Star Movies, the leading English movie channel, has lined up six premieres throughout January and February to get more viewership.
While it already premiered John Carter on January 19, the channel has five other big titles in the pipeline one of them being the highest grossing English film of 2012, Marvel’s The Avengers.
The superhero film will be aired on the channel on January 26 at 1 pm and 9 pm.
Followed by The Avengers, Star Movies also air four of the most acclaimed Oscar titles. The line up includes The Artist (Won 3 Oscars in 2012-Best Film, Best Actor and Best Director), The Descendants (Oscar 2012 Nominee for Best Film ), Warhorse (Oscar 2012 Nominee for Best Film) and The Kids Are Alright (Oscar 2010 Nominee for Best Film).
The channel has exclusive first output deals with three of the biggest studios-Universal, Walt Disney and 20th Century Fox. “This helps the channel in strengthening its leadership further in the English movie category. Also it clearly establishes the fact that these premium studios are understanding the importance of the Indian market and also identifying STAR Movies credentials as the driver of the category in terms of reach, market share as well as thought leadership,” the channel said.
With only one big release in Race 2, it is TV channels that have more to offer this weekend
Hindi general entertainment channels have geared up for the long weekend beginning today with a line-up of big-budget films and fiction shows in the absence of major Bollywood releases. Barring Race 2, a sequel to the 2008 thriller of the same name that was directed by Abbas-Mastan, there are no other films that have the potential to draw audiences to theatres, say movie experts.
TV channels therefore have been quick to seize the opportunity with films such as Student of the Year, Son of Sardaar and Oh My God to be telecast on Sony Entertainment Television, Star Plus and UTV Movies respectively over the weekend.
Colors and Zee TV, on the other hand, are counting on their fiction shows to drive viewership.
For English movie aficionados there will be the premiere of the Avengers on Star Movies on January 26. But clearly the hot favourites will be the TV premieres of Student of the Year and Son of Sardaar - for which advertisers were charged a premium from Sony and Star respectively, according to media planners. Student of the Year will be telecast on January 26, while Son of Sardaar will premier on January 27 to avoid cannabalising viewership, media planners say.
