OTT vs Cinema Hall might be a discussion that will go on till eternity, it will stay as long as the cinema stays. The stats read that it is the rise of OTT, and the experience says that fewer and fewer people are going to the theaters.
A report says, between January-December 2022, the number of movie gowers decreased to 12.2 crores. Previously, in the pre-pandemic period of 2019, the number was 14.6 crore.
Now, this concerns most Cinema exhibitors in India and that includes PVR Inox Pictures, the largest one of them in India. So they are planning to capitalize on the love for K-Drama and movies, and they are planning to bring Korean Films to its multiplexes.
As the premiere of the Korean film ‘Past Lives’ is around the corner, Sanjeev Kumar executive director of PVR Inox, told Fortune India, “In terms of ticket sales, post-pandemic numbers are roughly 25% lower than pre-pandemic levels. Hindi movies have not performed as well as we would have liked them to.”
Also, as OTT is now giving easy access to Foreign Films, South Indian films are now contributing to 52% of the total revenue of the Pan-Indian film industry. The earnings are clearly decreasing as Hindi films have taken some hits in recent times. Though there have been films like Pathan and Drishyam 2, they are not many in number.
Previously PVR already released an anime ‘Suzame’ in April that did a fair Rs. 11 crores in business and the launch of ‘Past Lives’ is reported to bring the numbers. The OTT platforms made modern Korean Films popular and it’s time for the theaters to capitalize on that.
The major viewership of these Korean films comes from a very young audience. A new movie is destined to increase the monetary number but will it be worth it? A questionable step probably.
