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ENTERTAINMENT

ment division commented, “The In-
dian M&E sector is entering a phase of
accelerated growth. The status quo is
being shattered by digital disruptions
and that’s unshackling the creative
economy in India like never before.
These are exciting times for all it is to let
our imagination and ambition guide us.”
eil Arden Opley who made the
strong observation that streaming
N would hit the big studious in India
about his movie Daniel believes that “US
is traditionally bad market for foreign
films”. The story Daniel is of one of the
most spectacular kidnappings in recent
times. The protagonist is the young Dan-
ish photojournalist Daniel Rye who was
held hostage for 398 days in Syria by the
terror organization Islamic State along
with several other foreign nationals in-
32.5 billion—the highest cluding the American journalist James
ever for Hindi theatricals. Over- Foley. The film follows Daniel’s struggle
seas theatricals grew to 30 billion from to survive in captivity, his friendship
25 billion in 2017 where China became with James, and the nightmare of the Rye
grew 14 per cent to 30,500 crore, while the largest international market for In- family back home in Denmark as they
subscription grew 11 per cent to 43,500 dian content. Box office collections of try to cope with the fear that they may
crore this past year. Hollywood films in India (inclusive of all never see their son alive again.
Television viewing households in- their Indian language dubbed versions) Opley opined that it is risky for dis-
creased to 197 million, a 7.5 per cent were 9.21 billion with Avengers: Infinity tributors to buy foreign film. European
increase over 2016 with 77 per cent of War emerging as the highest Hollywood filmmakers are trying to tap Chinese
time on television spent on general grosser in India. market. He said that awards are over-
entertainment content and film chan- Uday Shankar, vice president, FICCI rated however they help one trying to
nels. The impact of the new Trai tariff and chair, FICCI media and entertain- enter film-making in foreign countries.
order where viewers can choose and pay Director Riccardo Salvetti of the Ital-
for individual channels can have impli- ian film Rwanda that is competing for
cations on total viewership, free televi- ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal said, “Our
sion uptake, channel MRP rates and ad Digital ad spends film is based on a true story. Since it’s
revenues, according to the report. grew 34% to 15,400 an African centred movie, nobody was
The year witnessed a 26 per cent interested and we faced lot of resist-
growth in digital news consumers over crore in 2018 and now ance in our country. Due to low budget
2017 when 222 million people consumed account for around we did shooting near my house in Italy.
news online. Page views grew 59 per However the location was so similar
cent over 2017 and average time spent 21% of the ad market. that many Rwandan people who got the
increased by almost 100 per cent to 8 Several broadcasters news about shooting, thought that we
minutes per day in 2018. Advertising are somewhere in Rwanda.”
revenues stood at 21,700 crore and sub- have started combining He said, “We are trying to put this
scription revenues grew marginally by movie on Netflix and are also arranging
1.2 per cent to 8,830 crore. selling of ads across screenings based on online requests.”
Overall, the Indian film segment grew OTT and linear That once again shows the power of
12.2 per cent in 2018 to reach 174.5 bil- streaming that is affecting the big
lion, driven by the growth in digital rights platforms to enable multiplexes, single screens and big studi-
and overseas theatricals. Domestic film better monetisation of ous alike.
revenues crossed 100 billion with net
box office collections for Hindi films at marque properties LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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