ECONOMYNEXT – Lyca Productions Sri Lanka, a unit of UK-based communications and Indian entertainment group said it has been financing six movies in the South Asian island, which will be released in the Middle East, Europe and North America.
Of the six movies to be produced, five will be in Sinhala and one will be in Tamil.
“Every film we have announced to release today has come with heavy investments on our part, which cannot be recovered in the Sri Lankan market,” Janaki Wijeratne, Vice President of Lyca Productions Sri Lanka told reporters in Colombo.
“Through the Lyca Groups film distribution channel, we look forward to screening Sri Lankan films to Middle Eastern, European and North American audiences.
To win those markets we have to raise our filmmaking standards, which Lyca has a vested interest in.”
Lyca Productions “aims to bridge the gap between up-to-date industry technology and art appreciation among Sri Lankan audiences, and to enable effective competitiveness of Sri Lankan films in the global film industry,” Group Chairman Allirajah Subaskaran said in a statement.
Of the six movies to produced by Lyca Productions Sri Lanka, five are directed by veteran directors Asoka Handagama, Prasanna Vithanage, Jayantha Chandrasiri, Priyantha Colombage and Channa Perera.
Last year, Lyca Productions’ Telugu language film, RRR (2022), became India’s highest opening-day grossing film to date, Indian media reports said.
RRR was then released in the United States and Japan, and grossed 88 million dollars worldwide, according to Forbes, a US-based business magazine.
Lyca Productions India has a strategic partnership with EAP Films and Theatres in Sri Lanka, and has collaborated with Prasanna Vithanage and Shyam Fernando in the last two years, releasing Ponniyin Selvan I (2022) and II (2023).(Colombo/Aug23/2023)