WILL RE-RELEASES WORK FOR THEATRES?
Cinema halls are gearing to reopen when restrictions ease, but they’re likely to use old hits to draw audiences
With life crawling back to normal mid the Covid-19 crisis, and resumption of shoots, comes the big question: when will movie theatres reopen? And an even bigger question: which filmmakers will be ready to test the waters and see whether audiences trickle in?
UAE, with no new films in hand, has decided to re-release Good Newwz and Dream Girl, both 2019 films, in theatres. Back home too, experts believe the same strategy would be employed.
OLD MAY STRIKE GOLD
Manoj Desai, executive director of G7 Multiplex and Maratha Mandir cinema, Mumbai says, “A theatre lockdown happened in 1996. On reopening I decided to rerun the 1961 Shammi Kapoor film Junglee. It was housefull. Then I re-released Teesri
Manzil, also housefull. Just after the Covid-19 lockdown started, I had thought I’ll again use this idea.”
Earlier, speculation was rife that Sooryavanshi and ’83 would be the first to release to draw audiences. But ’83 director Kabir Khan told us recently, “It’s not like the lockdown will lift and we will throw our films to test waters. We will wait till comfortable.”
Shibashish Sarkar, group CEO, Reliance Entertainment which is involved with both these films, says, “We are expecting theatres to reopen in mid to end of July. Also, it will be in some states. It’s not as if suddenly some ready films would be released, it will take time. Hollywood films will come first — Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Mulan, then Wonder Woman 1984. I expect old films to be released again, but I don’t expect people to come to the hall for them. It would be a kind of practice for theatres to get everything ready.” He confirms both their films won’t be among the first to release, but adds Reliance would give any of their titles such as Simmba (2018), Golmaal Again (2017), Super 30 (2019) for free to theatre owners. “We survive because theatres are there,” he adds.
THE OTT FACTOR
However, recent films such as Angrezi Medium or Baaghi 3 are already on OTT, why would people pay to watch them in theatres? Hardik Mehta, whose RoohiAfzana starring Janhvi Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao is stuck, says, “It’s an important step forward. Let’s run cinema halls for 24 hours, but only at 50% capacity. Also, Nolan will release Tenet in July, even those at home will say ‘I’ll have to go to a theatre’,” he says.
It all depends on the film. If they re-release Baahubali (2015), it would attract audiences. TARAN ADARSH TRADE ANALYST
It’s not as if suddenly some ready films would be released, it will take time. SHIBASHISH SARKAR GROUP CEO, RELIANCE ENTERTAINMENT