MUMBAI
Having taken the ‘Weekend‘ and ‘Awards‘ to various beau locales world over, from London to Amsterdam, Dubai to Johannesburg, Iifa has created lasting experiences in these countries opening new markets for Indian cinema and its varied cultures.
Each year, Iifa 2009 honours a member of the Indian film fraternity with the Lifetime Achievement Award, who has made innumerable contributions to Indian cinema. Earlier, Mumtaz and Dharmendra have been honoured with this prestigious award.
The corporatisation of Bollywood helped clean ‘underworld‘ connections to a certain extent but it also created two new power centers – the producers and the multiplex owners.
While both the moviegoer and the industry welcomed the advent of the multiplex, the euphoria didn‘t last for long. With the amount of business the multiplexes were doing, big-time producers wanted a raise in the revenue-share. The revenue-sharing topic has always been a matter of attention every time a Yash Raj banner film or one from a reputed banner came up for release.
Till then multiplexes were passing on only 48 per cent to distributors when it should have been more, given the tax break. The Chopras, with some alleged arm-twisting, managed to get 2 per cent more even pre-Fanaa but this still left multiplex owners with a much higher profit margin than single-screen theatres.
Recent revenue-sharing story
The recent tiff between the producers and multiplexes started as early as February. While the producers were insisting on a 50 per cent revenue share for the first three weeks, the multiplexes were offering 50, 40 and 30 per cent revenue share for the same.
After several failed discussions, the producers decided to go on strike and from 4 April they stopped giving release rights of new big-budget movies to multiplexes.
After a month-long silence, both parties met on 5 May but nothing fruitful came out of the meeting.
Not seeing any chance of the ice thawing, producers decided to release films in single-screens and independent multiplexes from 29 May. One of the films that were to be released was Vashu Bhagnani‘s Kal Kissne Dekha, the debut film of his son Jaccky.
Later at a meeting held on 18 May, there was an underlying feeling that things would be sorted out at the meeting with the presence of multiplex owners like PVR‘s Ajay Bijli and Cinemax‘s Rashesh Kanakia along with Adlabs‘ Anil Arjun who have, prior to this, never attended any meeting besides Fame India‘s Shravan Shroff, Inox Leisure‘s Deepak Ashar and Fun Cinemas‘ Atul Goel. Representing the United Producers and Distributors Forum (UPDF) were Mukesh Bhatt, UTV‘s Ronnie Screwvala, Yash Raj Films‘ Sahdev Ghei, Eros International‘s Nandu Ahuja and Studio 18‘s Aman Gill.
While the 50:50 revenue sharing terms for the first week were agreed upon, the bone of contention was the second and third week. The UPDF wanted terms which were a notch higher than the 42.5 and 32.5 per cent respectively. This meeting too didn‘t yield any result.
On 23 May, the core committee of the UPDF met at the Yash Raj Studios where Yash Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Aditya Chopra, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan met the rest of their fraternity to reach a consensus on the situation. The outcome was that they should not succumb to the multiplexes‘ demands, if any. The situation looks grim and to say the least has resulted in a deadlock. It was this day when Bhagnani backed out from releasing his film in single-screens fearing loss.
On May 26 both parties met again. Just when they were getting closer to agreeing on the revenue-sharing terms, the issue of distribution strategy reared its head.
Multiplexes want the content for all their properties, thus increasing the burden of print cost on the producers and in turn hampering the success of smaller films. Producers are now on course to chalk out their own distribution strategy for films which is the norm worldwide.
“Giving the multiplexes the right to distribute films will kill the distribution business. If multiplexes think they can do distribution, then they should pay minimum guarantees. Moreover a big budget movie and a small budget movie cannot have the same distribution strategy,” says producer Harry Baweja of the Producers and Distributors Forum.
Overview
The disagreement between the two parties is being skeptically looked upon by industry professionals in the chain.
Says 24 Karat Multiplex CEO Padam Sacheti, ” The strike period is a bane for us. It is loss all the way. I suggest both parties should keep their egos aside and work towards resolving the issue.”
Though producers do not face any immediate financial losses, the release dates for several big budget projects have been disrupted. These include UTV‘s Main aur Mrs Khanna and Kaminey, Kal Kissne Dekha, Boney Kapoor‘s Wanted, Eros International‘s Aladin and Sajid Nadiadwala‘s Kambakkth Ishq. Almost Rs 2.5 billion has been blocked due to the delay in the release of these films.
