20 out of the 26 Bollywood movie releases in 2022 lost money!
Source: Reuters
So what’s the reason?
➡️Fading Star Power
The Super Star lure is just not that powerful anymore. Now people wait to see the reviews. One way to overcome this is to have 2 hero projects and combine the star power like in RRR, but we don’t see that often in Bollywood. Recently in Koffee with Karan, Akshay Kumar pointed out the aversion of Bollywood actors to multi-starrer films.
➡️Rise of OTT
Earlier Cinema was the only source of fresh content but now OTT releases hundreds of hours of new content every month. On these platforms, Bollywood movies fight for eyeballs against not just movies but short films, web series, regional & international content.
A quarter of India’s 1.4 billion people use such services, up from about 12% in 2019 (source: Statista). The figure is expected to hit 31% by 2027.
➡️Cost Factor
I remember that in my childhood, we were ecstatic with a Rs 10 chips pack and a Rs 5 Cola drink in the interval (and that was a splurge as well). Now a cinema experience costs about Rs500 per person (and that’s if you are sharing the popcorn). Combined with the very low turnaround time for the movies to go from Cinema to a subscription service near you, people think twice before purchasing that ticket.
➡️#boycott Culture
Aamir Khan’s “growing intolerance” comment in 2015 caused the boycott movement for Lal Singh Chaddha in 2022.
I can’t remember the last time an anticipated movie was to be released and there wasn’t a Twitter trend asking to boycott the same. Though the monetary impact of the same might not be quantifiable, any impact on that most coveted opening day sale is huge for any film.
➡️Quality of Releases
Movie producers cannot take the audience for granted, be it with slipshod CGI effects, poor scripts, misogynistic slapstick comedy, or any other parameter that reflects substandard effort. With the majority of commercial hits in 2022 coming from non-Hindi films (be it English, Telugu, or Kannada), the Hindi film industry really needs to adapt fast.
Having listed the potential reasons for the super slow 2022 for Bollywood Movie also wish that the latter part of the year offers some redemption.
So here’s hoping for a super cool, power-packed performance by Bramhastra!
Disney+ Hotstar 🥳
End:
🤔Do you go to Cinemas with the same gusto as you used to?
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