Covid tilts box office balance towards OTT
3 min read . Updated: 27 Aug 2020, 07:41 AM ISTWith cinemas shut, box office and the ‘mass appeal’ of stars are effectively down to zero
NEW DELHI : When actor Akshay Kumar appeared on a panel to announce a slate of Bollywood films acquired by the streaming service Disney+Hotstar in June, he presaged a likely permanent—and huge—shift in the Hindi movie industry, brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
The deal was thought to be worth around ₹500 crore but, experts say, this is not about money alone. The virus has changed not only where the money is headed, but the way people view the content (almost always at home) and the content itself.
The June deal meant Disney had done the unthinkable: it had convinced Hindi cinema’s biggest names, including Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt, to part with the theatrical box office and the allure of thousands of screens by selling their films to a streaming service. “Movies will always be the first birthright of theatres. But with the pandemic, we are seeing a situation where we have created this space where more and more audiences can enjoy what we make for them," Kumar said at the time, sounding reluctant about announcing the direct-to-digital release of his horror-comedy Laxmmi Bomb.
But, according to Uday Shankar, president, Walt Disney Co. APAC and chairman, Star and Disney India, movies are the birthright of nobody but the audiences. “The potential of the film industry and the viewership it has managed so far has been restricted because of India’s limited screen count and the release windows available which in turn, restrict our output and the appetite of audiences," Shankar said in an interview. “This (the release of films on digital platforms) is an opportunity to grow the market and for more films to be made and released. It is deeply strategic and the right thing for all."
The pandemic has had a far-reaching impact on every aspect of the film industry in India—theatrical releases, star fees, marketing and even shooting. Not all of Bollywood may admit it, but the past five months have seen its traditional power structures reach a point of collapse.
With cinemas shut since the middle of March, box office and the ‘mass appeal’ of its biggest stars are effectively down to zero.
There are a few repercussions staring the industry in the face. For one, as studios deal with limited cash flows and want to invest as much as they can in big cinema experiences to bring people back to theatres, A-list male stars who used to take away nearly 50-60% of production budgets—sometimes up to ₹80 crore—will have to look at cuts of around 25%.
“I think everyone is aware and conscious of the current realities, and of the fact that every single item (in the production budget) will have to be questioned," said Ajit Andhare, chief operating officer at Viacom18 Studios. “We cannot have different rules for different people and everyone, including stars and technicians, will have to contribute."
Further, big investments in productions will mean cutting down on aggressive marketing and promotion. Bollywood promotional budgets, which in some cases can go as high as ₹25-30 crore, have comprised common drills such as city tours, college, mall and sporting event visits, reality show appearances and newspaper ads. Now, anything that involves physical interaction is out—and that means digital and social media-focused campaigns, thereby bringing marketing budgets down by 20-30%.
This will mean content creators will look to rely much more on animation and visual effects in the coming months, pre-visualising scenes on devices so as to have entire sequences planned out in advance and spending minimum time on the actual set. This kind of ‘virtual production’ is going to be key in the days to come, said Keitan Yadav, chief operating officer at Shah Rukh Khan-owned Red Chillies VFX.
Media and entertainment industry experts insist that the pandemic will not spell the end of big-screen outings and that it’s only a matter of time before people returned to theatres in hordes. That explains the number of big-budget projects stars like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Prabhas have under production. But some things may have changed for good.
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