A new battlefront has opened between multiplexes and big banner production and distribution houses. Ignoring the revenue concerns of the multiplexes, Eros, UTV Movies Pictures, Reliance Big Pictures, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Yash Raj Films want to release their new films on television shortly after they are released in theatres.
According to industry sources, there have been a series of meetings among the Multiplex Association of India, the apex body of leading multiplex players, and top production companies in the past few weeks. But there has been no headway to address the issue.
“The window between the release and TV premiere is narrowing. As a result, cinema halls are losing opportunity to make money from a film. Leave alone small-budget films, even the multi-starrer films are aired on television within a few weeks of their theatrical release,” said a multiplex official.
Leading multiplex exhibitors have opposed this move as it leads to a loss of business. “There was a visible dip in the box office collections as most broadcasters announce their television premiere immediately after the theatre release. We will have see whether this trend has any adverse impact on the exhibition business,” said a top executive of a Mumbai-based multiplex chain.
The release window has shrunk to two to four months in the last six months from seven to nine months, he explained.
For instance, UTV’s ‘Tees Maar Khan’, starring Akshay Kumar and released on December 24 last year, had its television premiere on March 27. Similarly, ‘Guzaarish’, ‘No One Killed Jessica’, ‘Anjaana Anjaani’, ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’ and ‘Dabangg’ have all been released within nine weeks of their theatrical release.
The development comes immediately after a three-month-long cricket season — the ICC World Cup follwed by the Indian Premier League — which forced several producers to postpone their movies to the second half of the year. Most of the multiplex operators had reported huge dips in their profits in the previous quarter. Cinemax posted a loss of Rs 2.17 crore between January and March, compared to a profit of Rs 4.4 crore in the same period last year.
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Production houses explain pre-selling movie deals with broadcasters helps them to derisk their investment on a movie as cable and satellite rights provide guaranteed returns. For instance, last year, UTV had sold ‘Guzaarish’ and ‘Tees Maar Khan’ to Colors. ‘Dabangg’ was also pre-sold to Colors by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd.
“Although theartrical collections form the major chunk of box-office revenue, we are gradually de-risking the model. We are trying to pre-sell the maximum rights before the release from satellite, home-video and merchandising,” said Eros CFO Kamal Jain.
A report on entertainment and media, prepared jointly by Ficci and KPMG, notes that most productions houses are trying to reduce their dependence on box-office collections and looking at other platforms for revenue streams.