Says UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur, “Well I think films will release at some point or the other, hence for the producers there isn‘t really any loss technically. Delay doesn‘t hamper big films. It is only that the money gets blocked. The real time to worry would be when a lot of films will have to be released in rapid succession once the strike is lifted. Till that time there isn‘t any loss that the producers are incurring, I think the loss is primarily with the multiplexes, because every week that they lose, is a week lost in revenue.”
The losses are indeed hurting multiplexes hard. “I would assume the loss to be to the tune of Rs 150,000 to Rs 200,000 a day per cinema,” says Fun Cinemas COO Vishal Kapur. “Talking about the occupancies, if earlier we would do 35 to 40 per cent of the available capacity, we are currently doing about 15 per cent,” he adds.
The upcoming T20 world cup is also likely to hamper new releases and even if the strike is called off, big films will release July onwards.
“It has been our stand for some time now. If there is no resolution soon, UTV will start releasing its big and small films in single theatres and non-national multiplexes from July onwards. We are working on the dates of releases of these films and they would be announced shortly,” says Siddharth Roy Kapur.
Multiplex owners are mum on their losses due to the content blackout. But according to Indiantelevision.com estimates, the losses are close to Rs 2 billion. It is difficult to put a figure to the losses incurred by film producers due to the deference of their releases, some of whom have borrowed at exorbitant rates. The industry has also to figure out a smooth release window after the row between the producers and plex owners end.
“A fatigue element seems to be building up. Both the parties are under financial stress and an amicable settlement would ease some of this pain. But there are structural issues that have to be sorted out on a long-term basis so that the revenue pie grows for all the stakeholders,” says an analyst who has been tracking the sector.
MUMBAI: T-Series‘ Kajraare starring Himesh Reshammiya, Mona Laizza, Amrita Singh, Adnan Shah, Natasha Sinha, Gaurav Chanana, Jawed Sheikh and Gulshan Grover is slated to release on 16 October. The film is a love story set in the picturesque locales of Jordan and Dubai.
Produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar, the film has been directed by Pooja Bhatt and written by Mahesh Bhatt.
The film has cinematography by Anshuman Mahale, choreography by Raju Khan, editing by Devendra Murdeshwar, art direction by Pooja Bhatt and Tarun Ahuja and stunts by Abbas Ali Mughal. The music
of the film has been scored by Himesh Reshammiya.
MUMBAI: The Multiplex Association of India has filed a complaint against film producers alleging “cartelisation” to the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
The complaint that has been filed against United Producers and Distributors Forum, Association of Motion Picture Producers (AMPTPP) and Film and TV Producers Guild of India pertains to Sections 3 (3) of Competition Act, the provision of which deals with anti-competitive agreements and cartels.
“Producers have been accused of cartelisation. Cartel is an association of similar companies or businesses that have grouped together in order to prevent competition, “avers Anil Nagrath, former secretary general of IMPPA.
He adds, ” I do not know in what context the multiplex owners have filed their complaint but I feel that it must have been made in the context of the strike causing harm or serious loss to multiplexes in general and also to the film-loving people.”
“Such activities which cause or are likely to cause appreciable adverse effect on competition are anti-competitive, ” Nagrath explains.
“Multiplex owners feel that blocking new releases had impacted their business and has ultimately affected movie buffs. However, since the provisions of the Act were notified only in mid-May and the multiplex issue pertains to a period before the notification came into force, it will be interesting to see how the Commission views the issue of whether action can be taken in this case,” wonders a trade analyst, on conditions of anonymity,
The move comes at a time when hectic parleys are on between the two parties to resolve the ongoing deadlock over revenue sharing on Bollywood films.
Asked about the plaint, United Producers and Distributors Forum chairman Mukesh Bhatt sounded ignorant about the happening. On the contrary, he averred, “Some progress has been made in the talks with multiplex operators. Negotiations are on and we hope things will be clear in a couple of days time.”
MUMBAI: The tussle between Bollywood producers and multiplex owners is beginning to hurt small ethnic movie theatres in the US.
As per media reports, Eagle Theater in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York has temporarily shut down.
The 500-seat theatre specialises in first-run Bollywood movies. The owners of the theatre are planning to resume as soon as the strike in India ends.
MUMBAI: BigFlix.com, the home entertainment business of Reliance Big Entertainment
Said BigFlix.com video-on-demand business head Murtuza Kagalwala, “With an objective to mitigate piracy in some way, we are constantly working on getting more movies on our website within a short span of time from the day of its release. Apart from blockbuster movies BigFlix will very soon have a wide range of varied content across genres.”
