Last week, Studio 18 premiered Striker internationally on YouTube, making it the first-ever Bollywood outing to witness an online release abroad on the same day as its theatrical release in India. The objective was to make quality mid-sized films of the ilk available legitimately to the NRI audience who would otherwise have to resort to pirated DVD viewing or streaming through dodgy websites, in the absence of an overseas theatrical release. The endeavour generated appreciable results, far more than the revenues that would have been generated theatrically, given the exorbitant distribution costs involved and limited potential of films not top-lined by an A-list star.
Recently, Colors picked up the worldwide satellite rights of Blue, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Kurbaan to premiere within two-three months of their cinema release, as opposed to the conventional norm of a six-month (and sometimes more) holdback. In fact, the smaller films have been making their way to the idiot box within a month of getting released in cinemas.
UTV took their worldwide acquisition Main Aur Mrs Khanna to DTH within a few days of its theatrical release. Video giants like Moser Baer are insisting on a DVD release of a film within six-eight weeks of its first theatrical exposure.
Unarguably, in this digital age, the distribution landscape has changed dramatically. The trend points towards reduced dependence on theatrical revenues to recoup production/acquisition costs even though theatrical proceeds continue to constitute the major segment of a film’s overall revenue pie. Distributors are rapidly shrinking release windows to be able to cash out and monetise the key non-theatrical revenue streams quicker than normal. At the end of the day, distributors are trying to maximise profits. The various distribution models revolve around maximising the revenue from each type of consumer. This is also because of the high cost of content, which is compelling producers/distributors to recoup as much of their investment in the initial days while the content is fresh in the minds of the audience and trade.
Video companies and broadcasters are offering distributors a higher price for an early deployment of content on their platforms. Decline in DVD sales, immediate physical and online piracy and the advent of web streaming are the causative factors. These days, as content turns ?dated? in no time, values offered by video companies and broadcasters diminishes with every passing month, which means that distributors must exploit these opportunities in a jiffy, never mind the gradual obsolescence of concepts like ?longevity? and ?shelf life? of content.
What is unclear, however, is whether box office receipts will be impacted at all by the changing distribution dynamics. There is a basic cannibalisation question. Will a shorter release window compel customers to keep away from cinemas and wait for the films to hit their living room? What would theatres do to adapt? A popular school of thought believes that cinemas will never go out of fashion. Just like people like to dine at home and out, so also for movies. But there is no doubt that with compressing release windows becoming the norm of the day, unlike the past, consumers now have multiple viewing options.
Tanuj Garg is based in London and heads International Marketing & Syndication at Studio 18. Readers may write to him ongarg.tan@gmail.com