The number of people watching movies in a theatre is dropping alarmingly fast with each passing day. Irrespective of the pre-release promotions and hype, almost 90% of the films are not even getting a good opening at the box office. The month of November 2014 was probably one of the worst for Hindi Cinema, and the dull period continued across January with the only exception being films like ‘PK’, ‘Baby’ and ‘Badlapur’. Even a film like ‘Baby’ with exceptional word-of-mouth and a superstar like Akshay Kumar, failed to cross the 100 crore mark.
So why have people stopped going to theatres like they used to before? Our analysis below..
Rising Ticket Prices: It seems the multiplex culture has done more harm than good to the movie going audience. An average ticket price of Rs 350 has made the audience extremely selective when it comes to planning a movie outing. For a family of four, these kind of rates definitely leave a huge hole in the pockets. It’s not only about ticket prices but also snacks and other refreshments at theatres. A normal salted popcorn + Coke at a PVR Juhu costs Rs 210. A simple outing at a theatre costs a family anywhere between Rs 2000 – 2200.
The decline of Wholesome Cinema: There has been a gradual decline in films that provide Wholesome entertainment (or as we say a ‘paisa vasool’ film). Even today, for a film to do good business all across the country, what works is wholesomely entertaining films. From the time of Manmohan Desai to Rohit Shetty, very little has changed. The audience is the same; they want entertaining films that can be enjoyed with a few laughs and by shedding a few tears. We have scrutinised and over evaluated films and audience, often failing by trying to go different (by creating concept oriented films) or by creating projects (over the top masala films). Rajkumar Hirani has always got it right, because he has kept it simple by understanding basic human emotions and presenting them in a socially relevant way. When the audience feels that a certain movie is ‘value for money’, they wouldn’t mind paying that extra buck to go and enjoy the film in theatre.
Piracy and Genre of the film: Piracy has been another issue that has affected the film industry. The fact that people are watching pirated films is proof enough that people have not lost interest in films, but are disinterested to go to theatres. We feel the genre of the film is one of the key factors that may influence a movie goer to go to the theatres. Today a high concept action film or drama may find its takers but a regular love story will not influence the audience to go to the theatres unless it offers something unique. For instance this year, Baby and Badlapur did reasonably good business (both being action engaging films) and Dum Laga Ke Haisha is being appreciated (being a different love story not the typical guy-girl romance).
Lack of Innovative Marketing: With almost 2 films releasing every week, there is a lack of innovation when it comes to marketing. It seems every production house has a standard template of marketing, wherein they release TV promos, do city visits and schedule regular interviews. The audience notices the same marketing pattern almost every week, there is a need to break away from the routine and do something different when it comes to promotion. Creativity in marketing campaigns is probably as important as creativity in content of films.
@sambuddha: I told you earlier Badlapur won’t be more than a HIT..
It collected 7.20crs on Friday and will settle to a total of around 48-49crs.
Now a strictly mediocre film like Heropanti,started from 6crs and collected 52crs,even Varun’s MTH started from 6.5crs and collected 55crs..
Now what does it shows,Badlapur was’nt that well received by the audience,climax was a letdown(For audience though critics loved it),it dragged a bit in 2nd half which was sufficient for audience to not like this film..
I saw most of the faces dull after the film ended..
@aunt annie
srk is all about marketing he survives becoz of that even those who dont watch bolly films says they like srk by reading his paid news
@sallu haters father
just wait and see i am coming
More than anything, it is the content of the movies that B’wood produces which is degrading by the day.
Barring a few, 95% movies are absolute trash in B’wood.
People have had enough of the crap.
They don’t wanna pay for inducing headaches while watching cinema.
Slowly but surely, multiplex audience is moving towards English movies as they provide content and entertainment at the same time.
Last year, I saw 15 English movies and 1 B’wood movie i.e. PK in theatres.
Hence, quality is going down, and quantity is shooting up.
This goes on for another 10-15 years, and B’wood would cease to exist.
At last Its al about entertaiment entertainment nd entertainment .
Without entertainment why should some1 waste money .
SRK is probably the biggest name in making & discovering NEW & INNOVATIVE ways of promotion… thats why his films are liked by all..
Great analysis.I think the rapid decline in pure family film is also huge responsible for this.When superstars also making films which were not for family.kissing scenes.Abusive language.Cheap item songs.are also responsible.A well made film which is pure entertainer having superstar get great result.Example is CE.dabangg.Similarly if there are huge entertainment value along with some adult content like pk.3I.d3 then it also succeed.I always want clean entertaining cinema the most and even many too.Yes for a change we can enjoy adult comedy like Delhi Belly.Grand mastic but if these genre start repeat than no doubt these will gonna down further.
U guys missed one point..
All films except some blockbusters will telecast in TV.. Within a 30 to 40 days..
