Critical acclaim aside box office numbers is what makes or breaks a film. Interestingly, in 2005, Hollywood domestic box office revenues stood at $ 8991 million with admissions of 1403 million. On the other hand, while Bollywood box office collections in 2005 were $ 1171 million, the number of admissions was a whopping 3000 million.
As per MPAA, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Credit Suisse estimates, while in Bollywood home video contributed the least in terms of revenues - seven per cent in 2005, in Hollywood the scenario was totally different. Hollywood took home 50 per cent revenues from home video in 2005.
Domestic box office constituted 75 per cent of Bollywood revenues, whereas in Hollywood, it had a share of 17 per cent last year. On the other hand, while Bollywood earned nine per cent revenues from the overseas box office, Hollywood earned 16 per cent from the same.
In terms of ancillary revenues, which comprise music rights, satellite rights, video on demand rights and digital rights amongst others, Hollywood milked 17 per cent revenues from the same in 2005, while Bollywood’s figure stood at nine per cent.
In India, theatrical revenues comprise over 70 per cent of total revenues for the industry. Theatrical revenues have typically been underreported due to the model of single screen theatres. However, the growth of multiplexes is expected to improve the transparency of the theatrical market.
There has been significant corporatization of the industry, with listed players like Shringar, Adlabs, PVR etc, undertaking the investment in multiplexes and consolidating the market. Ticket costs are significantly higher in multiplexes than single theatres (Rs 180 versus Rs 45). In addition multiplexes have been given tax holidays to support their capital investment, further boosting the revenue contribution to distributors.
According to Credit Suisse estimates, the expansion of digital prints will provide a growth opportunity for the theatrical market. Historically a wide release has been 600 prints (compared with close to 4,000 in the US domestic market). This has expanded by 300 prints to 900 due to digital distribution.