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Warner Bros. Seeks Bollywood Share With Hindi Comedy (Update1)
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By Michael White
Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Warner Bros. makes a play for Bollywood fans with Chandni Chowk to China, the Hindi- language comedy that opens today in 50 U.S. cities, the widest debut in the country for an Indian film.
Chandni Chowk is the first of six Bollywood productions the Time Warner Inc. unit plans this year in India and markets including the U.S. and the U.K., Richard Fox, executive vice president for international films, said in an interview.
As Hollywood studios tailor more productions for growing markets such as India, theyre also targeting fans in the U.S., where overall ticket sales are falling. Chandni Chowk is being shown in cities such as New York and Los Angeles that have a significant ethnic South Asian populace.
They see it as a growth market because the Indian and South Asian populations outside of India are growing so rapidly, Gitesh Pandya, editor of New York-based Box Office Guru LLC, said in an interview.
The movie is being released simultaneously in countries with large South Asian populations that also include Germany, South Africa and Australia, Fox said.
Universal Pictures, owned by General Electric Co., has created a Focus Features International unit to produce and distribute movies for local foreign markets, and Sony Corp.s Sony Pictures has a co-production deal with London-based Eros International to make Hindi-language films.
Admissions at theaters in the U.S. and Canada fell 5 percent last year as revenue dropped to $9.63 billion from $9.68 billion in 2007, according to Media By Numbers, a box-office tracker.
Indian Market
Reporting systems in India are inadequate to produce reliable market tallies, Pandya said. Indias 2008 box office was estimated at $2.23 billion by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which forecasts 11 percent growth to $2.48 billion this year.
Local-language movies capture 95 percent of the Indias box office, with foreign studios sharing the rest, Fox said.
You really have to do Indian films if you want to be a player, Fox said.
In Chandni Chowk, Bollywood star Akshay Kumar plays a ne-er-do-well from New Delhis Chandni Chowk area. The promise of a fortune-teller leads him to China, where he is hailed as an ancient warrior reincarnated to overthrow the local crime boss. The film is opening in 130 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
Warner Bros. signed director Nikhil Advani to a two-year deal to make three additional pictures.
The global marketplace has opened up and gave us opportunity to dream a little bigger, Advani said in an interview following a screening of the film in Burbank, California.
Time Warner, based in New York, rose 18 cents to $9.61 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock lost 39 percent last year.
Slumdog Appeal
The biggest U.S. debut for a Bollywood film was Kumars Singh is Kinng, which opened with more than $1 million in sales last year, Pandya said. Chandni Chowk may match it, given Kumars popularity and the wide release Warner is giving the film, he said.
The success of Slumdog Millionaire, from News Corp.s Fox Searchlight, may create some crossover appeal for mainstream U.S. audiences, said Fox, the Warner executive. Slumdog, winner of four Golden Globe awards, including best drama, tells the story of a young Indian who seeks his fortune on a television game show.
Slumdog, made for about $15 million by director Danny Boyle, has taken in $44 million in worldwide ticket sales since its Nov. 12 release.
The two films are different in tone, Fox said. Shot on location in India, China and Thailand, the 154-minute Chandni Chowk provides the typical over-the-top Bollywood mix of song, dance, comedy and melodrama.
Our film is very much a Bollywood movie, Fox said. Its almost a different movie at different points in which youre watching it.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael White in Los Angeles at Mwhite8@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: January 16, 2009 16:37 EST
...........................................................................................
RK
Email | Print | A A A
By Michael White
Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Warner Bros. makes a play for Bollywood fans with Chandni Chowk to China, the Hindi- language comedy that opens today in 50 U.S. cities, the widest debut in the country for an Indian film.
Chandni Chowk is the first of six Bollywood productions the Time Warner Inc. unit plans this year in India and markets including the U.S. and the U.K., Richard Fox, executive vice president for international films, said in an interview.
As Hollywood studios tailor more productions for growing markets such as India, theyre also targeting fans in the U.S., where overall ticket sales are falling. Chandni Chowk is being shown in cities such as New York and Los Angeles that have a significant ethnic South Asian populace.
They see it as a growth market because the Indian and South Asian populations outside of India are growing so rapidly, Gitesh Pandya, editor of New York-based Box Office Guru LLC, said in an interview.
The movie is being released simultaneously in countries with large South Asian populations that also include Germany, South Africa and Australia, Fox said.
Universal Pictures, owned by General Electric Co., has created a Focus Features International unit to produce and distribute movies for local foreign markets, and Sony Corp.s Sony Pictures has a co-production deal with London-based Eros International to make Hindi-language films.
Admissions at theaters in the U.S. and Canada fell 5 percent last year as revenue dropped to $9.63 billion from $9.68 billion in 2007, according to Media By Numbers, a box-office tracker.
Indian Market
Reporting systems in India are inadequate to produce reliable market tallies, Pandya said. Indias 2008 box office was estimated at $2.23 billion by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which forecasts 11 percent growth to $2.48 billion this year.
Local-language movies capture 95 percent of the Indias box office, with foreign studios sharing the rest, Fox said.
You really have to do Indian films if you want to be a player, Fox said.
In Chandni Chowk, Bollywood star Akshay Kumar plays a ne-er-do-well from New Delhis Chandni Chowk area. The promise of a fortune-teller leads him to China, where he is hailed as an ancient warrior reincarnated to overthrow the local crime boss. The film is opening in 130 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.
Warner Bros. signed director Nikhil Advani to a two-year deal to make three additional pictures.
The global marketplace has opened up and gave us opportunity to dream a little bigger, Advani said in an interview following a screening of the film in Burbank, California.
Time Warner, based in New York, rose 18 cents to $9.61 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock lost 39 percent last year.
Slumdog Appeal
The biggest U.S. debut for a Bollywood film was Kumars Singh is Kinng, which opened with more than $1 million in sales last year, Pandya said. Chandni Chowk may match it, given Kumars popularity and the wide release Warner is giving the film, he said.
The success of Slumdog Millionaire, from News Corp.s Fox Searchlight, may create some crossover appeal for mainstream U.S. audiences, said Fox, the Warner executive. Slumdog, winner of four Golden Globe awards, including best drama, tells the story of a young Indian who seeks his fortune on a television game show.
Slumdog, made for about $15 million by director Danny Boyle, has taken in $44 million in worldwide ticket sales since its Nov. 12 release.
The two films are different in tone, Fox said. Shot on location in India, China and Thailand, the 154-minute Chandni Chowk provides the typical over-the-top Bollywood mix of song, dance, comedy and melodrama.
Our film is very much a Bollywood movie, Fox said. Its almost a different movie at different points in which youre watching it.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael White in Los Angeles at Mwhite8@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: January 16, 2009 16:37 EST
...........................................................................................
RK
