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  • Drishyam 2 brings cheer for Bollywood box office after Kantara’s magic turn in the Hindi belt

    Drishyam 2 brings cheer for Bollywood box office after Kantara’s magic turn in the Hindi belt

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    Drishyam 2, the second installment of Bollywood’s remake of the Mohanlal-starrer Malayalam original, has brought cheer to the Hindi box office. Released seven years after its first part Drishyam, the Ajay Devgn and Tabu-starrer is estimated to have collected over Rs 50 crore in its opening weekend, notching up the second-biggest start of the year. Add to that, overseas collections of Rs 12.7 crore, primarily driven by the US, Canada, and the Middle East, and Drishyam 2 is on its way to becoming a huge hit.  

    Released on more than 3,300 screens, Drishyam 2 also had a stronger opening than Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 — the biggest Hindi hit of 2022 — across national multiplex chains PVR, INOX, and Cinepolis. “#Drishyam2 rejuvenates the industry that was going through a turbulent phase after a string of failures… The remarkable run continues pan-India, multiplexes superb, mass pockets join the party,” wrote trade analyst Taran Adarsh in a series of tweets. 

    Interestingly, Drishyam 2 also garnered good reviews from critics. Add to that, the positive word of mouth from audiences on social media, and the film could be looking at a Rs 80-100 crore lifetime collection domestically, say analysts. “Drishyam 2 opening has been a positive surprise. It is showing a recovery trend [at the box office],” Karan Taurani, SVP of Elara Capital, told Business Today. 

    Elaborating on the advantages of a franchise film, he said, “Typically, remakes and second parts have done well, barring a few like Heropanti 2. Franchise films have a stronger recall for the audience, and you don’t need to do new and aggressive marketing for that particular piece of content. We have seen what the Singham franchise did at the box office too.”

    Drishyam 2’s success also brought back midnight and early morning shows across theatres. In the run-up to its release, India’s largest multiplex operator PVR Cinemas shared that it “received record pre-bookings” for the film. Gautam Dutta, CEO, PVR Limited, said in a statement, “We are seeing the trend of families coming back to cinemas and Drishyam 2 pre-sales substantiates this trend… Drishyam 2’s success debunks the thinking that only ‘larger than life’ or ‘horror comedies’ will work, mid-size drama/thrillers etc. will struggle in cinemas.”

    Drishyam 2’s success is also expected to augur well for multiplex stocks in the near term. Abneesh Roy, Executive Director at Edelweiss Financial Services, said, “We maintain ‘BUY’ on PVR and Inox. Most of the Drishyam 2 shows are almost full, and it has begun picking up in mass pockets too. This raises hopes for a better Q3FY23 after the Hindi box office’s slow performance in Q2.”

    Analysts agree that Q3 will see some respite compared to Q2, which saw even big-budget projects like Vikram Vedha perform below par. It was only towards the end of October and early November that the stupendous success of Kannada film Kantara (with its Hindi dubbed version collecting Rs 80-90 crore) sent the cash registers ringing. “Kantara came out of nowhere with zero marketing effort in the Hindi belt. It somewhat made up for the losses of the Hindi films,” Taurani explained. 

    However, he cautioned that Q3 may not be as good as Q1, which saw a 15 per cent growth over pre-covid levels. “Broadly for Q3, the bigger part of the recovery will come towards the end of the year, from Avatar 2 and Cirkus (a large-scale comedy film by Rohit Shetty). Drishyam 2 and a strong December will see 85 per cent of the recovery, which is still 12-15 per cent below pre-covid levels,” Taurani added. 

    Also read: Drishyam 2 Box Office Collection Day 1: Ajay Devgn’s film earns Rs 15 cr

    Also read: ‘Drishyam 2’ review: ‘Sure shot hit’, netizens and critics give thumbs up to Ajay Devgn-starrer thriller

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  • Virat Kohli hits a six for Hotstar, multiplexes as T20 World Cup viewership soars

    Virat Kohli hits a six for Hotstar, multiplexes as T20 World Cup viewership soars

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    It will go down as a ‘historic match’, not just in T20s or World Cups, but India-Pakistan cricket folklore spanning across decades. As Virat Kohli knocked Haris Rauf for two sublime sixes in the 19th over, taking India closer to a thrilling win, Disney+ Hotstar’s live viewership soared to 1.8 crore — a jump from the 1.4 crore the OTT platform had recorded in the India-Pakistan game in Asia Cup earlier this year. By the time Ashwin hit the winning runs off Nawaz, Hotstar concurrents may have dipped slightly to 1.6 crore. (These are analyst estimates, Hotstar is yet to disclose official numbers)

    Hotstar is no stranger to cricketing highs, especially during marquee matches such as this in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Given the complete absence of India-Pakistan bilateral cricket over the last few years, ICC tournaments almost always add a fixture between the arch rivals that becomes a high-viewership vehicle. “Tournaments of national interest [like a World Cup], an India-Pakistan game is viewed with a lot of passion. Growth in terms of viewership on digital has been phenomenally high at 15-20 per cent YoY. There is a big opportunity for penetration and driving large eyeballs,” Karan Taurani, SVP, Elara Capital, tells Business Today. 

