeniable increase in demand for Turkish content that at BG Film, we are more than ready and able to serve. This is only the beginning of our long-term and multi-faceted venture with Empire and we are beyond excited to explore more fruitful avenues to move forward together,” says Benhur Guzeler, Founder of BG Film.
Empire has been distributing movies for over 100 years, representing big studios as well as smaller independent movies and recently co-producing a high-quality Arabic film and recent Netflix sensation - “Perfect Strangers”. Some of the new and upcoming movies on their slate include Bullet Train, Spiderman: No Way Home, Brahmāstra: Part 1 – Shiva, Where the Crawdads Sing, and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
“We understand that quality comes with diversity and we believe that there is no better time than now for us to expand our portfolio,” says Serge Zabbal, Business Director at Empire.
“And with Saudi Arabia growing in leaps and bounds, it is necessary to test a multitude of diverse content to make sure we aptly cater to the audiences,” confirms Pascal Rahme the Sales & Distribution Director at Empire.
Why Turkish movies one may ask?
Turkish series have become extremely popular all over the world and Turkish talents have a vast fan base with a wide variety of new content streaming from VOD platforms.
“This ability to tap into a completely new territory reinvigorates our local key players and challenges them to think bigger, grow faster and aim higher to continue to cater to the taste of a more international audience,” says Mert Baydur, Vice President of Acquisition and Business Development at BG Film.
Empire Entertainment and BG Film are optimistic that this strong partnership will lead to the evolution of movie distribution in the MENA region.