No need to waste money…. In cinemas…
@Ishan Gulati:: Same is the case with hollywood films..95% of them are also trash..
Now you watched 15 h’wood films,really all of them had the so called content with entertainment,I don’t think so..
There are trash films in h’wood and that bore you to death too atleast b’wood films have some entertainment..
And the public is’nt shifting towards h’wood at all,only franchise films like spiderman,fast n furious series films,X men,now Avengers film do good business..Rest most disappear within a week.
Combine quality with entertainment! Sign Amit Trivedi/Vishal-Shekhar/A R Rahman/SEL! And get the success!
shamitabh is a good case in study as to why audience rjected the film
putting a south indian actor at the helms of things is a poor idea
the aged superstar in a disheveled state is a poor representation
needless songs and film being shot primarily in hyderabad is a put off
whenever the director takes it abroad the stark diffence between indian locales and foreign becomes evident..the special effects of car bouncing off is repetitive
silence is never appreciated in our films ..as background score runs all through..not in 2015
poor casting and side actors also leaves interest
high ticket prices with parking woes and expensive meals makes it a 5k affair..
adult tag also reduces the audience ..and all dance and no substance leaves the film high and dry
i see pirated films which is easy to download and we see at our convenience ..best option
Will anyone indicine user tell me what is the meaning of film’s CONTENT. I am not able to understand this term.so plz anyone Tell me.
My english skills is a little bit low.
But i am fan ofof Bollywood.
@thulle Most of the Hollywood films don’t reach India. Those that do are all quality films with huge production values. You go into the theatre expecting a good film. Crap H’wood movies rarely release here.
I saw those 15 films after carefully reading about them on Imdb, Rotten tomatoes and other critics’ reviews. I don’t just go in blindly without any clue about what to expect from it just bcoz it is H’wood material.
Only the single screen audiences watch B’wood crap consistently. Multiplex audience isn’t like that.
Did you even read what I wrote above?
I wrote ‘slowly but surely’. Nothing will change overnight.
No B’wood film other than 15 or at max. 20 out of 200 that release in a year are even tolerable, leave alone entertaining.
This year too, only Baby, Badlapur and Shamitabh were watchable. That means 3 movies in 2 months.
Got what I am saying?
Only akki sir is the best actor in bollywood Airlift film will best in 2016 .
@babaji KA thullu,yeah that’s what your range is,lol.Hollywood is never boring.yeah some garbage unnecessary action movies are there who he is not only boring but also having no class.but one thing Bollywood can never match with Hollywood i.e class although some of SRK and few amir movies up to some extent tried.you simply couldn’t understood about Hollywood.because you’re happy with those cheapest Indian masala movies,lol.
But Indians are thinking a class movie should give a message to the society!!!!!now this is what the dumbest thinking if all time if our Indian audience is. TRUE CLASS knews no message or any imaginative things that mostly Indian movies do have.it should have based on a simple life style with excellent or outstanding cinematography,some times even screenplay is not even so much necessary to represent the greatness.of a film ,that’s what the power class that only OSCAR understands and in India it’s FILMFARE.meanwhile national awards choosing those movies which neither based upon reality nor having a high class cinematography of a film containing below average actors.
Even the biggest difference is collection.while almost people arches Hollywood movies in US/WW but in India only 8-10% peoples watched their biggest movie pk.this what is reality.
@Annie.. If Srk does d promotion u mean 2 handover d crown title to …an actor that dont do d promotions much but keeps on breaking creating breaking records….A…. K…??
I think u don’t Just call Srk alone here.. U call ppl like Aamir and Salman. Since d topic is on drastic fall of footfalls…and hu proves these wrong.? A SK S…..
2.@indicine… I think d 3rd point u made..”PIRACY”..is very very “KEY” here…
I live in Nigeria… 8.2hours flight from India but d day film releases in India…in 2days every1 has d copy???
@ultron uncle i dont care what ever you said …..the main point here is i just love SRK and i dont care the rest ..and you said you will come back here for what? for suiside??????
Today a film which will stand on razor’s edge of pure art and entertainment will be an atbb.
Seriously guys, who wants to send 2000 to 2500 bucks for a movie outing with family?
The makers are totally not in sync with the ground reality. They should first boycott making movies for a month. Stop shooting and force the government to withdraw the ridiculous entertainment taxes that is being levied. But, then they will not, and nothing can be done.
There is enough on TV already, and pirated CDs with good quality are available at your doorsteps, so who would care to spend even Rs 350 per movie? Wake up industry, or you will perish soon.
A family would prefer 1 or 2 movies per year, or say, a max 4. In India we go either with our group of friends or with our family, and with the number of visits dropping, there is no point in doing 3-4 movies for any actor.
I guess Aamir read this situation pretty early, and he started the trend, and now srk and salman follows it. Because stars have the pull, but too many films at a time will lead to less interest and huge ticket pricing, piracy etc., is further making the situation worse.
