Leading India-based supplier Scrabble Entertainment plans to expand into the Middle East market by setting up more than 400 screens in the next two years.

"In Bahrain, we intend to supply about 30 digital screens that can playback 3D content," said chief executive officer Ranjit Thakur.

He said Bahrain and the Gulf was an untapped market in which to upgrade analog screens to digital ones capable of playing 3D content.

The cost of a digital screen comes to around $80,000.

"The digital cinema space is slowly being occupied in the Middle East," said Thakur. "During my visit to Bahrain, I found there is a great scope to expand considering similar characteristics to the Indian market."

The company already has digital cinema deployment agreements with major Hollywood studios, including 20th Century Fox International, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International, Paramount Pictures International, Universal Pictures International and Warner Bros Pictures.

Thakur said the firm had already set up a digital laboratory in Dubai, which would oversee digital screen deployment across the region.

"We are aggressively entering this market and will roll out similar projects by next year in the UAE, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and Syria," he said.

"Scrabble Entertainment has already managed to gain a strong foothold in the Indian entertainment market. Since our funding and infrastructure is in place, it's time to move to other markets,” he added.

A Bahrain Cinema Company (Cineco) official said it was in talks with Scrabble Entertainment regarding digital screens but no deal had yet been signed. – TradeArabia News Service