UK cinema chain Vue has formalised its distribution plans with the launch of Vue Lumière, a UK-Ireland distribution company that will specialise in arthouse, foreign-language and UK independent films.
Vue Lumière aims to distribute 10 to 12 titles a year, according to Tim Richards, Vue founder and CEO of parent company Vue International. Lumière will be headed by Otto Turton, chief commercial officer, screen content at Vue, and will initially be run by Vue’s screen content team.
The distributor will acquire films in the same manner to regular distributors and will make titles available to all UK-Ireland cinemas, including those outside of the Vue chain.
The distribution arm arrives on the back of Vue’s early distribution efforts this year. It released Paola Cortellesi’s Italian hit There’s Still Tomorrow (C’e Ancora Domani) in April, grossing £339,419. It also released family animation Bluey At The Cinema: Family Trip Collection in August, which has now passed the £1m mark.
Vue Lumière is “in active discussions on a wide variety of films right now” according to Richards, and is hoping to announce acquisitions before Christmas.
“We saw a gap in the market for smaller independent films,” said Richards. “This is something we’re really excited about - we’re going to be growing the distribution side of the business in years to come.”
While starting with distribution in the UK and Ireland, Vue Lumière will look to expand to other territories where Vue International operates over the next 18 to 24 months. The company runs CinemaxX in Germany, The Space Cinema in Italy, Multikino in Poland and Lithuania, and Vue Netherlands.
“We want to bring the best of smaller, independent, foreign-language films from the markets we are in, where we have relationships with filmmakers; to other markets that we are currently operating in,” said Richards. “We will aim to take the best of German films, Dutch films, Polish films, and bring them to other markets – as we did with C’e Ancora Domani.”
C’e Ancora Domani opened in 142 cinemas. “We’re looking for films of all scale,” says Richards. “It’s dependent on the particular film.”
The distribution arm is funded through “existing resources” within Vue International, and any profits it makes will be part of the company’s finance. “We’re not trying to compete with existing studios and existing distributors,” said Richards. “We simply think there’s a gap in the market for smaller films, for foreign-language films. And we know there’s a market for those films, because of our extensive use of AI.” Vue has pioneered an AI film scheduling model over the past year, using the technology to boost admissions, it said.
Richards added Vue Lumière may move into production on “smaller films” in future, in a similar model to how Marc Samuelson did with the Isle of Man’s CinemaNX over 10 years ago.
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