As Bollywood stares at big losses, small-budget films whose release in theatres has been delayed by the lockdown could soon be released on video streaming platforms.
Over-the-top (OTT) companies are expected to only welcome the move by the producers, as shooting for their own series have stopped and so they are unable to offer new content. MX Player CEO Karan Bedi told FE that discussions with production houses on acquiring unreleased movies are on. Ferzad Palia, head-Voot Select, Viacom18, said a considerable number of small films have the potential for a digital premiere, though it would be a challenge for big-ticket movies as they depend mainly on box-office collections.
Shemaroo Entertainment CEO Hiren Gada said the company is looking to stream films that could not make it to the theatres due to the lockdown. Makers of small-budget movies are quite keen on a direct-to-digital premiere in the current environment, Gada said.
Neeraj Roy, founder and CEO at Hungama Digital Media, said the company is looking at all content formats including bringing unreleased films on its platform. To retain viewers’ interest, Hungama Play is continuing to release new movies, short films and short-format content.
OTT is a good alternative for small movies as it will fetch more, say experts, although the revenue structure varies. Netflix typically acquires a movie for three years and makes the payment in 12 monthly instalments. Others pay 25% of the agreed amount when the deal is signed, 50% once the content is delivered and the rest before the content is streamed, says Atul Mohan, editor at Complete Cinema.
Mohan says on an average, two to three small-sized movies (made on a budget of Rs 3-5 crore, are released in theatres every week while about three mid-budget films costing anywhere Rs 15-20 crore are released every month.
Film expert Komal Nahta estimates the film industry (Hindi) to have lost close to Rs 1,500 crore in revenues in the last one month; of this, revenue loss from box office collections would be anywhere between Rs 600 crore and Rs 700 crore. The holding cost of a movie can run into crores, says Nahta.
For instance, Akshay Kumar-starrer Sooryavanshi has been made on a budget of nearly Rs 200 crore. “A month’s interest on Rs 200 crore would be phenomenal,” Nahta adds. Bollywood’s revenues from box-office collections stood over Rs 4,000 crore in 2019 with just 170 releases. That’s way more than the pickings of some Rs 3,300 crore in 2018 from 180 releases.
