Despite the financial slump, a handful of films salvaged the US box office in 2009 enabling it to cross the $10-billion mark. Paramount-Dreamworks? Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, Warner Bros? Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince and The Hangover, Summit Entertainment?s New Moon, and The Walt Disney Company?s Pixar hit Up were among the box office smashers. Of course, the biggest has been the 3D spectacle, Avatar, made on a budget of around $300 million. The James Cameron masterpiece has already clocked up $1.5 billion worldwide and is hoping to parallel, if not surpass, Titanic?s $1.8 billion.
While the big screen and 3D experience are components of Avatar?s success, its gargantuan success would not have been possible without its immaculate story telling, which remains the single-most crucial part of the film-making process. In hindsight, a number of reasons can be attributed to the success of a film ? from aggressive marketing to higher ticket prices to a smart distribution campaign ? but the truth is that the films with longevity at the box office (and eventually a shelf life) are the ones with good, well-told stories. The best stories will continue to attract talent to make them and audiences to see them. Films relying solely on elements like star power, glossy packaging and heavy advertising will not get past the first few days.
Just as Hollywood celebrates the phenomenal global acceptance of Avatar, Bollywood is rejoicing in the resounding worldwide success of Rajkumar Hirani?s 3 Idiots, again a brilliantly narrated story from start to finish. The Aamir Khan factor and Aamir?s involvement in the film?s marketing are no doubt assets, but these factors would not have taken 3 Idiots past a robust opening weekend had the film not been a touching, amusing and instructive piece of work. Its record-breaking numbers have emanated from strong word-of-mouth, which have not only resulted in repeat viewings from existing patrons, but drawn a large segment of the audience that does not often head out to the cinemas.
Kaminey, Wake Up Sid, Love Aaj Kal, Paa and 3 Idiots are all counted among last year?s hits ? some fared better than the others but the element common to all of them is a good story, sincerely recounted.
It sounds clich?d to say it all starts with the script, but perhaps that has never been so relevant as now. The wake-up call for the Indian movie industry says that it?s time to back content, and not set-ups.
Tanuj Garg is based in London and heads International Marketing & Syndication at Studio 18. Readers may write to him ongarg.tan@gmail.com