    However, this may not be repetitive, he says, given not all games will go down to the last ball and/or feature a Virat Kohli masterclass. However, “the concurrent views might be higher in the final match of the World Cup depending on which team qualifies and at what scale it is,” he says. “India has to obviously qualify for that along with a very competitive team – Pakistan, Australia, England, or New Zealand, which will develop the viewership.” 

    Advertising money, however, is not just made on concurrent viewership since most brands pre-sign contracts with the OTT platform. Given the influx of T20 matches this year, Hotstar is estimated to have seen a “steady viewership growth”  of 15-20 per cent YoY, according to Elara Capital. “This is good news for OTT and digital advertising. And If you look at cricket advertising on digital, there is a potential for 30-40 per cent YoY growth given the sharp eyeballs we are seeing,” Taurani explains. 

    Cricket in Multiplexes

    While Hotstar is making merry in streaming, India’s top multiplex operators PVR and INOX are also experimenting with match screenings. PVR, for instance, showed the India-Pakistan game across 125 screens, while INOX played it in 90+ cinemas, generating ~70 per cent hall occupancy. 

    While this may not be a sustainable business model for footfall recovery, the short-term benefits cannot be denied. “This is very much in line with what a hit film would do, but this is a one-day wonder, not a one-week wonder. Multiplexes will get minor gains here and there, but it is not a sustainable business model,” Taurani explains. 

    Short-term gains also factor in “slightly higher ticket prices” for cricket matches compared to that of movies, as well as higher F&B spends. The revenue-sharing model is also similar. “Multiplexes share 50 per cent with the BCCI compared to 50 per cent they would share with distributors for films. But the overall share of properties where cricket matches are shown is just about 20 per cent,” Taurani says, adding, “Multiplexes are doing this as test runs because they know very few matches will attract big audiences [like the India-Pak game did].”

    Both PVR and INOX attested to the high turnout for the Sunday game. INOX Leisure CEO Alok Tandon told PTI, “The response that we got for this match across all the 90-plus cinemas has been phenomenal, identical to a blockbuster movie. The electric environment in the auditoriums was much like what someone witnessed in the stadiums.”

    PVR shares were up 1.23 per cent up to Rs 1,736.90, while INOX was trading 0.15 per cent higher at Rs 508.40 on the BSE on Tuesday.

    Also Read: Virat Kohli stopped Diwali shopping: Sharp fall in UPI transactions during India’s batting against Pakistan

    Also Read: ‘King Kohli back on throne’: Anand Mahindra, Harsh Goenka hail Virat Kohli’s T20 innings against Pakistan

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  • INOX Leisure loss halves as box office income picks up

    INOX Leisure loss halves as box office income picks up

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     INOX Leisure Ltd, India’s No.2 multiplex cinema operator, on Wednesday said its second-quarter loss more than halved, as box office and food and beverage revenues inched closer to pre-pandemic levels.

    The company, set to merge with bigger rival PVR Ltd, reported a loss of 403.7 million Indian rupees ($4.9 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to 876.6 million rupees a year earlier.

    PVR, too, reported a narrower loss for the quarter, although it missed analysts’ expectations.

    Multiplex chains like Inox and PVR have seen some traffic return to movie halls after almost two years of Covid-led curbs, with patrons back to spending on theater food and drinks.

    This has helped offset some pressure from a lacklustre slate of releases with the likes of “Raksha Bandhan” and “Laal Singh Chaddha” flopping at the box office.

    “The second quarter was impacted by the inconsistency in the content value chain, proving the importance of great quality content yet again,” Siddharth Jain, Director, INOX Leisure said.

    Still, net box office revenue of 2.09 billion was far higher than 270 million rupees in the pandemic-hit quarter a year ago, while food & beverage revenue jumped to 1.10 billion rupees from 150 million rupees.

    Box office revenue was 3.11 billion rupees in the corresponding pre-pandemic quarter, while food and beverage revenue was 1.41 billion rupees.

    The jump in box office and food sales helped overall revenue from operations surge eight-fold to 3.74 billion rupees and offset a 155.1% jump in total expenses.

    INOX’s average ticket price, a key indicator for the industry, rose to 215 rupees from 178 rupees, while the average amount spent by each customer hit a record high of 102 rupees.

    Jain said he expect a “spectacular” content pipeline and the festive fervour to help current-quarter results. ($1 = 82.9800 Indian rupees)

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