Can Bollywood Be Dented On Home Ground?
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Asia Times, Hong Kong
December 2, 2005
Hollywood's Indian adventures
By Zafar Anjum
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.