‘Cricket series like the IPL really affected the movie business’

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: If Bollywood is having a dismal run at the box-office, Hollywood films too haven’t really fared well. Experts blame it on the Indian Premier League and lack of hits from big studios. But, the films from Paramount Pictures, including Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls and The Incredible Hulk, have done a decent business at the box-office. As Hollywood films find an avid audience in India, production houses like Paramount Pictures are cashing in on the burgeoning Indian market. Sarabjit Singh, general manager, Paramount Films of India, explains Hollywood’s fascination for India to Sagorika Dasgupta. Excerpts:

Do you attribute the success of Hollywood films in India this year to the poor show of Bollywood?

You cannot say that this year has been really great for Hollywood either. If you were to look at the big picture, Hollywood has not really done better than Bollywood. There weren’t that many hits in Hollywood except the films from our studios that did well this year.

Cricket series like Indian Premier League (IPL) really affected the movie business as most of the film releases were pushed back or reshuffled to accommodate a better opening for films. Year 2008 has not been a great year for the entire movie industry on the whole.

How has the year been for Paramount Pictures?

We are quite happy about the success of our films this year, both internationally as well as in India. Iron Man cost about Rs 60 crore to make and about an additional sum of Rs 30 crore to market. We circulated 269 prints in India for Iron Man and the collections of the film were Rs 13.6 crore. For Indiana Jones, 280 prints were circulated and the collections received were about Rs 10.8 crore in India.

What is the potential of Hollywood film market in India?

Bollywood is definitely more preferred to Hollywood in India. However, over the last five years, all the Hollywood films put together have seen a growth of around 18% to 20% in revenue. There has also been an overall growth of 12% to 15% in theatrical revenue also.

This entire growth pattern can be attributed to the mushrooming of multiplexes in various cities, better content generation by the film industry and a rise in the ticket prices for a film.

What are the main aspects that are hindering the growth of Hollywood films in the country?

Hollywood films often face a slump in India due to very tough local competition. Not just Bollywood, the regional cinema market here is also flourishing. Consumers are presented with a plethora of choice because there is a variety of products in the market.

About six to eight big Hollywood films are released in India in a year’s time. So there is limited time and resources to market these films properly. It is a situation where everyone is eating into each other’s share. The growth of multiplexes is also occurring in a haphazard pattern. There is an accumulation of new multiplexes in metro cities vis-a-vis the non-metros which are equally prospective revenue zones. As a result, the exhibitors, distributors and producers suffer a great deal.

What steps can be taken to curb these setbacks?

I would look upon them as healthy challenges. Since the burnout of viewer tastes is so fast, the shelf life of films have subsequently become lesser. One of the ways, we can curb this problem is, if there is a growth in multiplexes. Till date, we have multiplexes with three or four screens but with the budding film industry, there is a requirement of eight screen multiplexes in most cities. Operating in multiplexes with less screens becomes difficult as there are about three to four big releases almost every two weeks and you cannot promote any product well with such limited resources.

English films do not really find an audience in smaller towns. Do you find that a challenge?

For the towns that have a population below 10 lakh, we need to function on a different business model. The focus there is restricted to non-extravagant multiplexes.

How do you deal with problems of piracy?

It is imperative to have simultaneous releases of a particular film in India and abroad. There are mainly two release patterns that can help curb piracy. A film’s release on the same day and date as that in the West—in such cases as low as 5% of the film’s revenue is lost to piracy.

What are the forthcoming releases of Paramount Pictures?