The all-new Hollywood Effect

Urban Indian multiplex crowd falls in love with English films again.

Novel marketing, online and mobile promotions, and dubbing help even non-franchise English films find a big market in India.

WHEN the low-budget laugh riot, The Hangover became one of Hollywood's biggest hits at the Indian box- office last year, the film trade spotted a rising trend. While the representative Hollywood blockbuster over the decades was mostly defined by multi-million franchise flicks or tech-loaded scifi extravaganzas, smaller Hollywood movies are also suddenly finding favour with desi viewers in a big way.

The Hangover apart, last year's biggest Hollywood hits in India include the likes of The Ugly Truth, The Proposal and the medium budget hijack drama, The Taking Of Pelham 123. Sure, there have been the franchise superhits such as Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, Terminator Salvation and the James Bond flick, Quantum Of Solace, besides sci- fi spectaculars such as 2012 and Avatar. The increasing success rate of non- franchise films in India, however, suggests that the trend is here to stay.

Take The Hangover, for instance. The film didn't boast of big stars and yet grossed Rs 10 crore. Similarly, the Gerard Butler-Katherine Heigl starrer, The Ugly Truth, netted Rs 4.5 crore.

Sandra Bullock's The Proposal is estimated to have made its distributors richer by Rs 4 crore in India. Angels & Demons made Rs 10 crore while Michael Jackson's This Is It grossed Rs 4.12 crore in India.

"The kind of buzz non- franchise films, especially rom- coms, are generating globally nowadays has a direct effect on the Indian audience, that is increasingly keeping pace with the world trends thanks to the internet. Nowadays, it is not just about blindly going for a franchise flick just because it has brand value. Hollywood rom- coms have gathered a considerable audience, especially in the metros," says Kercy Daruwala, managing director, Sony Pictures India.

Indeed, the picture has changed drastically in just about over half a decade. Consider this: In 1992, Hollywood films grossed a paltry 12 lakh. By 2009 that figure had risen to a whopping Rs 250 crore in India.

"Over the past few years, there has been the advent of the internet and the cellphone, which has helped foreign film promotions in India in a big way. Plus, Indian people now have a greater hunger to watch quality global entertainment," says Girish Johar, associate vice- president of UTV Motion Pictures that distributes Disney films in India.

Indeed, the graph has been steadily escalating for Hollywood movies in India. In 2005, 55 released films did a total business of Rs 184 crore. A year later, the figure had risen to Rs 200 crore from 77 releases.

Industry experts estimate that the next 12 months will see more nonfranchise releases than ever and expect Hollywood grosses in India to cross Rs 300 crore. Of course, a chunk of those figures come from non-franchise films, or the 'smaller' releases of Hollywood as the trade in India likes to call them.

Apart from the internet and the cellphone, the trade cites another avenue that has helped popularised Hollywood cinema beyond franchise hits. "English film channels have played a key role in popularising Hollywood films across genres in the metros. Till a decade ago, there were just two major players — Star Movies and HBO. Now, there are over half a dozen channels exclusively airing English films in original or dubbed versions. It helps temper the audience mindset for a variety of films," says trade analyst Vinod Mirani.

Another reason is clearly the multiplexes boom. After all, multiplexes account for about 75 per cent of the total box- office collections for Hollywood movies. Consider this: The Hangover ran for 100 days at a Bengaluru multiplex and 50 days in most audis in other major metros — a feat that even most Bollywood films these days fail to achieve.

"Without multiplexes, Hollywood movies would have failed to thrive in India. Earlier, we would struggle to get enough single screens even for a Bond flick but now all kinds of Hollywood films find multiplex space because the exhibitors need lots of movies to sustain business," opines Jacinto Fernandes, marketing head of Paramount Films (India), which had a recent success by way of the George Clooney romantic drama, Up In The Air . Still, most people feel the Hollywood market in India is still in a nascent stage. Bollywood is hardly affected by the foreign onslaught, as English films account for only around 10 per cent of the total collections for exhibitors in India. Still, the gross box office collections of Hollywood films went up by almost 12 per cent from 2007 to 2008. S AYS Vishal Kapur, COO, Fun Cinemas: "English films still find little acceptance in smalltown India. But Hollywood studios are slowly foraying that market too, with dubbed versions." Beyond dubbing, another thing that’s working for Hollywood films of all kinds is innovative marketing schemes. Sony Pictures, the distributors of The Ugly Truth , for instance, took promotion to an interactive level by floating contests for couples at malls, stations, bus stops, and multiplexes in the big cities. In sync with the mood of the film, contestants had to reveal the ugliest truth about their partner.

