'Tesco sets up film studio to adapt hit novels'
Vanessa Thorpe, Arts and Media Correspondent, The Observer, Sunday 24 January 2010
"There is an unlikely new player in the British film industry with ambitions to change the
world of entertainment. Tesco, the supermarket giant, has moved into movie mogul territory
this weekend with the launch of a multi-million-pound production arm poised to make films
of books by a slew of bestselling authors.
The shift into film production is part of Tesco's effort to make the most of its growing influence
as a retailer of mainstream books and home entertainment.
Tesco has already dipped its toe into the film industry in a deal struck with the Miramax
production company over the 2009 Zac Efron film, Me and Orson Welles, which gave Tesco
exclusive DVD sales rights, and in another Christmas deal with Dreamworks, giving it sole
rights to sell the animated short film Merry Madagascar.
"The Madagascar Christmas DVD, promoted in the way we did, sold four times as many
copies as it would have done if it was on the shelf with all the other DVDs we sell at
Christmas. Our choice of the books for these new films is based on what we feel our
customers would find most interesting," said Salter."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/24/tesco-film-movies-novels-adaptations
Vanessa Thorpe, Arts and Media Correspondent, The Observer, Sunday 24 January 2010
"There is an unlikely new player in the British film industry with ambitions to change the
world of entertainment. Tesco, the supermarket giant, has moved into movie mogul territory
this weekend with the launch of a multi-million-pound production arm poised to make films
of books by a slew of bestselling authors.
The shift into film production is part of Tesco's effort to make the most of its growing influence
as a retailer of mainstream books and home entertainment.
Tesco has already dipped its toe into the film industry in a deal struck with the Miramax
production company over the 2009 Zac Efron film, Me and Orson Welles, which gave Tesco
exclusive DVD sales rights, and in another Christmas deal with Dreamworks, giving it sole
rights to sell the animated short film Merry Madagascar.
"The Madagascar Christmas DVD, promoted in the way we did, sold four times as many
copies as it would have done if it was on the shelf with all the other DVDs we sell at
Christmas. Our choice of the books for these new films is based on what we feel our
customers would find most interesting," said Salter."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/24/tesco-film-movies-novels-adaptations