From the past five decades or so, the audience across the world are enjoying the movies in the theatres. According to the changing times, to provide the best viewing experience, multiplexes and single screens ( in countries like India) even developed facilities like 35 MM projection, 70 MM projection, IMAX and Digital sound, Surround Sound, Dolby Digital, Atmos. But Covid-19 outbreak has created and a gap between the moviegoers and silver screens and this is best utilised by various OTT platforms, opinions famous business Astrologer and Astro strategist Hirav Shah
Though the OTT culture is rapidly growing as a tough competition to the silver screens, due to Covid-19 hard times and the shutdown of cinema halls has become an advantage for the digital streaming platforms, says Hirav Shah
Elaborating the discussion on OTT vs Movie theatres, Hirav Shah comes up with a short description.
What is OTT?
The exact meaning of OTT is Over the top and various content providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Zee5 and Disney Plus Hotstar among others are all part of OTT platforms.
As per the film industry sources across the globe, more producers are now ready to follow the OTT route. Coming to the Indian film industry, already several big films like Akshay Kumar’s Laxmi Bomb and Karan Johar’s Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl skipped their theatrical release and went for a direct OTT streaming a few months back.
After watching the new release on OTT platform, the first question that came in our mind is “How can a movie producer make money by releasing his film on over-the-top (OTT) platform before or after its theatre release?
As an answer to it, the content providing platforms will attract the audience with solid content and free subscriptions( some platforms) and make the audience get used to their platforms and eventually charge of the movies the viewer watch on the platform which itself brings good revenue to the content providers and hence the maker who sells the movie rights to these platforms will also get the money as per the deal between both parties.
This topic throws a few brainstorming questions such as How Theatre owners can retrieve the value of their movie theatre? What will be the future of people employed with exhibitors? And associated sectors like Malls etc wherein cinema halls are crowd pullers? Can a virus (covid19) create havoc across the world’s economy including retail, tourism, aviation, entertainment sectors? Questions but let’s stick to the context of movies and their future.
OTT vs Cinema Hall
The magic of silver screen is that it provides experiential experience to the moviegoers. Imagining a blockbuster movie like Baahubali, which swept the nation in viewership getting released on OTT platforms, that would have definitely killed the magnum opus production values, CG works (animations), screenplay and visual wonders.
The theatre experience is irreplaceable
The films that are planning to move to OTT were made for theatrical viewing. They cannot be watched on your phone to get the complete impact of sound effects, VFX, story, etc.
Uses of OTT release
But the point to note is that OTT provides a captive audience to small budget films for small films with less saleable names and OTT guarantees a wider audience. They can also save on print and advertising costs. Storytelling can come out much better in non-commercial films or experimental films.
Considering the Covid19 situation, cinema lovers and people across the world will still be cautious for the next couple of years and there will be increasingly embracing digital entertainment modes.
Truly, the pandemic has impacted the media consumption habits and preferences of the consumers. Most of the big banner films have delayed their releases in 2020 and are now planning to bring in the theatres in 2021.
Content war
OTT rift is felt across the supply chain. Competition from OTT (over the Top) platforms is not new for theatres as they have seen the worst times & challenges during VCRs, VCDs, DVDs & piracy days but the truth is that we all enjoy going to theatres which is something that will never change.
How do producers make money from movies?
Ticket sales Usually, a portion of theatre ticket sales goes to theatre owners, with the production house and distributor getting the remaining money. The percentage of revenues an exhibitor (theatre owner) gets depends on the contract for each film. Many contracts are intended to help a theatre hedge against films that flop at the box office. That means the exhibitors cover their losses by gaining higher margins from the hit movies which is not available in the OTT streaming system.
Conclusion
Magic of movies and watching them on the big screens shall always remain as an everlasting impression on the generations to come. Though the OTT streaming platforms are ruling the roast by attracting the viewers will censor-less films and providing solid content from world cinema, the days are not going to be the same as the Coronavirus effect is slowly decreasing globally. Bollywood Astrologer and business strategist Hirav Shah concludes by saying that from April 2021, the public will throw to the theatres and the movie industry will witness the lost glory gradually soon.
