Netflix turns to Bollywood to script India growth story
‘Jack Ryan’ promises new frontier
LOS ANGELES, July 5, (RTRS): Netflix Inc premiered its first original series in India in a sheen of Bollywood glitter on Wednesday, upping the stakes in its battle with streaming rival Amazon Prime for a chunk of the country’s more than 1 billion potential viewers.
The success of original US shows like “House of Cards,” “Orange is the New Black” and “Stranger Things” has been at the heart of Netflix’s seduction of 125 million subscribers globally.
But like other US entertainment firms, it has identified the need to create local content as important in winning viewers in some of the big emerging markets which are likely to dominate growth over the next decade.
A Hindi-language thriller set in Mumbai, “Sacred Games” launches less than a month after the success of its Indian film “Lust Stories” and comes at a time when fellow US heavyweights Comcast Corp and Walt Disney Co are vying for control of Indian pay TV network Tata Sky as part of their fight for Twenty-First Century Fox Inc.
Both “Lust Stories” and “Sacred Games” seek to marry the Western styles and values that exposure to Netflix and Amazon has brought to younger Indians with the rich and varied output of the country’s massive domestic film industry.
Netflix is spending $8 billion this year on original content and has said that figure will rise as it seeks to cement its position at the head of the streaming industry globally. The company’s international streaming revenue grew over 58 percent last year, according to latest filings.
With China’s heavily censored market proving a hard nut to crack, India is at the heart of that growth. Netflix plans to release another three original shows there this year compared to Amazon’s planned 10 while both have also been battling to sign some of the country’s leading stand-ups for specials.
An action-driven police procedural that will also be familiar to foreign viewers, “Sacred Games” is anchored by Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan as a policeman with 25 days to head off a terrorist threat to Mumbai. It is directed by Bollywood veteran Anurag Kashyap and also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte.
“Sacred Games” outlines the life of a police officer, Sartaj Singh, tipped by an anonymous call one morning promising him an opportunity to capture the powerful criminal Ganesh Gaitonde.
As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that there is a lot more at stake in the game than initially seemed.
The film’s stars and directors, all well known veterans of India’s huge Bollywood film system, greeted more than 250 specially invited Netflix fans and celebrities outside tech capital Bengaluru’s Forum Mall for the premiere.
Amazon has dropped a new action-packed trailer for their upcoming spy thriller “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.”
Entitled “Presidents,” the trailer is bookended by quotes from Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy Jr, making it a timely release for this fourth of July holiday.
“Though our challenges are fearsome, so our strengths,” Clinton’s quote begins the action, with the titular hero (played by John Krasinski) shown in his comfortable CIA cubicle. But the imagery that follows proves just how complicated his life will become soon enough in the series, as building explode, armed forces perform ops in night vision, and he gets shot at and is forced to grab a gun and fire back.
A rendition of “All Along the Watchtower” performed by Devlin featuring Ed Sheeran plays under the trailer, which ends with Kennedy’s promise that “we stand today on the edge of a new frontier” as the premiere date flashes.
This new trailer launches ahead of San Diego Comic-Con, where Amazon will be unveiling a “Jack Ryan” fan experience that allows attendees to take part in virtual reality and escape room challenges to train to be a spy and earn show swag.
Sacha Baron Cohen has posted a 4th of July tease for a new project that appears to take on the comedian’s old foe, Donald Trump.
“He’s back,” the trailer promises, “as you’ve never seen him before.” The words are interspersed with a “Happy Fourth of July” message from Trump and footage of the President saying “Sacha Baron Cohen, go to school! Learn about being funny.”
“Sacha graduates soon,” the teaser says, ending with a title card for Trump University that uses the actual logo for the defunct real estate training school. The new project might also include other targets, as he was also reported to have filmed a stunt with O.J. Simpson in his Las Vegas hotel room in February.
Baron Cohen and Trump have a long and antagonistic relationship. Trump has said he was the only person to immediately walk out of his interview with Baron Cohen’s “Ali G.,” but Baron Cohen has said he was actually there a comparatively long nine minutes. Trump’s proclamation “I never fall for scams” was recently mocked when he spoke to comedian Stuttering John while on Air Force One.
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LOS ANGELES: The BBC’s production and distribution arm has acquired the 51% it did not already own in Lookout Point, the UK-based drama producer behind “War and Peace” and “Ripper Street.” BBC Studios will fully own Lookout Point when the deal closes. It will operate as an independent drama studio within the wider BBC Studios business.
The BBC’s commercial arm first struck a distribution deal with Lookout Point eight years ago and then acquired a 35% equity stake in 2014. In 2016 it upped it stake in the business to 49%, with an option to take full control, which it has now exercised. Joint CEOs, Simon Vaughan and Faith Penhale are still running the business.
“Increasing our investment in the company enables us to cement the partnership on a permanent basis and ensures Lookout Point can continue to realise its full potential as a leading British drama player, working independently with the very best talent on and off-screen in the industry,” said Tim Davie, CEO, BBC Studios.
Vaughan said: “BBC Studios’ respect for how we work and our creative ambition coupled with our understanding of how they can help us achieve further growth and success underpins our partnership.”
Lookout Point will continue to operate from its own offices in London after the BBC deal and Penhale said that “maintaining our independent spirit and ability to push the boundaries of our creative intent is paramount to us as a British drama company.”