MUMBAI: Star India is leaving no stone unturned to ensure Star Gold reigns in the movie premiere category. The broadcaster has not only acquired TV and digital rights for two blockbusters of 2017 – Golmaal Again and Judwaa 2 but also upcoming unreleased movies like Dutt, Baaghi 2, Raid and Aiyaary.
According to a source close to the development, all the six movies have been acquired for a period of 7-11 years. They will also be available for streaming on Hotstar.
Movie acquisition costs keep going a notch up every year, especially if the movie does well at the box office. The movie acquisition cost of Aiyaary is around Rs 21 crore, Golmaal Again is around Rs 60 crore and Judwaa 2 is between Rs 25-30 crore, the source revealed.
Star India general manager and EVP Hindi movie business Hemal Jhaveri said, “The acquisition of the biggest films of the year is a testament to Star Gold’s dominant position and to the strength of the Star Network. Apart from entertaining the audiences, mega movie premieres also prove to be a successful platform from an advertiser’s standpoint. We are delighted to be at the centre of this win-win situation.”
The broadcaster stands to earn big bucks during mega movie premieres since advertisers don’t hesitate to cough up premium rates, which will not be the case for a normal movie. It gives a bigger brand image for the advertiser as well as viewers.
Premieres also tend to grab more eyeballs. The channel expects movies like Judwaa 2 and Golmaal Again to rake in the investment and viewership. But Bareilly ki Barfi and Shubh Mangal Savdhan and the likes may not do the same, said the source.
Jhaveri believes that the channel has always received a phenomenal response for its big-ticket premieres. With the current lineup, the channel is optimistic about outdoing its previous records and setting new standards for television premieres in the country.
In the last two years, Star Gold delivered the highest rated premieres, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (PRPD), whose satellite rights commanded a price tag of Rs 50 crore. Both their ratings are still unbeaten. Along with these, the channel has disrupted the market with landmark premieres such as Pink and The State vs Jolly LL.B 2. In 2017 itself, the channel delivered six of the top 10 premieres shown on Hindi movie channels.
Despite the onset of digital platforms, TV viewership hasn’t been affected but has even increased since rural areas, that were only acquainted with Doordarshan earlier, can now scan through tons of private channels.
Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal Again and Varun Dhawan’s Judwaa 2 will premiere on Star Gold in the coming two months. Among the unreleased movies are Rajkumar Hirani’s Dutt starring Ranbir Kapoor, Neeraj Pandey’s Aiyaary featuring Sidharth Malhotra, Baaghi 2 with Tiger Shroff in the lead and Ajay Devgn’s Raid.
