Lionsgate India, Azure, Globalgate To Remake ‘Instructions Not Included’ & More Under New Partnership

Lionsgate India, Mumbai-based Azure Entertainment and Globalgate have entered a strategic partnership to develop and produce local-language films for India. The deal kicks off with remakes of Mexican smash Instructions Not Included and Korean action thriller The Terror Live.

The two films are part of a multi-picture deal between the companies to jointly develop and produce key titles from Lionsgate and Globalgate for the local Indian market. Globalgate is the joint consortium that’s made up of Lionsgate and 10 other leading content companies around the world.

Comedy/drama Instructions Not Included, about a playboy suddenly saddled with a love child at his doorstep, was originally produced and distributed by Lionsgate’s Pantelion Films. The 2013 pic is the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S. and the most successful Spanish-language film ever. It grossed nearly $100M at the worldwide box office and was remade by Vendome/Mars in France in 2016. It’s also being developed for remakes in several other languages.

The original Terror Live is a high concept 2013 action thriller that grossed $36M at the Korean box office. The film about an ambitious newsman who discovers he’s been rigged with a bomb as he covers a terrorist attack, was originally produced and distributed by Lotte Entertainment in Korea and is currently being negotiated for remake in Western Europe and Asia.

This is Lionsgate’s first major local-language film production initiative in India which is typically a 90% local market. Rohit Jain, Managing Director of Lionsgate India says, “Instructions Not Included and The Terror Live are two great story-driven properties from the Globalgate library that have already demonstrated their appeal worldwide. This collaboration demonstrates our ability to bring great IP and a broad array of resources across multiple platforms to our partners.”

Azure CEO Sunir Kheterpal adds, “It is a momentous occasion for a young company like ours to collaborate with Lionsgate and Globalgate to jointly develop and produce the local language adaptations of these two globally recognized titles. We are always on the lookout for stories which can travel across cultures and borders and we believe that these films have the underlying DNA to do just that. What makes this even more special is the fact that we are going to be working together with Lionsgate, making this a true strategic collaboration rather than a simple licensing deal.”

Azure and Lionsgate India are currently finalizing the writers and directors for the two projects. Azure also has a two-picture deal with Warner Bros which includes adapting Infernal Affairs for India.

Local-language films are a key component of overseas markets and are essential for growth. Globalgate, via its consortium and other partners, co-finances mainstream, wide release local-language films in key international territories. Those other partners include Televisa, Gaumont, Nordisk, Kadokawa, Lotte, Tobis, TME, Belga, Cine Colombia and Paris Filmes. The group sources and curates IP and remakes with priority access to its partners’ libraries of over 20,000 titles, as well as properties sourced worldwide from publishers, literary agencies, production companies and third-party rights holders.