MUMBAI: Prime Focus Limited recently announced that the company will open a new office in Beijing, China. The announcement was made at the currently ongoing Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF).

Prime Focus’ new office in Beijing is set to open later this year by the third quarter. The move into China comes on the heels of the recent joint venture between Prime Focus Limited, AID Partners Capital and Zhejiang Jingqi Wenhua Chuanbo Company Limited.

Prime Focus already has operations in a few other countries with offices in Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York, London and Mumbai.

According to the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, China is the world’s second-largest box office next to the US (surpassing Japan). People’s Republic of China (PRC) is also the largest 3D market outside of the United States, encouraging the government to relax import restrictions that now allow an additional 14 foreign films to be distributed in China provided they are in 3D or large format.

Namit Malhotra, founder of Prime Focus says that they are enthusiastic about the shared opportunities the expansion into China brings. “After India, Europe and North America, China was the growth story waiting to happen,” Namit Malhotra admitted.

Prime Focus World (PFW) has brought its expertise to many wide release Hollywood films, including most recently Baz Lurhmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ for which PFW delivered stereo VFX, 3D conversion and archive footage colorization, and upcoming releases such as Paramount’s ‘World War Z’ and Sony Pictures’ ‘White House Down’. Previously released films that the company contributed to included movies like ‘Men in Black 3’, ‘Star Wars: Episode One – The Phantom Menace’, ‘Dredd 3D’, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2’, and ‘Avatar’, among others.