Rock On! was only the beginning. After going on to create a new set of cult audience with their first co-production, Reliance ADAG's Big Pictures is bullish on its 18-movie slate for 2009.
On the distribution front, Big Pictures rode on the success of Ghajini at the fag end of 2008 to get a slice of the overseas business with Rs 390 million. The challenge this year is to step up the film production and distribution business.
In an interview with Indiantelevision.com's Anindita Sarkar & Gaurav Laghate, Big Pictures COO Mahesh Ramanathan talks about the company’s production plans and the revenue scope that the film business offers as different studios scale up.
Excerpts:
Big Pictures had made a grandiose announcement of producing 18 movies in 2009. But with the economy slowing down, is there a revised plan? |
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Having the financial muscle of Reliance ADAG, why has Big Pictures gone in for six Bollywood co-productions out of this roster of 18? |
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You will also be producing seven regional films this year. What kind of potential do you see in the regional film space? |
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Any plans of entering the Bhojpuri market? |
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Recently, we have seen a lot of small and mid budget films raking in good numbers at the box office which also includes your first Hindi production Rock On. Do you plan to create more small budget movies? |
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Year 2008 was a year of film acquisitions for some major studios. Why did you decide to stay away from it? If you are into acquiring of films, you are entitled to exploit the product only for a stipulated time period. This is not the same case with content creation. Original content helps you build your own catalogue and once the catalogue is built you can use it to create more revenue streams. |
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What role does marketing and promotion play in increasing a film's occupancy in theatres and multiplexes? |
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How difficult is it to tap the right set of audiences? |
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How do you strategise your film marketing activities in the international space? |
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Though in terms of value the Indian film industry is only 2 per cent of the entire global box office, it is generating interests across international studios. Why? When it comes to value, our box office stands at only 2 per cent of the global box office. But that is because our collections are still dependent a lot on single screens where ticket rates are really low. However, with the establishment of 3700-3800 multiplex screens in the next five years, we will see a lot of value being added to the box office. |
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How much of the revenue generation potential of a film is inflicted by piracy? |