All About Movies Releasing On OTT Platforms Skipping The Theatrical Release
Get ready to eat some popcorn at home!
With the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent shutdown of theatres, the entertainment industry has witnessed a massive jolt as many movie releases have been pushed indefinitely. In such crisis situation, many producers have resorted to OTT platforms for releasing their movies.
The Shoojit Sircar-directed movie, starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan, Gulabo Sitabo announced that it is going to release on Amazon Prime. Post that the streaming platform revealed that around six other movies, including Vidya Balan’s Shakuntala Devi, are going to skip the big screen release and go straight for a digital release. And then news started coming in that movies like Laxmmi Bomb (starring Akshay Kumar), Ludo (an ensemble film by Anurag Basu), Jhund (starring Amitabh Bachchan), Janhvi Kapoor’s Gunjan Saxena, Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday’s Khaali Peeli, Kriti Sanon’s Mimi, Radhika Madan’s Shiddat, and Kiara Advani’s Indoo Ki Jawaani, will be getting digital releases as well. And that ticked off theatre chains because avoiding theatrical releases are going to hurt their business.
Inox, PVR and Carnival Cinemas have expressed their disappointment. Their statements conveys that the management was expecting filmmakers to stand by theatres at this time.
Cinemas all across the country are shut, and various stakeholders feel they will continue to remain shut for at least the next three months. So, some producers have decided to take the OTT route, which has upset multiplex chains
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According to EY, in 2019, the Indian film industry was worth Rs 19,110 crore, out of which, Rs 11,520 crore was contributed by domestic theatrical and Rs 2,700 crore by overseas theatrical. The third-largest contributor was satellite or television broadcast rights (Rs 2,200 crore) and digital stood fourth, at Rs 1,900 crore. It is clear that digital or OTT is still a very small part of the business, though it registered close to 50 per cent growth, from Rs 1,350 crore in 2018. EY estimates that close to 100 million Indians went to cinemas in 2019, while 500 million watched films on TV.
Issued by Carnival Cinemas CEO Mohan Umrotkar, the statement reads: “Though we are disappointed with the move of filmmakers to go straight to digital, we understand the financial burden/compulsion that one may have in these times. Even in the past, there have been a few cases of filmmakers facing failure when they opted for digital release, skipping the theatrical run. The ones who have decided to ahead with the digital release were possibly in a difficult situation due to the coronavirus pandemic. There is money invested, there may be interest (on it), someone wants to minimise the loss and if they are in a position to monetize it, we can’t stop them. The situation is such that you cannot blame anyone. In this time of uncertainty some producers have decided to release their content directly on OTT. It is within their rights to decide but we will not release those movies in our theatres.”
The Producers Guild of India responded to the multiplexes ensuring that it ‘would work extensively to get audiences back to theatres once the cinemas reopen.’