So, they only do one movie, and save their energy for promotion and marketing or strategy whatever, while the moviegoers are happy to see their favourite star and fits their budgets too for a family or friends outing once or twice a year.
It is a win-win situation to the fans and the superstars, plus the makers.
To get people back to theatres – two things needs to be done – remove the entertainment tax, and give quality cinema with good promotion and marketing, so that people are tempted to go out and watch. This is the age of marketing and propaganda. You just can;t open a shop and expect people to come and purchase your products.
hmm BTW indicine now BOI Has Given Semi-hit verdict to BABY !! OFFICIALY
@ishan Gulati:: Agree with you that there have been only 3 films BABY,Shamitabh,Badlapur and add to that this week’s Dum laga ke haisha that have been watchable in these 2 months but can you tell me how many Hollywood films have been watchable in this period??
Probably only Kingsman:The secret Service,others like Fifty Shades of grey,boy next door,seventh son(that released here) were absolutely trash.
And i don’t agree with you at all that “bollywood would cease to exist in 10-15yrs”..
I watched Captain america,the equalizer,ninja turtles,hercules,hobbit 3 last year in theatres,and I did’nt like CA,Hercules and equalizer of them..For CA,one might argue but I don’t think Hercules and Equalizer were good films.
My friends watched Exodus and Seventh Son,i did’nt went with them for these films and they did’nt like those..
And by saying this I am not saying that hollywood films are trash,hollywood every year churns out gems like Interstellar,Imitation games,American sniper but to say that all hollywood films are great is’nt right!!
Bollywood is the only industry that has survived the h’wood dominance,highest grossers in china are also h’wood films not their domestic ones,while here we have PK leading any h’wood film by a huge margin.
There are lot of talented directors in our industry and content driven films have become the trend in last few years or so as some films like Queen,kahaani,Omg,Barfi did exceptionally well only coz of their content.SO don’t write off b’wood so early man.
@sss khan: It iwas really my bad that I had to read to your comment which i normally don’t! And what else can i expect from a guy who can’t write a sentence in english and advising me to understand the Quality of hollywood films..lol
I am wise enough to discern between good and bad films,i just hate people like you who like to lick the a$$ of hollywood people and consume even the shit they produce.
@thulle I never said all Hollywood films are great and all Bollywood films are trash. Its just that the quantity of trash in Bollywood is way higher than Hollywood.
Do you know? The movie ‘2012’ is considered trash in the US whereas we Indians loved it to the core. Indians and westerners have different tastes when it comes to Cinema. Our understanding of ‘Trash’ is different.
Bollywood would still be there 10 years from now but if it continues to be like this, footfalls will be decreasing every year.
B’wood survived H’wood because our national langauge is not English but Hindi.
Most speak and understand Hindi only which is why H’wood has dominated India.
Hope producers, directors and actors do something about it and produce Cinema, India can be proud of.
4th paragraph: hasn’t * dominated India.
@Ishan,
I am sorry, but do not agree with you.
First of all you cannot compare Hollywood to Bollywood, for the simple reason that Hollywood movies releases worldwide. It is like a universe compared to a small solar system called Bollywood. There is absolutely no comparision.
A movie like Avengers does a business of 6000 plus crores world wide, now compare that to the highest grosser PK of 300 crs. The scale, the budget, the reach and the returns are so high that Hollywood attracts the best from all over the world.
It gives them so much advantage in terms of freshness in script, will to take new challenges, new stories, new ideas and so much more that you bollywood or no other industry stands a chance.
Also, let us talk about Indian cinema, and I can say i have seen better Indian movies for eg., in Hindi, Tamil, Malalayalam, Bengali etc., that is far better than Hollywood.
Now compare this with the scale that Hollywood has, and I would say that Indian cinema has done really good.
Just because you only see a few mainstream hindi movie which works on the tried and tested does not mean it is trash.
We are seeing a lull phase only because of the adjustment being not made. Every cinema goes through ups and down and it is nothing new to Hindi cinema. The times are not good, but it will never fade out, ever, no matter how much Hollywood or other cinemas try their luck out, it will never beat Bollywood or Indian cinema, because it will reinvent itself. It is just taking some time, but eventually it will come out good.
India is a huge country with many single screen theatres, multiplexes as well as computers. India will follow suit, like US when most movies will be seen at home via direct to home facilities and set top boxes and streaming. If I had to go watch a movie, it will be a movie starring Ranbir or Shahrukh or Aamir, and it will be a once a year occasion. Dont feel at all to spend a huge amount for trash movies. I feel worth spending for movies like Avatar or Inception or Interstellar. I watch most movies via torrent. Industry needs to push direct to home avenues, is what I feel
Salman Khan reduced the ticket price for Jai Ho and the result was shocking only 111cr.