Shah will focus on sales to English and French specialty channels as well as manage the company’s VOD and SVOD.
The longterm deal will see the next three films in the Hunger Games series distributed in the Aussie market.
“This combined entity will move the needle for [producers] in ways they haven’t seen,” says eOne CEO Darren Throop.
The deal, which was first revealed as on-going negotiations last May during the Cannes Film Festival, will see eOne bolster its Canadian and U.K. operations and get new business in Spain.
Growth in its film and TV business offset slowing revenue declines in eOne’s wholesale distribution business, the Canadian media group reported in its interim financial statement.
Work on the Jake Gyllenhaal-starrer comes as the Quebec director readies to shoot Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman, in the fall.
Tom Ortenberg’s Open Road Films will release the Silent Hill franchise sequel on October 26, 2012, in time for Halloween, with Alliance Films releasing in Canada.
A mix of Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment execs are promoted as Helen Lee Kim will eventually follow Joe Drake out the door at the Vancouver-based mini-studio.
Corus original programming, lifestyle, reality and factual entertainment VP Vibika Bianchi tells Playback that authenticity in the Canadian version of the format keeps viewers hooked.