For the first time in decades, as many as five US films were released last week, and the flow continues with three more films hitting the marquee this week.
"We're doing very well, thank you. The market has been growing rapidly," is the gut response of the distributors – the major players Paramount, Columbia, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros as well as the independent entrepreneurs – of Hollywood movies in India.
For the first time in decades, as many as five US films, three of them Oscar nominees, were released last week, and the flow continues with three more English language films hitting the marquee this week.
Local Hindi film products, of course, are boss. Hollywood cannot affect the hegemony of Bollywood at home, which accounts for 94 per cent of the nation's movie business. Yet the six per cent remainder, with annual collections totalling at around Rs 200 crores, is nothing to sneeze about either.
According to Uday Singh of Sony Pictures India, "For sure, the buzz is on. Even film production notes from the US and box office figures are all over the print media, the internet and the satellite channels here."
The chief reason for Hollywood's increasing robustness in the Indian climate is a new suburban youth audience. As Amit Jumani of Weg India, importer of American films, points out, "Earlier only a few south Mumbai cinemas like Eros, Metro, Regal and Sterling would screen Hollywood films.
Today, the college-going audience does not have to travel miles anymore with the blitzkrieg of multiplexes, which have come up everywhere.” Additional outlets for foreign films are to be found all over Bandra, Juhu, Andheri, Malad, Mulund and Thane.
Foreign films have spread from the heart of the city in Bangalore to Koramangala, in Kolkata to Salt Lake and in New Delhi to Gurgaon. In Chennai, a plush mulitplex is in the offing on Beach Road.
Last year official statistics show that 60 American films were released in India, with at least 40 of them also in different Indian language versions. From January this year, approximately 20 films have been released, often in sync with their premieres in the US and Europe.
Says Niranjan Prakash of Andheri's Fun Republic, "Whenever there is a dearth of quality.. or let's say crowd pleasing Hindi movies.. the young segment of the audience has an immediate option in American cinema. In fact, they have kept the multiplexes in the pink of health."
Increasingly, Hollywood has started viewing India as "a sleeping giant" and has realised its potential for audience growth. Till now the box office collections were considered "just a drop in the ocean" of the Asian market, since the financial returns from Japan, Korea and Taiwan are traditionally much higher.
"An open economy and the fact that the money we earn by way of ticket sales can be remitted to our head offices abroad are also responsible for the Hollywood boom in India," states a movie studio representative.
"However, bids by the Los Angeles majors to enter the field of building chains of cinema halls in India, so far, has come to nought. So have sporadic attempts to become significant players in Hindi film production, an idea that was obviously inspired by the enormous global demand for desi entertainment by NRI viewers, primarily in the US and the UK.
According to Sanjay Dalia of the Cinemax chain of theatres, "The growth in Hollywood film business is more than apparent. But it is not a threat to Indian films and never can be. And there are certain distinct patterns of the audience's response here to American cinema.
“For instance, Hindi films draw a rush on the first day of their release and on the weekend. But in the case of Hollywood films, the audience wait for newspaper reviews and a word-of-mouth buzz to make their decisions. Interestingly, the business for a new Hollywood film, which has received thumbs up from the critics, rises after Monday."
On the other hand, most trade experts agree that the taste of the Indian audience is pretty much global. The biggest cash-earners are action movies, the magical hi-tech fantasies, full-length cartoon features designed for children and the multi-million dollar exploits of the comic book-inspired super-heroes.
No two ways about it then, out here Hollywood has never had it so super-good. vajirsingh@dnaindia.net
Five top Hollywood earners in India of the last ten years
Titanic, Spiderman I and II, The Harry Potter series, King Kong & Mission Impossible series
Five top flops:
Master and Commander, Kingdom of Heaven, Cinderella Man, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, & Artificial Intelligence
Top Actors: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise & Russell Crowe
Top Actresses: Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, & Catherine Zeta-Jones
Top Golden Oldies: Gone with the Wind, Ben-Hur, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Enter the Dragon, The Exorcist, The Entity and Basic Instinct.
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