Digital Domain, a leading player in the visual effects arena, has made a foray into India with the opening of a studio in Hyderabad.

This is the fifth studio and the tenth location globally for the company, which earlier this year opened facilities in Beijing and Hong Kong. The company, whose visual effects appear in films such as Titanic, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Spider-Man: Homecoming and Beauty and the Beast, is keen on shaping the 42,000 sq.ft. facility in Hyderabad into the role of a mainstay for it.

Pegging the investment on the new facility in the $3-5 million range, chief operating officer Amit Chopra, in an interaction with the media on Monday, said: “India is and will continue to be an integral part of Digital Domain’s global expansion plans.”

“We foresee the region to be a leading consumer of premium content,” he said, even as Sudhir Reddy, head of Digital Studio, India, chipped in saying the company was keen on taking up work for customers in the country as well. To begin with, the Hyderabad studio would rely on international projects — movies, commercials as well as VR/AR work — before the demand for its services, especially from Bollywood, is expected to pick up.

“Combined with the recent projections for smart phone growth and mobile bandwidth expansion in the region, the people of India are primed to demand and expect premium content, and we are ready to deliver on that need,” Global CEO Daniel Seah said in a statement.

Of the 500 people who can be accommodated at the new facility, 205 are already on board. By mid-2018, the headcount would touch 500, added Mr. Reddy. Globally, Digital Domain employed 1,400 people.

The new studio, inaugurated on Sunday by Telangana IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao, is at present involved with four big projects, the details of which the senior executivesrefused to share.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Business / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – November 06th, 2017