Piracy bites Slumdog Millionare
24 Jan 2009, 0040 hrs IST, Meenakshi Verma Ambwani & Amit Sharma, ET Bureau
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NEW DELHI: Even as the Oscar fever gathers steam and the
movie<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Piracy_bites_Slumdog_Millionare/articleshow/4024085.cms#>leverages
the four-week window to gather both critique and commerce for its
five nominations, the Indian release is witnessing a lukewarm welcome.
Despite the euphoria over AR Rahman's three nominations, Slumdog Millionare
has been hit by rampant piracy in the English version of the movie. As a
result, revenue in India is likely to take a beating.
Released in the US in November, the two-month window has proved to be too
long for
cinema<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Piracy_bites_Slumdog_Millionare/articleshow/4024085.cms#>buffs
in the country, and with curiosity levels high, several pirated
versions found their way into the Indian market. Now, multiplex players are
banking on the Oscar fever combined with a long weekend to pull the Hindi
version (Slumdog Crorepati) to revive the film's fortunes.
According to the ET multiplex tracker — which aggregates occupancy numbers
from Inox, Cinemax, PVR and Satyam Complex — advance bookings for Slumdog
Millionaire were 50.37%, while for the Hindi version they were 18.40%. With
multiple platforms, the movie was available on several downloadable
websites, while access to pirated CDs and DVDs was also easy.
In addition, several local cable operators across cities screened the
movie's English version. Piracy has been a constant challenge in India and
both Bollywood and
Hollywood<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Piracy_bites_Slumdog_Millionare/articleshow/4024085.cms#>movies
are constantly battling on this front, leading to an increase in
global releases.
"Some of the prints floating around in the pirated form are good which is
why large sections of metro audiences have watched it already," said a
senior executive with a multiplex company. Marketing executives with
distribution companies believe that the pirated English version has reduced
the opening day occupancies by at least 20% in the metros in spite of the
Oscar nominations.
PVR Cinemas CEO Gautam Dutta said, "The movie has garnered a great response
and with a Hindi version, it is equivalent to a
Bollywood<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Piracy_bites_Slumdog_Millionare/articleshow/4024085.cms#>release.
We believe the long weekend and the Oscar nominations have led to
an increase in interest." Mr Dutta though cautions that access to pirated
versions is unfortunate and could impact revenues.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Cetera/Piracy_bites_Slumdog_Millionare/articleshow/4024085.cms
--
regards,
Vithur
