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BoomGen Studios Acquires Ferdowsi’s The Shahnameh

BoomGen Studios, a vertically integrated motion picture company that regularly provides creative, marketing, cultural and engagement advice to Hollywood in its quest to navigate the Greater Middle East, has acquired the exclusive global multimedia rights to Hyperworks Entertainment’s Rostam’s Comics properties (based on the Persian Book of Kings).

Press Release from BoomGen Studios

New York, NY/Los Angeles, CA, Oct. 11, 2010 - BoomGen Studios, a vertically integrated motion picture company that regularly provides creative, marketing, cultural and engagement advice to Hollywood in its quest to navigate the Greater Middle East, has acquired the exclusive global multimedia rights to Hyperworks Entertainment’s Rostam’s Comics properties (based on the Persian Book of Kings).  BoomGen Studios Co-Founders Reza Aslan and Mahyad Tousi made the announcement today.

Based on the Persian Book of Kings of the legendary Persian poet Ferdowsi’s 1,000-year-old literary epic, the agreement covers BoomGen Studios’ exclusive rights to the property’s comic book adaptations, which were created by The Kings Letters comic book label. It also encompasses any future projects produced through the venture, including a major theatrical motion picture, animated series, video and online games, as well as a motion graphic project.

Under the terms of the deal, BoomGen Studios, with a list of credits that includes Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney’s videogame-inspired fantasy epic Prince of Persia, will build a transmedia universe across multimedia platforms such as comic books, digital motion comics, film and video games based on The Shahnameh.

With several such projects in development, BoomGen and The Kings Letters are also set to release a fourth comic book installment based on The Shahnameh’s hero Rostam on November 15. Concurrently, they will release an iPhone and Blackberry teaser mobile comic application based on the property.

“BoomGen Studios is thrilled to bring The Shahnameh to the mainstream audience,” Aslan said.  “It’s a crucial time in history to reframe perceptions of the Greater Middle East, its culture and its people. We believe that by creating a transmedia universe based on The Shahnameh and giving audiences access to the epic tales that sparked such well known works as J.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, we are headed in the right direction.”

Tousi added, “We are honored to be able to give a voice to this ancient culture and the many stories that are virtually unknown to most people outside of the region, despite the tremendous impact the Greater Middle East has had on Western literature and culture.  Ancient Iran, or Persia, is a goldmine of tales with incredible universal appeal and relevance. And now, finally, transmedia storytelling has created a way for us to bring these epic stories to audiences across the globe.”

Written in the 11th Century, The Shahnameh tells the mythical and historical past of pre-Islamic Iran and the various peoples of Middle East and Central Asia, from the creation of the world to the Islamic conquest of Persia in the Seventh Century. The book consists of more than 100,000 verses divided into three consecutive parts: the mythical, heroic and historical ages.

About HyperWerks Entertainment:Hyperwerks Entertainment is an independent publishing company whose goal is to create a new graphic experience for a variety of media by distributing The Shahnameh comics.  Since its inception in 1998, Hyperwerks has self-published Deity, Catseye, St. Angel and Rostam: Tales From The Shahnameh.

About BoomGen Studios:Founded in 2007 by Reza Aslan (writer, media commentator) and Mahyad Tousi (entrepreneur, producer, cinematographer), BoomGen Studios is a vertically integrated motion picture company designed to work with entertainment content related to the Greater Middle East, its people and cultures.  BoomGen Studios provides innovative cultural, creative, publicity, marketing, and social media/community engagement solutions to Hollywood studios, independent filmmakers, distributors and screenwriters, and has worked on projects such as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Amreeka, Body of Lies, and Rendition. Continuously seeking to collaborate with emerging and established talent, BoomGen functions as an incubator for powerful ideas with mainstream commercial potential.  In 2010, BoomGen began development on its first slate of theatrical motion pictures and related ‘cross-media’ entertainment properties.

For more information, please visit www.boomgenstudios.com

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