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Business News/ Industry / Media/  Indian film business has reason for worry as overseas cinemas close again
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Indian film business has reason for worry as overseas cinemas close again

While the UK Parliament has approved a month-long lockdown in England to prevent the spread of covid-19, cinemas in Malaysia have temporarily shut down due to rising cases, lack of new film releases and low footfall

People walk past a cinema that has temporarily closed on the first day of Britain's second lockdown, designed to save its health care system from being overwhelmed by people with coronavirus, in Leicester Square, London, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020. Britain joined large swathes of Europe in a coronavirus lockdown designed to save its health care system from being overwhelmed. Pubs, along with restaurants, hairdressers and shops selling non-essential items closed on Thursday until at least Dec. 2. (AP)Premium
People walk past a cinema that has temporarily closed on the first day of Britain's second lockdown, designed to save its health care system from being overwhelmed by people with coronavirus, in Leicester Square, London, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020. Britain joined large swathes of Europe in a coronavirus lockdown designed to save its health care system from being overwhelmed. Pubs, along with restaurants, hairdressers and shops selling non-essential items closed on Thursday until at least Dec. 2. (AP)

The Indian film business has been hit by yet another hurdle in the run-up to recovery even as cinemas attempt to restart operations across the country. While the UK Parliament has approved a month-long lockdown in England to prevent the spread of covid-19, cinemas in Malaysia have temporarily shut down due to rising cases, lack of new film releases and low footfall. While the UK remains a significant overseas market for Bollywood, Malaysia is a huge ground for Hindi as well as Tamil offerings. Cinemas in Italy, too, were shuttered for a second time late last month in a bid to curb a second spike in coronavirus cases and avoid a full lockdown.

With these key markets out of the question, it doesn’t make sense to bring big-ticket films to theatres at all even though the significant domestic territory of Maharashtra was granted permits to reopen this week and technically, pan-India releases for films is now possible.

According to the Ficci-EY media and entertainment industry report 2020, overseas theatricals contributed Rs27 billion out of the total Rs191 billion that filmed entertainment had made across revenue streams in 2019.

“The overseas business has been hugely attacked," film trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar had said in regard to the fact that both the Diwali weekend and the longer-term prospects for Indian films for the remaining period of 2020 do not seem bright. Particularly with respect to the coveted Diwali weekend, possibilities seem dull because films have to be sent for overseas certification at least three to four weeks before they can arrive in theatres, Johar added.

Cinemas shutting down across the globe does not spell good news for Indian film-makers who may have been eyeing releases in the coming weeks. Ranveer Singh’s sports drama ’83 that was scheduled for a Christmas release until this week, has now been moved to an early 2021 date, which also remains tentative. Reliance Entertainment, co-producers of ’83, said their other major Bollywood release, Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi, will also hit screens only next year.

“Christmas is no longer a possibility as we won’t be able to set up a marketing campaign within a month. Also, the overseas markets are important for both films and some of them have shut again due to second wave of covid," Shibasish Sarkar, CEO, Reliance Entertainment, said in an interview to Mumbai Mirror adding that the company is now looking at a January and March window for ’83 and Sooryavanshi respectively.

Meanwhile, Hollywood, too, its emptying out its release calendar for the next couple of months. Disney has moved Ryan Reynolds’ action comedy Free Guy and Death on the Nile, the follow-up to Kenneth Branagh’s hit The Murder on the Orient Express, from their 11 December and 18 December dates. Neither have new release dates. Paramount Pictures has shifted the release date of its animated feature Rumble to 14 May, pushing it further back from its previous January 2021 date.

“There are no major theatrical releases planned for 2020. Key Hindi, regional and Hollywood releases will now be planned 2021 onwards. With only seven Fridays left in 2020, the year has to be completely written off cinemas," Johar tweeted earlier this week.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lata Jha
"Lata writes about the media and entertainment industry for Mint, focusing on everything from traditional film and TV to newer areas like video and audio streaming services. She loves movies and spends a lot of her free time watching them, which makes her job both fun and a bit of a challenge. Lata tries to find and write about things in the entertainment world that most people don't notice, even though a lot of people in her country are really into movies and entertainment news often just talks about the glamorous side of things. "
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Published: 06 Nov 2020, 11:49 AM IST
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