Hollywood Flicks Disappoint Box-Office In 9-months Of 2017

Despite the demand and public appetite of spending on quality Hollywood films released in India, 2017, so far, has been a disappointing year for the Hollywood releases. For the nine-month period since January 2017, the Hollywood films released in India have managed to generate only around Rs 220 crore or thereabouts compared to over Rs 350 crore clocked at the domestic box-office for the comparable period in 2016. Hollywood blockbusters like the Fast and the Furious 8, Logan and XXX Return of Xander Cage managed to corner over Rs 150 crore at the box-office with rest of the 40-odd releases not working magic at the box-office.

For the record, be it Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Universal Pictures, Disney India or other distributors of Hollywood films, all maintain that India is and will remain one of the priority markets for Hollywood movies every year. That is because the Indian film exhibition market has quickly shifted from obsolete analogue projection systems to the latest digital cinema including adapting to Hollywood standard of D Cinema and E Cinema exhibition equipment’s. As of last year, India has over 2,200 multiplex screens with digital projection and Dolby sound systems that together generate a lion's share of the domestic box-office returns compared to 5000-plus single screen theatres, some of which are in the process of getting upgraded.

In 2016, more number of Hollywood films did well than 2017. Films like X-Men Apocalypse, Captain America: Civil War, Batman V Superman and Deadpool generated an average of over Rs 30 crore each and ran at the domestic box-office for over two-three weeks.

Compared to Hollywood, the Bollywood releases, including the blockbusters like Baahubali 2, Raees, Kaabil, Jolly LLB 2 and Badrinath ki Dulhania and a few more together have already crossed the Rs 1,000 crore domestic collections with another three crucial months to go including the holiday period like Diwali and Christmas yet to come.

"There are some good Hollywood films lined up for India release later in the year. These are expected to more than make up any box-office gap between last year and this year," says a senior executive from the India arm of a leading Hollywood distributor. From September till December 2017, there are films likeKingsman: The Golden Circle, Flatliners, Thor: Ragnarok, Justice League and the Star Wars: The Last Jedislated to hit the domestic box-office. "I won't be surprised if these films together generate another Rs 100-150 crore at the domestic box-office including from their regional dubbed versions," says a senior executive representing one of the largest multiplex chains in the country.

At the same time big Bollywood films are also slated to hit the theatres between September and December. Big budget flicks like Salman Khan's Tiger Zinda Hai hits the screens in December. Before that, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's epic Padmavati, Dharma Production's Ittefaq, Rohit Shetty's Golmal Returns, and David Dhawan'sJudwaa 2 are among the much anticipated Hindi films slated to generate big moolah.