India’s Biggest Film Studios Tie-up To Escalate Post Covid Box-Office Recovery
Two of India’s box offices invest 10 billion Rs. ($135 million) to catalyze box-office recovery from Covid-19 wave
Not to be occupied, is what we read when we see multiplexes today. All because of the devastating Covid-19 that has crippled not only the financial growth of the world but also has gravely affected the entertainment industry and the luxury that we once enjoyed to watch movies inside the cinema houses.
Now, India’s top-notch film studios T-Series and ace entrepreneur Anil Ambani have jointly collaborated for a venture. They will launch more than 10 features, from action thrillers, historic biopics, dramas to comedies over the next 36 months, the heads of both production houses said in an interview with a leading publication.
However, this will be registered as a bold move in the finance history of Indian film-making history because many producers have turned to OTT platforms and avoid releasing their previously-made films on theatres due to Covid-19. To curb the spread of the virus, demand for streaming platforms in India has increased and entertainment is a basic psychological need today.
To counterpoint this, Mr Bhushan Kumar, the chairman and managing director of leading production house said to a leading publication, “We can’t make such big investments, such big films just keeping OTT in mind.”
Major production houses in India have already delayed the release of their potential blockbusters since last year but now screenings at cinemas will resume in the western state of Maharashtra, home to India’s financial capital Mumbai and Bollywood. That’s not a piece of jolly news for an industry that relies on the state for roughly 30% to 50% of a mainstream Hindi film’s theatrical earnings.
Keeping the role of cinemas in movies and the growing closure of theatres in mind, the Producers Guild of India and the country’s largest cinema chains took to their official social media handles and published a full-page advertisement in local newspapers urging the government to reopen theatres. The continuous shutdown of the cinema halls was costing the industry monthly losses of 4 billion rupees ($54 million).
Mr Bhushan Kumar, the chairman and managing director of T-Series wishes that all cinemas across India will resume working in full fledge by early November or during Diwali. But, much will depend on the nation’s progress in trying to contain the virus.
We wish for cinemas to start soon so that the original essence of movies can be enjoyed to the fullest by one and all.