hate to rub it in arsh bhai...butttttttttttttttttttttttt
Kal Ho Na Ho is the most happening story in the overseas video and theatrical markets among recent releases. Having grossed around $700,000 through DVD sales in the North American and UK markets, the Bollywood blockbuster has clocked $4 million-plus in the theatrical circuit.
While the movie had opened at theatres abroad in step with the domestic release, DVDs of the film have been circulated internationally only from mid-February 2004.
" Kal Ho Na Ho has done around $2 million theatrically in the US and Canada and $1.5 million in the UK . As far as DVDs go, the North American region has hogged close to $500,000, with the UK market turning over about $200,000," Sushil Agrawal, chairman, Video Federation of India, told The Economic Times .
"One was actually expecting Kal Ho Na Ho to ride a bigger launch than the 30,000 DVDs in the US and 10,000 DVDs in UK ."
In tandem, Khakee , he said, has notched nearly $600,000 from DVDs and over $1 million from theatres mainly in the US and UK .
The DVD segment for Bollywood films in the US and UK has also seen LOC picking up $400,000-500,000 in grossings and Ram Gopal Varma-directed Bhoot lapping up about $350,000.
Interestingly, rubbing shoulders with the Hindi mega flicks which have swung a bonanza lately in the global DVD and theatrical markets is the Vidhu Vinod Chopra-produced Munnabhai MBBS . Agrawal said Munnabhai already boasts of nearly $500,000 grossings in the DVD category and above $1 million in collections at theatres.
Figuring in the second rung of success stories overseas are films like Maqbool . The movie, apparently inspired by Macbeth , has seen around 15,000 DVDs arriving at retail shelves in the US and UK .
This should translate in a gross of $200,000-250,000, with theatre earnings adding another $300,000.
"The pricing of DVDs, essentially in the US and UK , fits into two brackets. While the big flicks are priced at $16, the small and medium titles come for $7-12. In the same breath, the launch numbers for blockbusters range between 15,000 and 50,000 DVDs, while slightly lesser titles find 7,000-10,000 pieces being released. In any case, original DVDs generate in the first two weeks or so. After this initial run, counterfeit DVDs, looking exactly like the originals, take over with a price tag of a mere $3," Agrawal said.
Around a dozen new films and 50 oldies are released every month. In fact, piracy is the prime reason for the overseas DVD market Indian films, placed at $18-20 million yearly, "stagnating" somewhat of late.
"Further growth of these brands would probably be fuelled once DVDs enter regions like Far East , South Africa , Middle East and West Indies , for instance, in a big way. This is because producers normally hive off VCD, TV and theatrical rights to the overseas distributor, but exploit the DVD rights themselves," Agrawal said.
===============
economictimes.com
|