Produced under the banner of Geetha Arts, Ghajini has been directed by AR Murugadoss and stars Aamir Khan, Asin Thottumkal and Jiah Khan.
MUMBAI: From Wim Wenders to Kieslowski, Kurosawa to Wong Kar Wai, masterpieces of these legendary filmmakers will be playing at the Fun Cinemas big screen courtesy Palador Pictures.
A week-long screening entitled ‘World‘s Best‘ will kick off on 29 May.
These works of art include thriller, drama, action, adventure and fantasy. A landmark film will be showcased every evening at 8 pm in its original language with sub-titles in English. The tickets to the screenings will come at a discounted price of Rs 110 per ticket.
“World‘s Best will be a prelude to our next major project i.e. A 365-day film festival – ‘Reeload‘. Showcasing some of the best movies, this festival will help ardent fans of World Cinema to satisfy their thirst of watching their favourite titles on big screen,” says Palador Pictures founder and managing director Gautam Shiknis.
The festival will show nine films from across Germany, France, Poland and Hong Kong. The bouquet of films include Infernal Affairs -1, Breaking News, In the Mood for Love, Dead Man, Down by Law, The End of Violence,The Science of Sleep, Camera Buff and Seven Samurai.
Says Fun Cinemas senior vice president marketing Shirish Handa, “We constantly work towards providing patrons with an experience they can remember. These masterpieces are not just cinematically brilliant but are also a great window to many rich cultures of the world.”
MUMBAI: Dogged by controversies, Chennai-based Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd (PSTL) have announced a series of restructuring measures. While PS Saminathan has stepped down as chairman, the company is merging its US subsidiary and streamlining its operations to bring down its risk levels.
Saminathan will continue as the managing director and focus more on operational management. Founder director N Narayanan has taken over as chairman with immediate effect.
Recently, Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) barred promoters Nirmal N Kotecha and Saminathan from trading in securities over a fake letter and buyback offer.
The scam-hit PSTL has decided to approve the merger of its subsidiary Fun Asia USA with another company to “strengthen the market position of the group in the USA.” The company will, however, continue with its expansion plans in Malaysia, where it made cash profits.
“Due to huge business loses, the company has suffered working capital erosion. Further, the global meltdown, national recession and failure in the film industry have put enormous strain on the entire film industry. With a view to strengthen the core exhibition business and also to reduce the risk levels in the business and bring back growth and profitability, I have decided to focus more on operational management,” Saminathan said.
PSTL has been under financial stress with a loss of Rs 1 billion over the past year and new claims from the Income-Tax department. “A large investor sold shares, exiting the company under questionable circumstances, which also reduced the company‘s ability to handle the situation,” said Narayanan.
MUMBAI: Excel Home Video has partnered with NDTV Lumiere to release world movie titles on DVD.
Priced at Rs 399 each, the DVD includes movies titles such as I‘m Not There, 2 Days In Paris, The Page Turner and Salt Of This Sea.
I‘m Not There is an English movie based on legendary American singer
2 Days In Paris and The Page Turner were nominated for Cesar Awards for best writing original and best actress in 2008 and 2007 respectively.
Salt Of This Sea is about a American-born Palestinian woman who travels to her parent‘s homeland to settle old scores. The Arabic film was screened at Cannes film festival in 2008.
The DVD also includes extra features such as details about the movie, the director, filmography, awards and screenings.
MUMBAI: Cinemax India plans to invest between Rs 800 million and Rs 1 billion to roll out 50 screens in the current fiscal as it paces up to create a footprint across India.
The company‘s ambitious three-year plan is to add 300 screens over a period of three years, up from its current 74 screens across 25 properties. The company will need to raise funds for its expansion, the process of which will start in the second quarter of this fiscal.
Says Cinemax senior vice president Devang Sampat, “The screens will be launched on a pan India basis and will include places like Pune, Baroda, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. While 28 screens are already set out, 22 will be set up very soon.”
The ongoing producer-multiplex tussle has had its effect on the revenue earnings of various multiplex operators. Cinemax, however, will be somewhat cushioned as most of its screens are scattered across Maharashtra where it could showcase successful Marathi films like Mi Shivajiraje Bhonsale Boltoi, Tu Maza Jeev, Bokya Satbande and Gallit Gondhal Dillit Mujra at a time when multiplexes were choked of Bollywood content.
Cinemax expects to touch a turnover of Rs 2 billion in FY‘10 despite a possible weak first quarter. The company posted a revenue of Rs 1.45 billion and a net profit of Rs 110.5 million for the fiscal ended 31 March 2009.