7 releases but no audience! Is OTT taking a toll on theatrical releases in India? – India TV

The month of April is being very cold for Bollywood films. Many big-budget films were released in theatres, but not a single one is running successfully. Shaitaan featuring Ajay Devgn, Jyothika and R Madhavan was released last month on March 8. The film made bumper earnings, but all the films released after this film, could not live up to the expectations. Ajay Devgn’s Maidaan and Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff’s Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan, released on the occasion of Eid, have been disasters at the beginning of the year. Both were big-budget films and have not been able to recover their costs till now. Kareena, Tabu, and Kriti starrer Crew, 

 Randeep Hooda’s Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, LSD2, Margaon Express and recently released Do Aur Do Pyaar are also in bad condition. Several back-to-back releases have also not been able to bring back audiences in the theatres. 

Enticing offers too failed at filling in the theatre seats

There are seven films in theaters in April, but not even one made bumper earnings. Clearly, this month is proving to be bad for the cinemas. The situation has become such that some theaters are locked while others are somehow trying to run the films with enticing offers. They are now selling tickets at the lowest prices. And many filmmakers have come up with ‘Buy One Get One’ and ‘Just Rs 100’ offers. Both ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ and ‘Maidaan’ are given one free ticket each. In some cinema halls, tickets are being sold for only thirty and fifty rupees and even then the purpose has not been fulfilled. 

For example, ticket prices at ‘Rajiv Cinema’ in Agra have been reduced to Rs 30 and Rs 50. At just this price you can watch Siddharth Malhotra’s film Yoddha. Even after this, the shows remain empty. The situation is similar in ‘Rupvani’ cinema in Purnia, Bihar. Due to a lack of audience, Mumbai’s Galaxy Theater with 800 seats has been locked for a few days. It is also known that Gaiety-Galaxy has been closed since April 19. The last show running in it was Maidaan. It is being claimed in many reports that no big film is going to be released because of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In such a situation, operators are planning to keep some halls of cinema halls completely closed to save their costs.

Only three films made it to the 100 cr club this year!

This year only three Hindi films could cross the Rs 100 crore mark. These include ‘Shaitaan’, ‘Fighter’ and ‘HanuMan’. Shaitan is the only superhit film of this year. Now, the next big-budget films like ‘Baby John’, ‘Kalki 2898AD’ and ‘Pushpa 2’ will be released in theatres. Makers and theater operators have high hopes for these films. Last year was also a lackluster affair, only Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Jawan’, ‘Pathaan’, and ‘Dunki’ made big profits. Apart from this, ‘Animal’ minted money at the box office due to understood reasons. Apart from this, ‘The Kerala Story’ and ’12th Fail’ were the only small-budget films that made huge profits.

Did OTT hamper theatrical releases’ collections? 

Talking about OTT, films and web series are being watched a lot here. Many films are running on OTT after failing in theatres. Recently released ‘ Amar Singh Chamkila’, ‘Maamla Legal Hai’, ‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’ and ‘The Article 370’ have registered records on OTT. If seen, those films that are made on a small budget and are doing wonders on OTT are profitable. In such a situation, the popularity of OTT has increased a lot in the past few days. After the end of COVID-19, people thought that theaters would reopen, but we have to admit that OTT has made such a hold on the hearts and minds of the audience amid the lockdown that people have started waiting for a long time to watch movies here. The dominance of OTT compared to the theater can be clearly seen, especially in the month of April.

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