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Hollywood finds formula to beat Bollywood in India
Dubbing Hollywood films like Spider-Man has led to box-office success.
from the May 17, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Bollywood has much to lose. It is fond of calling itself the world's largest film industry – and by many measures it is. In total, Indian filmmakers generally release more than 1,000 feature-length films a year, roughly double Hollywood's output. More people around the world buy tickets to Bollywood films than to Hollywood films, according to a 2004 study by the British Film Institute.
Yet its strength is clearly within India, where its quirky mix of absurdist plots, melodramatic love, and spontaneous dance numbers dominate the box office. As recently as 2005, foreign films accounted for only about 5 percent of about $1 billion in theater tickets sold annually here.
But Hollywood profits in India are growing at 35 percent a year, and the US film industry is becoming more aggressive.
Nadeem Khan says he hasn't been to a single Bollywood movie this year. Instead, he is here at the Saket Cineplex in south Delhi to see "Spider-Man" – one of the last people to get a ticket before it sold out.
"I like it because of the performances and the story and the action," he says, looking the part of Bollywood extra in his faded jeans and gelled hair.
It is here in the new multiplexes of urban India that Hollywood first began making inroads. More theaters created more space, and a growing, globally aware middle class thirsted for something more sophisticated.
Yet only a few years ago, Hollywood films warranted only about 100 prints, and if there were dubbed versions, they were often released after the English-language version finished its run.
The tactic made most Indian moviegoers feel like second-class citizens and undermined what experts say is Hollywood's greatest advantage: marketing. The turning point, experts say, was last year, when some 400 prints of the James Bond film "Casino Royale" were released in India – including three versions in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu – simultaneously with the global debut. It established an opening-weekend record haul for a foreign film.
By releasing the films widely, dubbed, and on the worldwide release date, Hollywood brought the global buzz to India – not to mention product tie-ins with fast-food chains and mobile-phone ring tones, for example. "These are avenues where Bollywood is very sluggish," says Derek Bose, author of "Brand Bollywood."
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