After resolving the issue of 50:50 revenue-sharing agreement for the first week of release of a Bollywood film across multiplexes, the talks between multiplex owners and Bollywood producers are now stuck on who gets the right to distribute the new Hindi films and across how many locations.
Multiplexes want any new Hindi film to get released in most of the 900-plus screens, while Bollywood producers want a selective distribution of their films.
Since April 4, no major Bollywood film has been released by the producers in the 250-plus multiplexes across the country, leading to over Rs 200 crore worth of combined losses to the various multiplex chains in the country in April alone, due to dismal theatre occupancy.
Even the seventh-round of talks held between both sides today could not move forward towards resolution of the month-old tussle, as both sides stuck to their stand of having a final say in the distribution of new Hindi films across multiplexes.
“The meeting ended without any headway, as multiplexes did not agree on giving us the right to distribute our films according to our distribution strategy,” said a source involved in the meeting today. According to sources, both sides had agreed to leaving the right of distribution of a Bollywood film with its producers in their meeting held last week, if multiplexes could get a bigger share of the box-office revenue for the second, third and fourth week of the release.
“If a film can make money by releasing it on 200 prints across 10 key towns, then where is the need to release it on 800 to 900-plus prints and across 800-odd multiplex screens, as is the case normally due to pressure from the multiplexes? We want a final say in the right of distributing our films in locations that are selected by us and we will take 1 or 2 per cent less in the revenue sharing from the second week onwards,” says a senior executive of a leading Bollywood production house.
Replied a content head of a national multiplex chain: “We have built properties across the country where our patrons expect access to all leading Bollywood films when they are released nationally. How can we deprive our consumers of a movie at one location when it is being released at another location in the same week?”
The meeting between the two sides saw representations from multiplex chains like PVR Cinemas, Big Cinema and Fun Cinema, among others. Yashraj Films, UTV Movies, Eros and Vishesh Films, among others, represented the film producers forum today, sources said.
According to industry experts, the crux of the entire tussle lies in both sides wanting to take a bigger share of the Rs 3,500 crore annual multiplex box-office market for Bollywood films. There are about 900 multiplex screens in the country and Bollywood films generate 60-65 per cent of their revenue from these multiplexes, industry sources say.
Overall, the size of the film industry is estimated to be around Rs 10,000 crore, with 75 per cent coming from the domestic box-office market, including returns from South Indian language films and other regional language cinema. There are over 8,500 single-screen theatres; however, they generate only about 35 per cent of the overall annual box-office collections for films released in the country.
The multiplexes are said to have proposed a solution through digital distribution of their films.This means, instead of physical delivery of a Bollywood film, there will be satellite-based digital projectors where the films can be downloaded in any theatre and played for any number of times by paying a small fee to the service provider. However, this is not acceptable to the Bollywood producers forum, sources said. According to industry experts, digital distribution costs a fifth of a normal print.
