Digital premieres to take a back seat as cinemas reopen

The return of Bollywood to big screens will reverse the trend of video streaming platforms acquiring films for direct digital premieres, said trade experts. Not only did most films, including big-ticket titles such as Coolie No. 1, perform below par, producers also realized that returns are higher when a digital premiere follows a theatrical release.

Starting mid-March, Bollywood producers have lined up a series of films for theatres, signalling the return of the industry to the big screen.

“Over-the-top (OTT) platforms are still looking at slightly upmarket youth as their target audience and the direct-to-digital premieres will stabilize (with platforms realizing that long-format originals appeal more to these viewers),” film trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar said.

Varun Dhawan’s Coolie No. 1 and Akshay Kumar’s Laxmii would have made close to ₹80 crore and ₹100 crore, respectively, had they been released in cinemas, according to trade experts. Besides, the films would have made more from the sale of rights to satellite TV and digital platforms.

Producers looked at OTT because of lack of options for films stuck during covid, but both filmmakers and stars ultimately want their movies to be seen on the big screen first, said Rajesh Mishra, CEO, Indian operations, UFO Moviez India Ltd, a digital service provider that has recently forayed into film distribution.

“Theatrical release is the best mechanism to determine the price for all other media and the upside will always be higher for producers if they take films to cinemas first. Plus, viewers on OTT are looking for bold and risqué stuff, with the kind of creative freedom that is not possible in cinema,” Mishra said. An original experiment like Scam 1992 worked more in terms of subscriber addition for SonyLIV than anything else, he said.

Sanjeev Lamba, executive producer, Hungama Originals, echoed a similar view. Digital and theatrical are two different components of maximizing movie rights and, while producers were forced to give up the latter, with the revival of theatres, they will go back to their old system. “OTT platforms will now commission their own films,” he said.

However, video streaming platforms emphasize the importance of both originals and acquisitions.

“We love to invest in original and licensed content across genres and formats. The current environment created some near-term opportunities to further bolster our slate, but there’s no fundamental change to our strategy. We were already big believers in original films and we are investing in it,” said Srishti Behl Arya, director, international original films, Netflix