Japan’s Rakuten Group has joined Lionsgate’s local-film remake consortium Globalgate.
Globalgate aims to take advantage of the boom in local-language features worldwide by remaking local hits, mainly for other non-U.S. markets. With Rakuten, the Globalgate consortium already has among its international production and distribution partners Lionsgate, Televisa, TF1, Nordisk, Tobis, Rai (Italy), TME, Belga Films, Paris Filmes and Viva Communications.
Rakuten is a global e-commerce and internet services conglomerate headquartered in Japan and getting deeper into entertainment content creation, marketing and distribution businesses. Rakuten as a partner will receive priority access to intellectual property for film and TV and digital content to be produced and co-financed via Globalgate.
“Rakuten’s collaboration with Globalgate will help elevate its prestigious content and intellectual property and further support the globalization of Rakuten’s eminently branded media and entertainment platforms,” Clifford Werber, CEO and co-founder of Globalgate, said in a statement.
The Japanese company will look to accelerate development on its global IP-based digital content in Japan and worldwide by acquiring remake rights to popular local language content. “We hope that this production process creates opportunities for Japanese creators to go global, while also providing opportunities for a diversity of creators and artists to collaborate,” Koji Ando, Rakuten Group managing executive officer, said in a statement.
Globalgate’s slate of films, TV and digital series includes the recently released Dhamaka in India, Sin Hijos in Mexico and upcoming film releases for Hunting Season aka Jagdsaison in Germany, Miss Granny and Mamá o papa for Mexico and No Kids for Korea.