For their upcoming rom-com, The Back-Up Plan, Sony Pictures have plans of hosting women's-only screenings, besides conducting surveys about single mothers. All this is in sync with the theme of the film, starring Jennifer Lopez, about single motherhood.

"For all English films, especially rom-coms, we also depend a lot on viral marketing — namely, Facebook, Twitter and online forums. The internet helps us because such films largely appeal to the educated and global Indians," says Fernandes.

Realising that non-franchise films can also spell big business, studios have increased marketing budgets for all films in India by about six per cent. "More money is now being allocated for marketing of English films because India is a potentially growing market for all kinds of Hollywood films," says Johar.

Daruwala of Sony Pictures also talks of "ground activities" in colleges, BPOs and night clubs to reach out to a specific audience.

Adds filmmaker Jag Mundhra: "Light romantic films have become big since the youth patronise such films. Various factors have come together to make English films, especially non- franchises ones, saleable in the big cities." Says trade analyst Mirani: "Viewers no longer distinguish between English and Hindi films. If they like the subject, they'll watch it. Also, the bad quality of Hindi films has helped English ventures prosper. And since Hollywood has already exhausted other global markets, they are focusing on India now." Of late, dubbed versions have also boosted Hollywood’s prospects, especially when it comes to penetrating the interiors.

Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and even Bhojpuri versions have now become regular fare for Hollywood films. A strong market is emerging in B and C centres, which didn't earlier exist.

In several cases — and this includes non-franchise films — almost 60-70 per cent of a Hollywood release's revenues have come from dubbed versions.

Danny Boyle's multiple-Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire, for instance, earned almost 65 per cent of its revenues from the Hindi version, Slumdog Crorepati. WHAT has also helped Hollywood is the growing number of distributors in India.

Most major studios have opened shop in India now, so business has increased. And with rising business came the necessity to increase the number of releases.

Since any studio can come up with only a limited franchise releases in one year, that in turn spelt boon for the smaller Hollywood films.

Now, big studios such as Warner, Sony, Fox and Paramount release around 20 films every year. The number was around less than half around a decade ago.

While dubbing has directly boosted Hollywood film's business, most makers steer clear of dubbing rom- coms. "Romantic comedies use heavy- duty American puns and jokes that would get lost in translation," explains Daruwala.

Meanwhile, thanks to an unprecedented reception in 2009, Hollywood studios are confident of sustaining such an interest level over the next 12 months.

Fox Star (India) CEO Vijay Singh has stated that the success of Avatar in the Indian market is an indicator of a growing Hollywood market which is not just for franchise films or major releases, but for almost all English films across the board.

Clearly, exhibitors in the local market are showing unprecedented interest in English films.

Over the next couple of years, Hollywood's share at the Indian box- office is expected to go up by at least seven per cent according to estimates of the film trade.

Of course, showbiz is a productled business. So, the studios have lined up about 100 films in a variety of genres. For 2010, Sony has lined up rom-coms such as The Back-Up Plan, The Bounty Hunter and Easy A besides the Julia Roberts-starrer Eat, Pray, Love, and Salt starring Angelina Jolie. Paramount will come up with a rom-com, She's Out Of My League and the M. Night Shyamalan-directed The Last Airbender. Disney has Alice In Wonderland coming up while Warner Bros. is coming up with a mixed bag of comedy, action and drama by way of Inception, Cop Out and Jonah Hex among more than 20 releases this year.

"Another reason why a variety of Hollywood films are working in India is that Hindi films have also become different. Bollywood filmmakers are trying out a variety of genres, which helps audiences mature and accept variety from Hollywood too," says Mundhra.

Meanwhile, Hollywood studios are also producing Hindi films to increase their presence in a burgeoning Indian market. Despite the fact that Warner Bros' Chandni Chowk To China and Sony's Saawariya — two of the earliest Hollywood-produced Bollywood films — turned out to be huge flops, major studios in LA continue to be enthused in tapping the Indian box- office. This week's big release, the Ajay Devgn-Konkona Sen Sharma starrer Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? comes from the Warner stable.

"Of course, investing in bigticket projects such as the Harry Potter or Spider- Man flicks will always be a safe bet for exhibitors in India because those films enjoy a relatively more popular market.

But with the way even non- franchise English films are growing in India, Bollywood will have to pull up its socks and deliver quality cinema because they will have stiff competition," says Mundhra.

Estimates show Hollywood’s largest audience base by 2025 could be India and China. So, the studios are all set for a full onslaught at the Indian box- office. And studios bosses know that the battle can be won only if local audiences warm up to non- franchise films.