PremiumNEW DELHI: Sony Pictures Films India has partnered with director Ram Madhvani, known for movies like Neerja, to produce an underwater thriller titled Dive. It will be directed by ad filmmaker Nitin Parmar. The film is currently in development stage, the company said in a statement.
To be sure, even though movie theatres are some time away from reopening completely, the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam movie industries are fast announcing new projects in signs of returning to work and making films for theatrical exhibition. Telugu stars like Chiranjeevi, Ravi Teja, Mahesh Babu and Jr. NTR have all announced new projects while Tamil stars Vijay and Dhanush have committed to upcoming films, Beast and an untitled venture with director Sekhar Kammula, respectively. As far as Bollywood goes, Ajay Devgn will produce the Hindi remake of Telugu hit Naandhi while Kartik Aaryan will be seen in a musical love story titled Satyanarayan Ki Katha.
Trade experts say these are signs the industry is looking at theatrical releases seriously, especially in 2022, when improving consumer sentiment and vaccinated audiences will make for good returns for movies that are ready by then.
Presuming people take around three to four months to feel safe in visiting theatres even after they re-pen, the film business in India could see a jump of at least 20% in revenue compared to 2019 once things normalise, given how hungry audiences are to step out of home, trade experts say. The trend has already been seen overseas with Fast & Furious 9 setting a post-pandemic record as it collected around $63 million over its three-day weekend in the US and A Quiet Place Part II having earned around $47 million over the same period earlier.
Trade experts say everyone in the entertainment, and specifically the film industry, has realised that there is no denying the fact that cinemas are not going away anywhere. The theatrical business still brings nearly 60-70% of the total revenue of all films and OTT platforms will co-exist with it like satellite television or home video did.
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