MUMBAI: Six years ago, 20th Century Fox pulled out all the stops when it was distributing
James Cameron's Avatar, making it the first Hollywood blockbuster to cross the Rs 100
crore mark at the Indian box office.
When it comes to bigbudget releases, studios make the most of the opportunity by showing
them on as many screens as they can by dubbing the films in Hindi and regional languages,
offering the lure of 3D and raising ticket prices 1015% besides making sure that debuts
coincides with the global opening.
Films like The Amazing Spiderman, Guardians of the Galaxy, XMen and Transformers: Age
of Extinction are released with over 700800 prints, for instance.
But of late, lesspopulist
Hollywood movies—titles that wouldn't have got a theatrical release a few years ago—
have also found a ready audience.
Films like The Imitation Game, Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel and even Cinderella
(albeit subtitled in Hindi for 14 markets) were only released in English with 200 prints or less. But they've been successful nevertheless.
"Hollywood films had a good year in 2014 and grew by 16%. Importantly, we are seeing greater audience acceptance for highconcept,
nontent pole films," said Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios.
"The Fault in Our Stars, Gone Girl are great examples which reflect the maturing of audiences who are seeking differentiated content.
Even say onetwo years ago, such films would not have released in India." Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, with 289 prints, had a 19week
run and a gross box office (GBO) of Rs 48 crore, which is regarded as highly creditable.
To be sure, movies such as Gone Girl, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman and The Imitation Game all had star casts and were fuelled
by Oscar hype.
But they also had narratives that didn't easily fit the formula. Ben Affleckstarrer Gone Girl was an edgy thriller with adult certification. It
had a collection of Rs 12 crore, which far exceeds anything it would have made even two years ago. Likewise with the Benedict
Cumberbatchstarrer about Alan Turing.
"PVR Pictures released The Imitation Game, which has done approximately a GBO of Rs 66.5 crore. The same film would have done
less than Rs 2 crore about three years ago, an indication of rapid growth in discerning audience numbers," said Kamal Gianchandani,
president of PVR Pictures, the largest exhibition chain in the country, which contributes 3540% of the total Indian Hollywood market— Rs
905 crore in 2014.
According to KPMG, the gross box office collections of the top 10 Hollywood films increased from Rs 320 crore in 2013 to Rs 420 crore in
2014. The lure of nonmainstream films has grown thanks to greater audience awareness through the Internet. As a result, more cinema
halls are playing foreign language films in the top 10 cities.
Mumbai may have seen threefive halls releasing a move like
The Imitation Game five years ago — that's gone up to 1215 cinemas,
experts said.
Cinepolis, the Mexican chain that entered India five years ago and has 193 screens following the acquisition of Fun Cinemas, said 10% of
its total revenue comes from such fare.
"Hollywood is something we consciously push specially in our megaplexes. A film like Gravity ran for straight two years in Bangalore. Also,
3D content contributes a 10% higher ticket price and a 15% higher food and beverage ratio," said Devang Sampat, chief strategy officer at
Cinepolis.
None of the above films crossed the 200 print mark, the number going down to 61 for The Imitation Game, yet each exceeded the Rs 2.5
crore collection mark, an indicator of the evolving audience profile.
"Hollywood films such as these are definitely huge competition, though not a threat," said Sharat Katariya, director and writer of one of this
year's surprise Bollywood hits, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, produced by Yash Raj Films.
"The audience that is going to see films like Dum Laga Ke Haisha are the ones watching Little Miss Sunshine, which are also movies
without big star casts but close to life." Katariya's film struck a chord with audiences with its downtoearth story about a young couple.
"While these (Hollywood movies) may not be a threat, one has to be aware of such good films which are competition because it's the
content that works," Katariya said.
"I saw Foxcatcher at Cannes and loved itgreat performances, very relatable and a clean story... We have to raise our own standards or
for sure movies like Interstellar will get more screens in the future." Audiences can't be taken for granted, said Vikas Bahl of Phantom
Films and director of Queen, another surprise hit that had a strong female central character. "Our audience was always evolved and have
been used to watching some great cinema over the years," he said.
"It is we as an industry who must evolve to meet up with our audience. Over the years, they have lost trust in our content, they are tired of
our gimmicks like item songs. We consciously manipulate them and so those people will eventually move to better cinema."
Movies need
to get better technically as well.
"Look at (Colin Firth starrer) Kingsmanit is a completely Bollywood film, made 100 times better," Bahl said. "Their drama is our drama but
it is their execution which makes the difference. "Director and writer Rohan Sippy agrees. Growing exposure to western cinema thanks to
social media and torrent downloads is shaping the audience. "Tickets are expensive and at Rs 300 and above, people want to see good
cinema," he said.
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