With the reopening of theatres proving to be a damp squib, movie producers are now looking at ways to minimize losses even as the theatre revenues are expected to dip even further with the onset of winter in North India. Sources close to the Government reveal that movie theatres may be closed again. On the other hand Bollywood exhibitors and distributors are seriously contemplating a shared release for big films, beginning with David Dhawan’s Christmas pudding Coolie No 1 starring Varun Dhawan and Sara Ali Khan.
As per sources, the Dhawans’ dhamaka film may be released in both movie theatres and on the digital platform simultaneously. However, there is a question mark on who will get to release the product first.
Says an informed source, “The digital partner insists that Coolie No 1 gets to go first on the digital platform whereas the theatrical platform is of the opinion, and rightly so, that once the film is out on OTT the incentive to brave it in the theatre would be zero for the audience.” Hopefully the stalemate would soon be resolved.
This could well be the way forward for the imbroglio in the movie business. With movie theatres in India(barring those in West Bengal) showing no signs of re-opening in the near future, pending big-budget films like Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi and Rajamouli’s RRR are also looking to follow the path of a shared release, since this seems to be the only way forward.
Shibashish Sarkar, CEO of Reliance Entertainment who have two major potential blockbusters Rohit Shetty's Sooryavanshi and Kabir Khan's '83 awaiting release does see the wisdom of a shared release. Says Sarkar, "Yes ,if in a country where either that particular OTT platform is not available or if theatres chain in such country not objecting to a film releasing in OTT and Theatres in the same time....films can release on both medium. We noticed the same for Mulan, Tenet, Troll World tour....etc, etc. However I don't foresee it as a stable route in normal times. Windowing for different medium is necessary."
Image source: IMDb