Theatres to cash in on stars and visual spectacles in 2021

Chennai

The entertainment industry suffered a huge blow in all quarters due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Starting movie production and releases to struggles of technicians, the estimated loss for the Indian film industry is thousands of crores. A lot of films that couldn’t see the light of the day in theatres premiered on OTT. “OTT will continue to provide hope for the film industry. Many small and medium-budget films will release on OTT platforms. However, theatres will be ruling the roost again this year,” says G Dhananjayan, producer and distributor. Gautam Jain, Partner of Ormax Media, a tracking and consultancy firm filmmakers in 2021 would choose theatres over OTT once a steady flow of releases begins. “OTT Platforms have definitely been a big ray of hope for the entire film industry. OTT has helped many filmmakers in taking their films to audiences. Once we get a steady flow of releases theatrically, most filmmakers, especially those who produce big spectacle films, will choose the theatrical route over direct-to-OTT release.”

With several big films lined up for releases, Tirupur Subramaniam, the President of Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners’ Association doesn’t want to discuss losses incurred. He looks at the bigger picture instead. “In December 2020, GST of Rs 1.15 lakh crore was collected, which is a record high. This indicates that businesses are back on track and we have started the New Year with a bang. As far as theatre businesses are concerned, we are counting on big releases like Master and Eeswaran. People are waiting to watch their stars on the big screen. When beaches and malls are crowded, theatres too will be packed once films start releasing. My prediction is that the movie industry will be profitable in 2021. Once new releases begin, there will be more finances and more movie production. That’s how the movie industry works,” he explains.

Last week, Karthi Sivakumar’s Aayirathil Oruvan was re-released after 10 years and ran to packed auditoriums. “This is a classic example of how star-studded films would draw the audience to theatres. It had a star cast as well as a visual spectacle. When we say that a film is a visual spectacle, it means stars as well. The audience comes to see their matinee idols on screen. The releases of Master, Eeswaran, and Jagame Thanthiram in theatres will work in the favour of the industry. There will be a spillover of the audience for smaller films too,” adds Dhananjayan. Gautham agrees with him and says, “Due to the increased proliferation of OTT platforms, the audience had started demarcating films as worthy of big-screen experience or to be watched on some other screen. However, there will still be films that may not offer a visual spectacle in the form of VFX or huge production scale but are high on concept that will have to be viewed as a theatrical experience to enjoy them completely. Two Hollywood releases, Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984 have shown that the audience is ready to walk-in to the theatres for the right films.”