Here’s an interesting little nugget of information… apparently, Universal Pictures has bought a minority stake in the Italian production company Cattleya, with the intention of helping to ‘develop, co-produce and distribute Cattleya films’. They’re not the only ones, other US companies – such as Disney and Sony – seem to be looking at the international markets as a way of bolstering their receipts.
The US is still profitable for Hollywood, but cinema admissions are flat so a bigger opportunity lies in underdeveloped territories. “The international business? really?represents the growth centre for the company,” said David Linde, co-chairman of Universal Pictures… Universal’s approach is to identify the best producers and directors in each territory, invest in development projects and sign multi-film agreements.
Now this is interesting, partially because this is just about the first time that Hollywood has looked abroad for, well, nearly half a century. And Italy could well take advantage. It’s certainly one of the more promising bits of news I’ve heard about Italian cinema recently, so it’ll be worth keeping an eye on…