Analog prints era to end in a year

Mumbai, March 12 (IANS) The century-old analog print era will come to an end within 12 months, compelling India to increase if not double, the number of digital film screens and smaller capacity theatres.

Analog prints will make way for data analytics for better penetration and an enhanced film viewing experience, a seminar on 'Film Distribution and Exhibition: Challenges and Way Forward' discussed at the three-day FICCI-FRAMES event here Tuesday.

At the discussion moderated by Reliance BIG Cinemas CEO Ashish Saksena, UFO Movies India CEO Rajesh Mishra sounded the end of the analog era and prints within a year and urged the need for India to increase the number of screens and reduce screen density to cater to the huge population.

Referring to the pre-digitisaion era, Misha said there were lots of challenges, cost of distribution and reach of films in the analog era.

With 90 percent of films on the digital platform, the costs came down to around 20 percent and the reach of screens has gone up five times.

He pointed out how Shah Rukh Khan's "Ra.One" (2011) was exhibited in 100 screens in Odisha, when 60 percent of movies could not make to that state in the first week.

Mishra said India was "under-screened" in cinemas since the United States had 38,000 screens and China had added 5,000 screens last year.

With a huge mass of untapped cinemas, he said that newer cinemas would be compact 25-300 seaters against the huge 1,000-seaters.

Discussing other challenges, Mishra said that presently, a film took six months to complete, but acquiring a licence to run a cinema hall took 12 months.

Recently, Maharashtra government made it mandatory for all cinemas to issue computerised tickets.

"Once this comes into being, we can change the way the business is done," Mishra said.

Viacom 18 COO Vikram Malhotra said that while digitisation was helping curb piracy, it would take five years for piracy to end.

Discussing how the shift from big screen to small screen was evolutionary, Malhotra said the two top challenges were analytics and experiences.

"I release 18 films a year, but I have no idea of optimal. A film defined by its reach... One of the founding principles of any industry is access to data: What is the optimal penetration for any film? Is doubling our screen width the only solution?" Malhotra said.

Stating that the key was returns on investments, Malhotra said audiences were evolving faster and studios promoted good content and had professionalised the set-up.

Consumer research has showed the way for marketing spends, but a family needs value for money, Malhotra said.

"In my perspective, ticket prices should go higher. Blockbusters will deliver greater ROI (return on investment) across all value chains for studios," he said.

Leading film distributor Anil Thadani said the film industry was based on "relationships".

"Corporates take time but individuals take instant decisions," he said.

With filmmakers such as Karan Johar and Rakesh Roshan going to independent distributors and selling rights, a new wave has been created.

"It is the experience that matters. If movie-going becomes expensive, it limits the repetition. "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (1995) started with 30 outlets -- the ticket rates were Rs.30 and Rs.50 but revenues generated were as high as what is achieved by some blockbusters today," Thadani said.