Mumbai: Times Network movie channels Movies Now, MNX, Romedy Now, and MN+ have announced a special programming lineup for Diwali.
Movies Now will air films like “XXX: Return of Xander Cage,” “Quantum of Solace,” “Bumblebee,” “Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen,” and “Men In Black: International” at 9 p.m every night. It will also air films like “Die Another Day,” “Apocalypto,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Spectre” and more on weekdays at 11 p.m.
On 4 November, the channel will bring the biggest blockbuster superhero films like “Wonder Woman 1984,” “Spiderman: Far from Home,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” and “Transformers: The Last Knight.”
MNX will air films like “Source Code,” “The Tuxedo,” “Zombieland: Double Tap,” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “Walking Tall,” and “The World is Not Enough” every day at 9 p.m.
Romedy Now will telecast the films “13 Going on 30,” “Monte Carlo,” “Marmaduke,” “Fly Me To The Moon” starting at 11 p.m every night. It will also air films such as “The Hustle,” “French Kiss,” “The Vow,” “Zookeeper,” “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” and more on 4 and 5 November starting at 8 a.m onwards.
MN+ will air films such as “Irma La Douce,” “The Comfort of Strangers,” “Company Business” and more every night at 11 p.m. On 4 and 5 November, it will showcase “Bright Nights,” “Rain Man,” “The Internship,” “The Terminal,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Birdman,” “Raging Bull” and more from 9 a.m onwards.
In April, Filmy created the ‘Junior Filmy‘ Sunday block from 10 am to 2 pm to fill it with two back-to-back movies. This came on the back of an experiment carried out in July last year with the screening of The Jungle Book Series in the same time band.
A month later, it was Zee Cinema which branded a special kids daily slot from 19 May. The Dopahar Zee Cinema Par slot at 12:30 pm has Darsheel Safary of Taare Zameen Par fame as the brand ambassador.
Filmy, for instance, has introduced Five Juniors as presenters – Pink Rose, Miss B, Gadbad Gobbar, Jaggu Jasoos and Mr Octopus. These juniors pop up from time to time, offering children a different viewing experience throughout the movie.
As part of the engagement game, Zee Cinema has introduced Din Mein Taare contest. Kids have to count the stars which appear on the screen while the movie is shown. Five winners from across the country will get a chance to meet Darsheel safary, after the kids carnival is over.
Another innovative advertising trend in this season of vacation is that kids channels are advertising in these movie channels to expand their visibility. Nick, for instance, is advertising on Filmy during the Junior Filmy slot.
With limited movies in the market and increasing demand, the acquisition prices have also gone high. Taking the syndication route is becoming a popular practice. Filmy has inked barter deal with Pogo for Chhota Chetan and Abra Ka Dabra.
“Our library is big enough and the titles that we have chosen have consistently done well for the channel. So we decided to put them all together in a slot and run a festival,” points out Chawla.
