SINGAPORE - Hollywood's star has yet to
shine brightly in India, despite its best efforts
to penetrate the market.
Though it's the
world's most-powerful film industry - boasting
more than 90% of the European market as well as a
large share in other movie-going regions -
Hollywood has barely made a dent, with about 5% of
the Indian market. With overall film ticket sales
down 5%-15% year-on-year across all key Asian
markets, Hollywood also has slipped in India.
"The box office share of Hollywood films
vis-a-vis local content has declined marginally
from about 8% in 2002-03 to 5% in 2004-05,"
said Ajjay Bijli, chairman
and managing director of PVR film distributors and
owner of India's largest chain of multiplex
cinemas.
With liberalization of India in
the 1990s and a huge and hungry market at its
disposal, Hollywood entered India to get a toehold
in the creative vacuum left by a then-muddled
Bollywood. Fighting saturation on its home turf,
Hollywood turned to markets such India and China
to increase its bottom line.
Estimates
project that by 2025, the largest audiences in the
world will be in China and India. India, with a
century-old film-going tradition is the
fastest-growing market in Asia, representing 73%
of the Asia-Pacific admissions.
With
rising literacy levels there is demand for
international fare among English-educated Indians.
With the advent of globalization, well-heeled
urban Indians, especially growing mid and
high-income segments, are rediscovering the magic
of cinema in plush multiplexes. And for them, Tom
Cruise, Steven Spielberg and Julia Roberts are as
good as Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar and Rani
Mukherjee.
When Hollywood entered the
Indian film market in 1992, it grossed a paltry
$1.3 million. Since then, profits and audience
have multiplied phenomenally. "Hollywood films
have seen a growth of 33% in the last four years,"
said Uday Singh, chief executive officer of Sony
Pictures Releasing International (SPRI).
While the growth of multiplex cinemas has
allowed Hollywood distributors to releases more
titles with increased prints per movie
(Spiderman 2 opened with more than 300
prints), increased acceptability of dubbed films
has widened the mass appeal of Hollywood films.
From 1997, when India got its first
multiplex - the PVR Anupam in Delhi - to 2005,
there has been a multiplex revolution in the
country. There are now 73 multiplexes in India,
with 276 screens and about 89,470 seats. Earlier,
because of single screens, theater owners
preferred to exhibit, by and large, only Indian
films. Because of the multiplexes, Hollywood
studios could release a good number of their films
in the country.
"In a year, approximately
70-72 films are released by the Hollywood Studios
in India while releases from other sources
[independent importers] are not known," Singh
said.
However, despite that, Fortune
magazine reported November 28, Rupert Murdoch's
20th Century Fox, existing in India since before
1945, exited the country earlier this year. Its
movies will now be distributed in India by Warner
Brothers. Paramount, which also distributes
Universal Pictures and DreamWorks releases in
India, also has handed over part of its business
to four local distributors. The four major
studios' combined box office earnings last year
was reportedly only 4% of the US$1.3 billion
film-entertainment market in India.
Meanwhile, major Hollywood box office hits
in India have included: Titanic (1998) -
grossing $11 million; Spiderman (2002) -
$6.6 million; Godzilla (1998 ) - $6.1
million - Die Another Day (2002) - $5
million; Terminator 3 (2003) - $3.5
million; and Spiderman 2 (2004) - $7.4
million.
Hollywood also has realized the
untapped market potential for its films in Hindi
and other regional languages. Thus began the trend
of dubbing Hollywood films in several languages
and releasing them all across India.
Films
such as Jurassic Park, Godzilla,
Titanic, Spiderman and
Anaconda, with their dubbed versions, have
done tremendous business. For example,
Spiderman raked in revenues of $6.6 million
while its sequel Spiderman 2 grossed $7.44
million. Godzilla also grossed more than $6
million. According to SPRI figures, 50% to 60% of
its revenues come from dubbed versions of
Hollywood movies.
Also, forced by cable
television and rampant piracy, Hollywood began
bringing major releases to India within weeks of
their worldwide launch. Matrix Revolutions
was the first Hollywood movie released in India at
the same time as the rest of the world - November
5.
These success stories are partly due to
Hollywood films now being given full-spectrum
marketing treatment in India. "What has also
helped Hollywood penetrate the Indian market is
the almost 100% increase in the marketing and
publicity budgets for all Hollywood films by the
major studios," Bijli said.
