Hollywood stars too

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: Last year was a landmark year for Hollywood in India with Sony Pictures pulling out all stops to market Spiderman 3. It released 588 prints and the movie grossed Rs 68 crore at the box-office. The four other top Hollywood films last year were Warner Brothers’ Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix, which also released with hundreds of prints, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Ghost Rider and Die Hard 4. As it turns out, Hollywood’s dream run continues.

So far, the biggest hits of the year have been Warner Brothers’ Dark Knight, which released on July 18, same day and date release with the US, Sony Pictures’ Hancock, starring Will Smith, Disney’s Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Columbia Pictures’ Vantage Point and National Treasure 2. In 2007, Hollywood studios released 75 films which grossed over Rs 300 crore at the box-office.

Though figures for 2008 are not in, Hollywood films have fared well at the box-office in 2008, sometimes better than Bollywood films which haven’t had a great run this year so far, barring a few. And one of the most awaited releases of the year will be the Bond film Quantum of Solace, releasing on November 7. Sony Pictures is releasing 650 prints, an unprecedented number in India. The last Bond film Casino Royale released with 427 prints.

Says an analyst: “Distributors like Sony Pictures prefer to open wide with a huge number of prints so as to maximise the potential from the heavily loaded marketing campaigns. One is regularly seeing Hollywood films being released with 100 prints and more.” The multiplex boom and localisation of content have also helped Hollywood fare better in India. According to sources, about 40% of revenues come from box-office collections. Then again, most of the films released are dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, giving them a wider penetration.