A TREAT AT THE MOVIES THIS SUMMER

Many much-awaited Hollywood films set to hit the theatres, and give tough competition to Bollywood

Last Friday (March 17), as the Emma Watson and Dan Stevens-starrer Beauty And The Beast hit Indian theatres, it signalled the start of summer season, which typically sees maximum film releases in India. This summer looks to be extra special, as several big Hollywood franchise are set to hit the theatres.

Between April and mid-July, biggies such as Smurfs: The Lost Village, The Fate Of The Furious, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, The Mummy, Cars 3, Transformers: The Last Knight, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and War For The Planet Of The Apes are likely to release. That’s not all. Priyanka Chopra’s Hollywood debut, Baywatch, will also release this June.

This summer will also see three celebrated Hollywood directors – Guy Ritchie, Ridley Scott and Christopher Nolan – come out with their next projects – King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Alien: Covenant and Dunkirk, respectively.

Experts call the next few months “exciting”. “Summer is a great period for film business anyway, but Hollywood studios fix their release dates way in advance, so this could well be coincidental that so many of them are releasing. It’s going to be an exciting period for moviegoers,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh.

During the same period, big Hindi films such as Sarkar 3, Begum Jaan, Noor, Bahubali 2, Half Girlfriend, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Raabta, Tubelight, Munna Michael, Mom, Haseena and Chef will release too. Sachin Tendulkar’s docu-feature, Sachin – A Billion Dreams will also release on May 26.

So, the big question is this: Will Hollywood pose a threat to our very own Bollywood films? “Hollywood does eat into the share of the boxoffice pie... we work in an open market... it’s a reality,” says filmmaker Kabir Khan, who has directed the Salman Khan-starrer Tubelight.