What Dubai does, Abu Dhabi must try to go one up on. Etihad Airlines is attempting to give serious competition to Emirates, the Abu Dhabi Film Festival is intended to be pitted against the Dubai Film Festival, and now the newly established Abu Dhabi Media Company (along with real-estate developer ALDAR) is set to give the Dubai Media City a run, having formed a long-term strategic alliance with Warner Bros Entertainment.

The arrangement calls for the creation of a theme park and hotel, jointly owned multiplex cinemas, a co-finance agreement covering feature film production and the development and publication of video games and the build-out of the infrastructure of Abu Dhabi?s digital transformation.

While the deal undoubtedly makes for a flashy media story, one cannot help raising a question mark on the rationale behind Warner choosing Abu Dhabi of all places? The UAE is trying to use film festivals to get a measure of Hollywood clout and turn Abu Dhabi into a tourist site.

Blockbusters

Some interesting facts and figures from the Film Distributor Association (FDA) in the UK: Summer admissions (June to August) reached a record 50.8 million. The last weekend in July was the biggest weekend for admissions in the UK ever. The period of July 27-29 saw The Simpsons Movie and Transformers debut, helping to pull in a record 5.5 million admissions over the three days.

The top 12 blockbusters which include Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World?s End, The Simpsons Movie, Shrek The Third and Spider-Man 3, grossed a combined total of $614.5m (?305m) at the UK box-office this summer.

Foreign language releases such as The Lives Of Others, Partner, Tell No One and La Vie En Rose collectively attracted more than 1 million admissions.

Dream run

Friends star, David Schwimmer?s directorial feature debut, Run, Fat Boy Run, has topped the UK chart for a third weekend, taking $2.4m (?1.2m) from 401 sites for a $12.8m (?6.3m) total to date.

Just for the record, Run, Fat Boy Run features, among others, Schwimmer?s good friend and well-known Indian character actor, Harish Patel, in an important role.

Bollywood

With not one Bolly title performing super impressively so far this year in the overseas, everyone?s hopes are pinned on the Diwali tent-poles: Om Shanti Om and Saawariya. The million-dollar question asked is which of the two will fare better offshore.

While Bhansali is a major draw as an avant garde filmmaker, Shah Rukh Khan is a huge star with a loyal fan base. The battle royale between quality and star power will show results soon, but before that Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Jab We Met will vie for supremacy during the Eid and post-Eid period.

?The author is head of UK & Europe?International Motion Pictures?at Studio 18. He may be reached at garg.tan@gmail.com