An Affiliate of Cinema City: Fórum Hungary

A new distibutor, Fórum Hungary Distibution Ltd. has entered the Hungarian market. It will primarily sell mainstream Hollywood movies in Hungary.

The Cinema City International (CCI) group, whose profile includes cinema network operation and film distribution announced that it will launch its Hungarian affiliate on April 1. Cinema City International owns cinema networks and is one of the largest players on the Central European and Israeli market, with 398 screens at 54 locations. It operates 3 cinemas in the Czech Republic, 14 in Poland, 24 in Israel. In Hungary CCI has been running 13 theaters since 1997, two in Budapest and 11 in the countryside.

As CCI’s homepage says, the company also owns 50% of the largest Israeli distributor, Forum Film. It also  holds the license to closed-circuit screenings and cable TV broadcast. In the past 40 years Forum Film was the only company that distributed Walt Disney films in Israel.

Mooky Greidinger, the president-CEO of the CCI group said in his press release: „Hungary is a very important market for us, since it was the first country where we launched our Central European business. We believe that film release and distribution are businesses based on partnership. I’m convinced that with Sándor Farkas as manager, Fórum Hungary Distribution Ltd will soon become a key market player in cinema distribution, joining the common goal of the industry, raising the number of viewers. Our partnership with Revolutionary Releasing is a key step in realizing this goal.”

Sándor Farkas, the managing director of Fórum told filmhu that after Israel and Poland the company intends to set foot in Hungary. In these countries CCI is also present with its distribution affiliates in addition to its own cinema network, and the company will be able to make use of its Polish experiences here. „These experiences mean the know-how, according to which the strong and geographically balanced marketing activity coupled with cooperation with cinemas can lead to success.” This means that the company does not intend to neglect presence in the countryside, either.  „Fórum Hungary is not only open to cooperation with cinemas but with other distributors as well,” Farkas added.
The manager, who has experience in the local media market in the filed of marketing and PR, said they intend to distribute big-budget Hollywood entertainment, but may also release Hungarian films in the future.

The first film released by Fórum Hungary in Hungary, Mr. és Mrs. Smith is distributed internationally by Revolutionary Releasing, which is a long-term partner of Fórum Hungary. The international distributor has already brought films like Hannibal, What Women Want and Alexander to Hungary.

In the future they are planning to release Lord of War with Nicholas Cage, Matador with Pierce Brosnan, The Libertine with Johnny Depp  and  Keeping Mum with Rowan Atkinson.

The head of the company, which currently has eight employees, did not wish to quantify the size of market share Fórum Hungary is aiming at. „Our goal is to make the films distributed by us attractive for a large audience.  The market share that will bring is up to cinemagoers.” Farkas did not divulge the number of monthly releases, either. 

Hungaricom, which launched in October, is also a new distributor on the market. According to Pál Prukner, the head of Hungaricom, Fórum Hungary is not a competitor, since it has a different profile, while Hungaricom is releasing mostly Hungarian movies.  „The success of a company depends on the films it releases and whether they are able to get those to the audience. If there are more players on the market, it means they have less films to distribute and can therefore spend more attention on the individual fims.”

Gábor Csurdi, marketing director of Budapest Film, the largest independent distributor said they have little information about Fórum Hungary just yet. They have no official relationship, but that is going to change as soon as the new company becomes a member of the Association of Film Distributors. „This year’s numbers show the decline of cinema revenues, and the appearance of a new market player doesn’t change that,” he said.