(This article is third in series of articles published by T360 about various aspects of overseas distribution. First one was about SGS and Brahmotsavam premieres, next one was about how Yupp TV would disrupt overseas market )
Gone are the days when all the film fraternity used to wait for talk from mid night shows in Ceded and from Hyderabad etc. Now every one from the film industry – Heroes, Directors, Producers, wait for the talk that comes from USA premiers. Even a number of fans from remote centers in Andhra and look up “Live updates” from websites and on Twitter. “Movie talk coming from overseas is starting to impact collections here in India. We are surprised at how many people even in remote towns such as Managalari and Madanapalli are watching out for talk from USA premiers. For Brahmotsavam , I’m surprised when a fan called me and told that ALL IS OVER from a remote hamlet near Amalapuram at 5:30 AM” told a major distributor in Nizam.
This can work both ways, If positive talk comes from US premieres, this is having a significant impact in A center collections. Similarly, if movie is not good, this report is spread through social networking even before first screening in India.
From a trade perspective, Overseas market is right next to Nizam and has been on a secular growth trend from past few years. There is no surprise if in few years it crosses or is on par with Nizam. Premieres are the main reason for manifold increase in overseas market. For last two major movies SGS and Brahmotsavam premiers comprised of 50% of the total gross. Since, reviews are not out by the time audience watch previews, distributors are trying to maximize the revenue as much as possible.
[pullquote position=”left”] An young hero with strong political connections, who doesn’t have any market in US, insisted that his movie should be released in 80 centers in US.[/pullquote] Also, the collections that are reported for premiers are now becoming a benchmark and a matter of pride for heroes. All the top stars are very curious on how the movie did in USA and are trying multiple ways to increase overseas market. There are some heroes and directors whose primary focus is overseas market. However, a good release and pre release publicity are critical. Telugu movie producers also have to help USA distributors by giving content by Monday morning for a Thursday premiere. The prices quoted for overseas rights are with the assumption that the movie is premiered in all the centers. However, very few producers stick to that and even for Mahesh Babu’s Brahmotsavam the distributor lamented that they were not given content will Tuesday.
However, the Premieres are causing different type of issue for distributors of mid-small size movies. “Every young hero thinks he is the next Mahesh Babu and are now putting conditions that the movie should be released in at least 100 centers. They don’t realize the expenses involved. Each center we add is going to add at least 500-600 in expenses. So you are talking about 60,000 in fixed expenses. Most of these movies don’t even recover expenses, leave aside acquisition cost” lamented a US distributor who distributes mid, small movies in USA. True that — Here is out list of low grossing movies in 2016 and we can see that all movies have negative share and most don’t even recover expenses. [pullquote position=”right”] Recent movie of a young hero, who is son of a popular actor, grossed 4k on premiere day. He expressed displeasure that his movie was premiered only in 20 locations. He felt that had the movie been exhibited in 50 centers, it would have grossed 50k. [/pullquote]
So premieres are a great opportunity for distributors and producers to maximize the revenue before the talk comes out. However, heroes also need to be realistic about the number of centers and start slow instead of going big bang.
— Krishna (krishna@telugu360.com)
