Indian Box office verdicts are usually confusing. A few movies are called Blockbusters by the media even though they are just Semi-hit to Hit. A few movies which go into overflow are termed Flops.
Also many of you might have wondered on what basis a verdict is given out on a movie. How does the trade define a movie as a Hit, Flop, Superhit, Blockbuster. Hopefully this article will clear all your doubts.
Circuit: The area for which a distributor buys the distribution rights for a film for a period of (generally) 5 or 7 or 10 years.
Ratio: The price for which a film is sold for Bombay circuit. Prices for all other circuits are determined as a fixed percentage of the ratio. For example, Delhi-U.P. is usually 80 to 85% of the ratio. But in the case of action films, which have a bigger market in North India, Delhi-U.P. may be sold for 100% of the ratio.
Flop: If a film can?t even cover its investment by the distributor, it is termed a flop.
Average: If a film manages to simply recover its cost, it is an average fare.
Commission Earner: When a film recovers the investment and, over and above that, gets in revenues of 25% more, it is termed a commission earner. Thus, if the distributor?s total investment in a film is Rs. 2 crore, and it does a business of Rs. 2.50 crore, it is termed a commission earner. 25% of Rs. 2 crore is Rs. 50 lakh which is the amount of commission which belongs to the distributor to cover his expenses of releasing the film.
Overflow: When a film crosses the commission mark, the revenues thereafter are to be shared between the producer and distributor. The producer gets a share in the ?overflow? business, generally fifty-fifty. Such sharing makes the film an overflow film. Overflow films can be further categorised as under, depending on the quantum of overflow.
Semi-Hit: A film which does a business that is double the distributor?s investment in it, is termed a semi-hit. In such a case, the producer gets handsome overflow from the distributor.
Hit: If a film more than doubles its investment in the distributor?s hands, it is deemed to be a hit.
Super-Hit: If the returns on a film are much more than double the investment, it is termed a super-hit.
Blockbuster: Returns are almost triple the investment.
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July 16th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Really good one, explains the stuff in detail.
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