Vue Lumière | Vue International launches UK-Ireland distribution arm

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Vue (of ‘cinemas’ fame) is branching out into film distribution, with a focus on arthouse, foreign-language and UK independent flicks.

Vue International has formalised its own distribution wing, establishing Vue Lumière to bring arthouse, independent and foreign-language films to audiences across the UK and Ireland, Screen Daily reports.

The move cements the cinema giant’s cautious step into the distribution space earlier this year, with Paola Cortellesi’s Italian-language There’s Still Tomorrow (C’e Ancora Domani) and Bluey At The Cinema: Family Trip Collection both released under the Vue label (now there’s a double-bill).

According to CEO Tim Richards, Vue Lumière aims to distribute between 10-12 films each year going forward, with titles available to all UK cinemas, not just those in the Vue chain.

Vue International owns several large cinema chains across Europe, including CinemaxX in Germany, The Space Cinema in Italy, Multikino in Poland and Lithuania, and Vue Netherlands in, er, The Netherlands, we assume. According to Richards, the company wants to make the most of the relationships it already has in these markets to distribute smaller films across its global marketplace, starting (but, if all goes to plan, not finishing) with the UK and Ireland.

“We’re not trying to compete with existing studios and existing distributors,” Richards said. “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.” If true, this might be the best thing AI’s done in the entertainment industry this week.

The move could nonetheless see Vue competing with other cinema chains in the distribution race in the UK. Picturehouse (owned by multiplex rival Cineworld) and Curzon both have similar models in place to distribute and display films in their own venues and beyond.

Richards says the company is in active discussions on multiple titles, and hopes to announce some of its future releases before Christmas. More on this story when we get it…

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