Producers pocket extra revenue from various resources other than theater business such as satellite, audio, dubbing rights etc. Ever since streaming portals Amazon Prime Video and Netflix entered Indian market, filmmakers started earning additional bucks in form of streaming rights.
In fact, the streaming portals at the beginning of their entry in Indian market invested high rates to buy streaming rights of high to small range films. Fortunately, filmmakers used to recover half of their investment through streaming rights. However, early streaming of films in these portals is affecting theatrical business.
Amazon is streaming even super hit films within a month days after their theatrical outing. Almost all the Sankranthi attractions were released in the streaming portal in the month of February. Surprisingly, when F2- Fun & Frustration was doing reasonably well at box office, the film was released in Amazon killing its theatrical business.
In recent times, dubbing films are failing to shine at box office. Few Tamil films which received positive talk and had done wonders at ticket window are unable to rake even decent numbers. Nayanthara’s Anjali CBI and Ajith’s Viswasam were commercial hits. However, the Telugu version of both the films bombed at box office as they were available in prime before their theatrical outing.
Other worrying factor is Amazon is allegedly pushing a video on demand subscription model for producers. In this method, they will only pay producers based on the number of views and number of minutes watched.
Filmmakers and buyers together take a decision to stop dominance of Amazon and other streaming portals!