The box
office verdict of a film is based on theatrical business. There are two
verdicts, one for the domestic market and one for the international market
because this is where the public is paying to watch a film and a film has to be
watched to be a hit. Business of different revenue sectors is not put together
to give verdict.
In the early late 60's early 70's, a big film would fetch a price of around 60 lakhs from all its distributors in India and when the money was recovered the distributor would start to give overflow for the producers after his commission. Hit films at that time could recover a share of 2 crore while blockbusters over 3.50 crore but still prices were so low because it took a long time to recover those low prices. Films had a 20-30 print release and it was staggered release so some places may have a release a year later. Basically a producer recovered or nearly recovered costs by selling his film and then waited for the film to be accepted by the public and the profit would be the overflow which come in time. This was all very low risk and 90% films recovered costs unless the budget was too high and the film faced rejection which would result in losses. Examples of this are Amrapali, Mera Naam Joker and Reshma Aur Shera.
Today the scenario is totally changed as distributors pay a huge premium as its all about one or two weeks and not years. A films verdict is depended on how well it does theatrically. For big budget films a 4 crore share would mean blockbuster in 1970 and in 1995 it was the 20 crore mark, today (2016) its nearly 120 crore. The trade and media tend to bring prices in to put up a perception and then for another film the price factor goes away as a different perception is being put up. A film can be purchased at a Blockbuster price but may do only Super Hit business so therefore lose money but the fact remains it has done Super Hit theatrical business, just the distributor overpaid. If this film has a good perception with the media then it will called success and if perception is not good then the losses will be talked about. A Kick was purchased at a Blockbuster price and managed Blockbuster business and if this film was to be judged on distributor return then it would be an Above Average fare but the level of its theatrical performance is far more important then the huge premium paid by the distributors.
The budgets, deals which go on behind the scenes are very different and have many clauses which are different for each film. It is also difficult to judge a film on budgets as movies like Jai Ho and Three Chennai Express only have a production budget of 65 crore and 75 crore respectively as there were profit sharing deals with main leads and with director. so you can't put a budget to these films as you can with some others. Also nobody apart from producer and distributor know the exact details of a deal. The one constant for every film is theatrical business be it Domestic or International. Every film has two verdicts one for Indian theatrical and one for International theatrical. Other revenue sources like satellite, music etc can have verdicts but these can't be based on how what price they fetch as that is like saying a film is a theatrical hit depending on what price it fetches rather than actual performance.
The size of the release basically decides how big a film is, if a film releases on 4000 plus cinemas with huge shows at multiplexes then it is regarded as a big film and the mark today (Sept 2016) for blockbuster business is nearly 120 crore distributor share. This does not mean that a film release on 2000 cinemas with half shows per multiplex will be a a blockbuster at 60 crore as when a film goes over 2000 cinemas then the cinemas become lower earning single screens. A film has to achieve a certain amount per print/cinema it is released on to do Average Hit, Super Hit, etc business.
In the early late 60's early 70's, a big film would fetch a price of around 60 lakhs from all its distributors in India and when the money was recovered the distributor would start to give overflow for the producers after his commission. Hit films at that time could recover a share of 2 crore while blockbusters over 3.50 crore but still prices were so low because it took a long time to recover those low prices. Films had a 20-30 print release and it was staggered release so some places may have a release a year later. Basically a producer recovered or nearly recovered costs by selling his film and then waited for the film to be accepted by the public and the profit would be the overflow which come in time. This was all very low risk and 90% films recovered costs unless the budget was too high and the film faced rejection which would result in losses. Examples of this are Amrapali, Mera Naam Joker and Reshma Aur Shera.
Today the scenario is totally changed as distributors pay a huge premium as its all about one or two weeks and not years. A films verdict is depended on how well it does theatrically. For big budget films a 4 crore share would mean blockbuster in 1970 and in 1995 it was the 20 crore mark, today (2016) its nearly 120 crore. The trade and media tend to bring prices in to put up a perception and then for another film the price factor goes away as a different perception is being put up. A film can be purchased at a Blockbuster price but may do only Super Hit business so therefore lose money but the fact remains it has done Super Hit theatrical business, just the distributor overpaid. If this film has a good perception with the media then it will called success and if perception is not good then the losses will be talked about. A Kick was purchased at a Blockbuster price and managed Blockbuster business and if this film was to be judged on distributor return then it would be an Above Average fare but the level of its theatrical performance is far more important then the huge premium paid by the distributors.
The budgets, deals which go on behind the scenes are very different and have many clauses which are different for each film. It is also difficult to judge a film on budgets as movies like Jai Ho and Three Chennai Express only have a production budget of 65 crore and 75 crore respectively as there were profit sharing deals with main leads and with director. so you can't put a budget to these films as you can with some others. Also nobody apart from producer and distributor know the exact details of a deal. The one constant for every film is theatrical business be it Domestic or International. Every film has two verdicts one for Indian theatrical and one for International theatrical. Other revenue sources like satellite, music etc can have verdicts but these can't be based on how what price they fetch as that is like saying a film is a theatrical hit depending on what price it fetches rather than actual performance.
The size of the release basically decides how big a film is, if a film releases on 4000 plus cinemas with huge shows at multiplexes then it is regarded as a big film and the mark today (Sept 2016) for blockbuster business is nearly 120 crore distributor share. This does not mean that a film release on 2000 cinemas with half shows per multiplex will be a a blockbuster at 60 crore as when a film goes over 2000 cinemas then the cinemas become lower earning single screens. A film has to achieve a certain amount per print/cinema it is released on to do Average Hit, Super Hit, etc business.
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