Fox Signs Deal to Distribute A Company Titles in Russia

3:27 AM PDT 6/4/2012 by Scott Roxborough

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News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox signs a two-year agreement with the firm for titles including "Cloud Atlas" and Til Schweiger's "Guardians."

COLOGNE, Germany - Alexander van Dulmen's A Company has set up shop in one of the world's fastest-growing cinema markets, launching a theatrical distribution operation in Russia.

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A Company has signed a two-year sales and distribution deal with News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox that will see Fox run booking and billing for A Company titles in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, while A Company handles theatrical marketing. The CIS are the former territories of the Soviet Union.

The new Russia firm, A Company Distribution, will handle both U.S. independent titles, as well as European and Russian commercial fare.

Highlights of its upcoming slate include Cloud Atlas, the sci-fi epic co-directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer and starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry; Robert Rodriquez's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and Machete Kills; and Guardians, the new action-thriller from German blockbuster actor/director Til Schweiger.

A Company Distribution will have its formal launch during the Russian International Cinema Market in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on June 10.

“Setting up our own distribution arm in Russia is an integral part of the company’s expansion strategy in the region after acquiring Budapest Film in Hungary three years ago and last year establishing our own operation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia," said A Company CEO van Dulmen.

"We are thrilled to resume and further our partnership (with A Company)," added Vadim Smirnoff, CEO of 20th Century Fox, CIS. "I am confident our joint collaboration will be immensely successful."

Russia is already the fifth-largest theatrical market in the world. Last year, the Russian box office hit a record $1.16 billion in revenue, nearly 12 percent above its 2010 performance.