For the first time, Amazon Prime Video in India has entered the film production space.
The video streaming platform will be co-producing actor Akshay Kumar's upcoming venture Ram Setu.
Along with Amazon Prime Video, Cape of Good Films, Abundantia Entertainment and Lyca Productions will be producing the action-adventure starring Kumar, Jacqueline Fernandes and Nushrratt Bharuccha. The film will be directed by Abhishek Sharma who has earlier made ventures like Parmanu, Tere Bin Laden.
Amazon Prime Video will be the worldwide exclusive streaming partner for Ram Setu following its theatrical release.
“Our collaboration with Vikram Malhotra and Abundantia Entertainment as well as with Akshay Kumar till date has been unique and highly successful,” said Vijay Subramanium, Director and Head, Content, Amazon Prime Video India.
With Abundantia Entertainment, the over-the-top (OTT) platform has offered original series like Breathe and Breathe: Into The Shadows as well as films like Shakuntala Devi. Amazon Prime Video had also announced its upcoming tentpole series - The End, starring Akshay Kumar with Abundantia Entertainment.
According to Karan Taurani, Vice-President, Elara Capital, Amazon Prime Video's entry into film production in India may lead to change in terms between exhibitor and producers in a big way, specifically window reduction. "The window which is six to eight weeks for films currently is bound to get disrupted towards four weeks in case Amazon produces more of such large films. Reduction in window time less than four weeks will have a definite negative impact on cinema footfalls," he said.
While the release window may reduce, Taurani doesn't think that Amazon Prime Video's entry into film production will lead to direct to digital releases of big films.
"We don’t see this trend of large films going directly on OTT despite Amazon or any other OTT being a producer as clearly the big stars would not be in favour of a direct release and also favour cinematic release. A direct release looks highly unlikely for now as the cost of large films is too high and web series is the kind of content they (OTTs) heavily rely upon as it provides for a more sticky subscriber base versus films," he said.
On the positive side, Taurani said that Amazon Prime Video entering film production "will lead to expansion of the market as even broadcasters have moved from buying rights for TV and digital to film production or have a film production arm like Zee Entertainment, Sun Pictures, among others."