Will get global recognition by Lucasfilm order: Prime Focus

Prime Focus has been selected by the US-based Lucasfilm to work on conversion of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace into 3D for theatrical release.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Namit Malhotra, MD of Prime Focus said, "It is clearly the most prestigious award for any company worldwide because this is considered to be the most valuable film franchise in the world." "It is a very big step for us in the competition of being recognized as a global player and a credible player for the Hollywood industry," he added. Below is the verbatim transcript of Malhotra's interview with Ekta Batra and Reema Tendulkar of CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video. Q: You have been selected for the 3D implementation for Star Wars, could you tell us what this means for the company and financially what is the kind of revenue you expect from this? A: It is clearly the most prestigious award for any company worldwide because this is considered to be the most valuable film franchise in the world. We at Prime Focus have been selected to be the sole company to manage the complete conversion of these films from 2D to 3D. Q: You have won projects in the past with regards to conversion from 2D to 3D such as Harry Potter etc, what sort of opportunity is this posing for you and what sort of revenue generation have you already seen from this? A: If you are tracking our quarterly numbers, we are seeing a certain jump in our overall business and profitability over last two-three quarters. It's proven to be a fairly successful model with our global solution, operations working with chunk of work which is being done in the US, UK and India. That is the way we are paving the way for the overall development of the business. In this particular transaction, we are clearly  seeing not just the financial scale that will come on the back of this but it is also the credibility being the top player in the business. It is completely a quality-led award. We have come good on it in terms of  almost all the companies that were tested. So, it is a very big step for us in the competition of being recognized as a global player and a credible player for the Hollywood industry. Q: You had done a QIP worth around Rs 70 crore in October somewhere. What is the expectation? You had said that you might raise more funds in the second tranche. Is that something we could expect soon enough? A: Yes, we did the first round and I think for the moment that is a reasonable amount for expansion plans we had. There are lots of plans growing internally. We would be able to shed more light on that on the right time. But nothing in the immediate timeframe. Also Read: Eros to release slew of movies in FY12, bets on Ra.one