Despite fewer blockbusters, 2017 wasn’t a bad year for Bollywood though online video streaming is becoming increasingly popular with viewers. The big five films (sans Baahubali 2) took home around Rs 770.2 crore which is about a fourth less than the collections for the top five films of 2016 – of Rs 1,041.9 crore, data released by Box Office India shows. Of course, the bottom line may have been very different had Padmavat been released as scheduled on December 1. But while the collections were reasonably good, the writing is on the wall. Unless the content is exceptional, films will increasingly be viewed on video streaming platforms. “Audiences are seeking’ big theatrical experiences’ to come into theatres – big ideas, new concepts and visual extravaganzas,” said Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios. SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2 is a case in point; the blockbuster raked in Rs 510.3 crore at the box office. With ticket prices becoming very expensive and even unaffordable, industry experts say film buffs appear to have stayed away from the theatres preferring instead to watch films on video streaming platforms.
As Nachiket Pantvaidya, Group COO, Balaji Telefilms, observes with data costs having fallen sharply, more and more viewers are catching their favourite films online. “They prefer to watch content at home rather than going out to the theatres,” Pantvaidya said. Since video streaming platforms are now acquiring telecast rights for films faster than before, viewers don’t need to wait too long to watch a film. “The latest content can be viewed much sooner than before when a movie would make it to television screens almost after six months of the theatrical release,” Pantvaidya said.
Jehil Thakkar, partner, Deloitte believes that with a lot more content now available on video streaming platforms viewers are turning extremely selective about what they want to watch. “However, viewers are ready to pay for English content and therefore, Hollywood films continue to be popular,” Thakkar said. The year 2017 saw fewer blockbusters unlike 2016, when Aamir Khan starrer Dangal made about Rs 374.5 crore and Salman Khan’s Sultan earned about Rs 300.6 crore. Raees managed to clock just `128.7 crore while Shah Rukh Khan’s other film that also featured Anushka Sharma in the lead – Jab Harry Met Sejal tanked at the box office collecting just `62 crore. “The under delivery of films such as Raees, Tubelight and JabHarry Met Sejal has led to smaller box office collections,” Foxstar Studios’ Singh said.
An analysis of the Box Office (BO) performances of 300 plus films over a decade shows how skewed the BO is in favour of the top five movies. While these clocked a compounded annual growth of10%+ in the last five years, collections for the next 20 films were more or less flat. Kotak Institutional Equities says the top five films would have walked away with the bulk of the BO between CY12-17 with collections in the home market growing at 13%+ compounded. In sharp contrast, the rest of the films are believed to have fared poorly. Between CY2007-12, the BO collections for the top five grew at a compounded 16%, while for the next lot –ranked between 6 and 25—they grew at 19%. For the top 25, they grew at 18%.