Tricks of the
trade - premieres, tie-ups with corporates and
even merchandising - are all being used.
Promotions of Hollywood films are being adapted to
suit the local taste and flavor. For example, the
action figure was painted on Mumbai trains to
promote Spiderman 2. The effective use of
media, both new and old, is also helping Hollywood
attract audiences.
"Media penetration and
Internet usage has created greater awareness for
Hollywood films in India, right from the time they
are 'greenlit' [approved for production] in the
US, which increases once the film opens there,"
Singh said. "US reviews and box office figures are
flashed across Indian media and the buzz continues
with the Indian media giving space to these films
till their release in India."
Generally,
the only kind of Hollywood films that seem to work
in India are the franchises - such as
Spiderman - (often in dubbed versions) and
action films. One of the most innovative projects
was The Incredibles, for which SPRI secured
Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan and his son to
dub for the Hindi version of the film.
Similarly, to promote Spiderman 2,
Sony created a song by the Pakistani band Strings.
The film's publicity was tied-in with some of the
most successful television programs in India. Sony
Ericsson even launched their first branded phones
in the country with Spidey's image on the handset.
Looking at market potential, Hollywood
companies are getting hyper active in India. PVR
Pictures, the film distribution arm of the Priya
Village Roadshow group, has struck deals with
Kathy Morgan International and Initial
Entertainment Group (IEG) to distribute their
films in India.
Priya already has an
association with Miramax. Hollywood-based producer
Ashok Amritraj has announced he will distribute in
theaters at least 30 classic films from MGM's
library through his Hyde Park Entertainment.
Miramax's international sales and
distribution head Michael Rothstein told The
Hindustan Times recently that the company would
market Hollywood productions in India and was
considering producing and marketing local titles.
Miramax has already co-produced and marketed
Gurinder Chadha's Bride and Prejudice.
Indian movies cost about $7 million and could
provide good returns, Rothstein added.
As
well, Hollywood studios are increasingly looking
at possibilities of tie-ups with Indian
filmmakers. In a well-publicized move, SPRI
recently signed up hot Bollywood director Sanjay
Leela Bhansali for a teenage love story,
Saawaryia.
Already green-lit is
Tree of Life, starring Colin Farrell.
Percept Picture Company has also joined hands with
maverick filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma to co-produce
the producer-director's first ever exclusively
American film, Within.
For film
production, Hollywood can take advantage of film
studios such as Ramoji city that provide a great
range of locations, facilities and cheap,
English-speaking labor. For instance, The Harvey
Keitel film Beeper was shot entirely in
India.
Television is another big market.
Selling TV rights of movies is a source of major
revenue for Hollywood studios. All major channels
- Star Movies, HBO, AXN and Zee Studio - show
Hollywood films. Even India's public broadcaster,
Doordarshan, three years ago could not resist the
temptation of showcasing Hollywood. It began
airing Hollywood blockbusters dubbed in Hindi on
its DD Metro channel on Sundays in late 2002.
Doordarshan had allocated $23 million annually to
acquire film rights. Rupert Murdoch's Star Gold
Channel, part of the Star TV network in India, had
already started airing dubbed Hollywood
blockbusters, which turned out to be quite
popular.
Hollywood firms are also
outsourcing their animation programs to India.
"Some of the American companies are only getting
chunks of animation work done here, say worth
about $20 million" said Vinod Gowda, a senior
animator who worked on a Disney project.
"Outsourcing of complete production is yet to
happen, but the potential is huge."
So,
how does the future of Hollywood look like in
India? Not everyone thinks Hollywood can deepen
its dent in the Indian market despite all its
efforts.
"In view of the very strong local
product and the jump in the number of local films
being produced due to the multiplexes, we do not
expect a substantial penetration of Hollywood
films," Bijli said. "It appears to be unlikely
that the share of Hollywood films vis-a-vis local
films will go beyond 8-10% in the next 3 years."
But who knows? Hollywood could still come
up with a surprise ending.
Zafar
Anjum is a Singapore-based writer and
commentator. His fiction and journalism has
appeared in Indian and foreign publications and
websites. For more information, see
www.zafaranjum.com.
(Copyright 2005
Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing
.)
