COVID-19 tilts Bollywood box office to OTT |
The COVID-19 has brought with it a huge change in the way people used to live. They have changed how they eat, how they move and even how they enjoy. One of the main sources of entertainment for an average person is the movies and the pandemic has brought on a huge shift of how the viewer consumes content. Disney+Hotstar acquired a slate of Bollywood films in June and that was just the beginning of the trend. The pandemic has changed not only where the money is headed, but the way people view the content and the content itself. In June, Disney had done the unthinkable: it had convinced Hindi cinema`s biggest names, including Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt, to part with the theatrical box office and the allure of thousands of screens by selling their films to a streaming service. According to Disney India, the potential of the film industry and the viewership it has managed so far has been restricted because of India`s limited screen count and the release windows available which in turn, restrict our output and the appetite of audiences. The release of films on digital platforms is an opportunity to grow the market and for more films to be made and released. With cinemas shut since the middle of March, box office and the `mass appeal` of its biggest stars are effectively down to zero.
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