Should fans be concerned about box office numbers and watch movie reviews before watching a film?
If you wanted to estimate the number of
people watching a certain film, the most obvious way to go about the task is to
count all the tickets sold in the box office. This can be done without any
qualms for a stage show. Just add up the receipts and you have the exact
estimate. But for a major motion picture release that is playing in 3000
screens all over the world, things get a bit complex.
Here, the theatre owner calculates the cash he received and reports all
this to the distributor. The distributor receives this information from all the
theatres he has distributed the film. This distributor provides all the
cumulative information to the studio which produced the said film. In
accordance to the integrity of the film’s production house, the moolah is
either inflated or told as it is.
Some online trackers are paid for this job. They’re paid to predict the
box office numbers and post it through their twitter handles which generates an
interest to watch the film. If a movie releases on a friday, the predictions
are generated even before the movie completes 2 full days of screening. On
Sunday nights itself, these predictions are scattered on the
internet.
On Monday mornings, these numbers are discussed during smoke breaks and other
such breaks in workplaces. Like this, you generate free word of mouth
advertising for the film. You advertise the film even before watching it in
theatres.
The cash which you pay at the box office is collected by the theatre. The
first cut goes to the exhibitor i.e., the theatre. Then it goes to the....
Wait!
As a fan, should you be worried about such paltry stats? Or should you
enjoy a movie without worrying about how much moolah the film
rakes in?
If you look at it, you are just a minuscule of the audience. You pay the
price of the ticket and that’s it. You can neither get a refund(unless there’s
a technical problem which stops screening of the film) nor can you ameliorate
certain technical aspects of a movie.
I don’t hold an opinion that you are pointless to a movie and that there would
be no loss for the producer if you don’t go and watch the movie in theatres.
I’m just telling that an audience should not be involved in the business aspect
of a movie.
It just takes away the fun of catching a movie in theatres. When you
believe those stats, you immediately have an opinion before watching a movie.
This opinion, positive or negative, will be etched in your brain for a good
amount of time. When you finally watch that movie, it wouldn’t translate into a
good experience because of that deuced opinion you hold. By good, I mean you
wouldn’t feel the experience the director would have envisaged in you. All this
because of the notion(false) you had before watching it.
As a film fan, I can't help but care about box office numbers. I wish I
didn't, and I wish they didn't matter, but we all know that they do.
I was relieved, for instance, when Petta opened grossed over 36 crore
rupees worldwide on the first day, because it might just mean that, in a
meeting in Kollywood in a few years time, someone pulls that statistic out to
win an argument. This can lead to grown-up creative people being able to make a
similarly intriguing film.
Box office is, without doubt, the most crude and inaccurate measurement of the
success of a film. It isn’t the be all and end all. Yet box office is clearly a
vital ingredient in the film commissioning process, at least once the budget
goes above a certain level. And it's not hard to read where the Indian Film
Industry is going. For instance, one 2.0, which had a jaw
dropping budget of 560 crore rupees. The makers also had to ensure the film
gets dubbed in other languages and releases in a commensurate number of
theatres in accordance with the budget.
As a cinephile, you might want to stop talking numbers and start feeling
experience. But in this era, it is almost next to difficult. The fact remains
that box office matters to movies. And it matters - implicitly or explicitly -
to movie fans. Many of us want film makers to direct projects that genuinely
interest us. And we know that the key to that, somewhere along the line, is
money.
As Director Vetrimaran says ,”Cinema is a mixture of science, COMMERCE and
art.”
Thus, even though perhaps we shouldn't spend time devouring box office numbers,
it pretty much comes with the territory of being a movie fanatic. And that's
unlikely, while movie fans care so much about films and filmmakers, to ever
change.
Written by Nitin M.
Some online trackers are paid for this job. They’re paid to predict the box office numbers and post it through their twitter handles which generates an interest to watch the film. If a movie releases on a friday, the predictions are generated even before the movie completes 2 full days of screening. On Sunday nights itself, these predictions are scattered on the internet.
On Monday mornings, these numbers are discussed during smoke breaks and other such breaks in workplaces. Like this, you generate free word of mouth advertising for the film. You advertise the film even before watching it in theatres.
The cash which you pay at the box office is collected by the theatre. The first cut goes to the exhibitor i.e., the theatre. Then it goes to the.... Wait!
As a fan, should you be worried about such paltry stats? Or should you enjoy a movie without worrying about how much moolah the film rakes in?
If you look at it, you are just a minuscule of the audience. You pay the price of the ticket and that’s it. You can neither get a refund(unless there’s a technical problem which stops screening of the film) nor can you ameliorate certain technical aspects of a movie.
I don’t hold an opinion that you are pointless to a movie and that there would be no loss for the producer if you don’t go and watch the movie in theatres. I’m just telling that an audience should not be involved in the business aspect of a movie.
It just takes away the fun of catching a movie in theatres. When you believe those stats, you immediately have an opinion before watching a movie. This opinion, positive or negative, will be etched in your brain for a good amount of time. When you finally watch that movie, it wouldn’t translate into a good experience because of that deuced opinion you hold. By good, I mean you wouldn’t feel the experience the director would have envisaged in you. All this because of the notion(false) you had before watching it.
As a film fan, I can't help but care about box office numbers. I wish I didn't, and I wish they didn't matter, but we all know that they do.
I was relieved, for instance, when Petta opened grossed over 36 crore rupees worldwide on the first day, because it might just mean that, in a meeting in Kollywood in a few years time, someone pulls that statistic out to win an argument. This can lead to grown-up creative people being able to make a similarly intriguing film.
Box office is, without doubt, the most crude and inaccurate measurement of the success of a film. It isn’t the be all and end all. Yet box office is clearly a vital ingredient in the film commissioning process, at least once the budget goes above a certain level. And it's not hard to read where the Indian Film Industry is going. For instance, one 2.0, which had a jaw dropping budget of 560 crore rupees. The makers also had to ensure the film gets dubbed in other languages and releases in a commensurate number of theatres in accordance with the budget.
As a cinephile, you might want to stop talking numbers and start feeling experience. But in this era, it is almost next to difficult. The fact remains that box office matters to movies. And it matters - implicitly or explicitly - to movie fans. Many of us want film makers to direct projects that genuinely interest us. And we know that the key to that, somewhere along the line, is money.
As Director Vetrimaran says ,”Cinema is a mixture of science, COMMERCE and art.”
Thus, even though perhaps we shouldn't spend time devouring box office numbers, it pretty much comes with the territory of being a movie fanatic. And that's unlikely, while movie fans care so much about films and filmmakers, to ever change.
Written by Nitin M.
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