Annapurna Studios and Qube Cinema announce launch of full-service virtual production stage in Hyderabad

The state-of-the-art facility will empower filmmakers and content creators to realize their vision, bringing to life - stories that engage, entertain, and enlighten audiences around the world.

HYDERABAD, India, April 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With demand for new content at an all-time high, creators everywhere are looking to leverage cutting-edge technology to bring their stories to life. Virtual production lets them do exactly this by enabling storytelling beyond the constraints of location, space and budget. Today, Annapurna Studios and Qube Cinema announced their plans to deliver India's first full-service LED virtual production stage for pan-Indian and international content creators. This transformative collaboration between two of India's most respected names in the media business aims to provide the tools for creators to craft the best versions of their stories for feature films, streaming episodics and advertising commercials.

The purpose-built virtual production stage with a 20 ft high and 60 ft wide curved 2.3 mm dot- pitch, ultra-high refresh rate, wide colour gamut, high brightness LED screen is expected to be the first world-class permanent facility in India. The setup will use top-of-the-line AOTO LED displays, state-of-the-art camera tracking and powerful, custom-built rendering systems using Unreal Engine to render complex photorealistic virtual locations in real-time. This would help filmmakers greatly expand their palette while saving money; by reducing compositing and on- location production costs and saving time by enabling the creative team to see close-to-final shots on camera, in real-time on the live-action set.

Qube's success in transforming the media industry in India multiple times over the last three decades emerged from the company's willingness and ability to identify and adopt technology that had the potential to greatly improve their own feature and advertising production and post- production workflows. Annapurna and Qube will draw on this experience to reimagine the production process for today's fast-paced and demanding entertainment environment with virtual production — the next evolutionary step in content production.

"The future belongs to whoever designs it! When faced with disruptions and innovations, we must learn to maneuver. Virtual production enables the creative mind to imagine without limit, and then create it. We are proud to partner with Qube, renowned for bringing new technology to the entertainment industry. Our strength and experience in making movies and running studios in tandem with Qube's technical knowledge makes this a great collaboration," said Nagarjuna Akkineni of Annapurna Studios.

"At Qube, we've always been at the forefront of movie technology, combining our passion for cinema and our willingness to push the limits of technology for the benefit of content creators and audiences," said Senthil Kumar, Co-founder of Qube Cinema. "In Annapurna Studios, we have found a partner who brings decades of experience, a deep love of cinema, and many shared values to the table. We are thrilled to be working with them on virtual production. Our purpose is to bring to life every story, to engage, entertain and enlighten the world. This collaboration pushes us ever closer to fulfilling that purpose."

The stage expects to begin setup and testing in early June and be available for commercial projects from October 1, 2022.

About Annapurna Studios

Annapurna Studios (www.annapurnastudios.com) is a fully integrated media & entertainment company.

Established in 1976 by Padma Vibhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee, Sri Akkineni Nageswara Rao, a pioneer in the Telugu Film Industry, the studio offers facilities for the production of feature films, TV and digital shows, special events, advertising commercials, music videos and more.

The 22-acre studio in the heart of Hyderabad city is a unique one-stop film production studio.

A filmmaker can walk into Annapurna Studios with a script and walk out with a complete film. Having been in the entertainment Industry for over 70 years, participating in production, services & distribution, Annapurna Studios' film production arm has produced and financed over 50 feature films under the Annapurna banner while its television series air on primetime Telugu channels such as Zee TV and Star MAA. With the rise of streaming services, Annapurna has expanded to the digital space, providing content for multiple leading platforms.

Annapurna's service offerings and facilities for the film and media industry are unparalleled.

Annapurna Studios provides first class infrastructure with 11 shooting floors and location facilities for the film and media industry, along with state-of-the-art TPN-certified, and Dolby approved post-production facilities. The services offered include data storage, video editing, audio dubbing, 4K colour grading, visual effects, world-class Dolby Atmos sound mixing and mastering.

The Annapurna group also lends its support to the Annapurna College of Film & Media, the first non-profit film school in India that offers government-accredited Bachelors, Masters, and MBA courses in Film and Media related subjects.

About Qube Cinema

Qube Cinema (www.qubecinema.com) is a pioneer in crafting end-to-end digital cinema technology and solutions.

Drawing on decades of experience in the cinema business, Qube provides a seamless digital environment across the industry, from filmmakers and post-production facilities to exhibitors and audiences.

Qube's products are used in every step of the filmmaking and exhibition process.

Qube Cinema's portfolio of products are powerful, flexible, reliable, and cost-effective, and include Qube Wire, a service for global content distribution; Qube XP, fourth generation DCI compliant digital cinema servers; QubeMaster, a family of digital cinema mastering software solutions; iCount, a camera-based occupancy measurement solution; Slydes, a system that automatically creates just-in-time Digital Cinema Packages; Cheers, a web service for movie audiences that offers personalised greetings cards on the big screen; Justickets, a cloud-based SaaS ticketing solution; and Moviebuff, a website and mobile apps for accurate movie information. The Qube product line is well-established globally, with thousands of installations serving 135 countries across the world.

Qube's service offerings are constantly evolving to cater to the needs of the global cinema business.

Qube has digital cinema operations in over 4,000 screens across India, masters over 1,800 movies each year across 6 locations in India, designs and delivers the most cost-efficient Premium Large Format screens under its EPIQ brand, and operates a patented advertising network for central control of advertising with local control of movie selection as the Qube Cinema Network (QCN).