A San's counterattack, looking at the development of Indian films from "Wrestling Bar, Dad"

The Indian film industry market and Indian theaters are also undergoing a rapid modernization process similar to that of China.

The box office was 1 billion yuan in 26 days after release, breaking many Chinese and Indian records: the highest-grossing non-Hollywood film among imported films from China, the highest-grossing Indian film overseas, and the highest-grossing Indian film in the world. This phenomenal surprise that broke out in the non-mainstream film market swept the mainstream Indian media, occupying headlines from serious newspapers "The Hindu" and "The Indian Express" to gossip newspapers "The Bollywood Life". Even Western mainstream media CNN, Forbes, and BBC have made special reports on this. Aamir Khan, the film's star, himself said that "Wrestling, Dad" is so popular in China that it exceeds his "wildest dreams."

1. Accounting

Judging from the superficial and most practical amount of money, the introduction of Fang Huayi is likely to break the China record and the world record for the industry's return on investment. It is said that Huayi's copyright cost to introduce this film is US$500,000 to US$600,000, and the Indian side will receive a 35% commission after the box office reaches 200 million. Simply looking at these numbers gives a sense of "understanding":

US$500,000 to US$600,000, which means that even though mainstream Indian films such as "Three Silly Cakes in Bollywood" and "My God" have been tried in the Chinese market, the introducers have not high expectations for Indian films, and Indian producers have not really regarded China as an important market. Everyone will be happy if they are as small as a few million yuan.

There is a commission after 200 million yuan. According to past experience, except for Hollywood blockbusters, few introduced films can reach box office exceeding 100 million yuan. Commissions will be given after 200 million yuan. Obviously, both China and India think this is a threshold. In reality, everyone has low expectations for Indian films. To be honest, Chinese people have a negative impression of Indian films. Or stuck in the singing and dancing of "Caravan" thirty years ago, or surreal funny scenes such as the bending bullet gymnastics car "I'm playing in the mud in the Northeast" on Weibo. That's why the subsequent box office of more than 1 billion yuan shattered all over the ground.

The box office of 1 billion plus, and the current box office of "Wrestling, Dad" has reached nearly 1.3 billion yuan, which shows that China audiences buy movies with content and acting skills. In the past two years, there have been several examples in China where word-of-mouth spread has reversed box office bookings. The most impressive one is the domestic animation film "Return of the Great Sage". Countless tap water has brought an inflection point in the number of movie bookings and box office bookings. However, this phenomenon appears in imported films, which is rare.

2. Restore India's film industry to

the third place in the world: India's film industry has developed rapidly in recent years. In 2015, the total number of moviegoers was 2.1 billion, second only to China's 2.2 billion, ranking second in the world. Statistics from different institutions vary slightly in India's total box office: KPMG estimates that the Indian film market in 2016 is 1,42.3 billion rupees, while Deloitte estimates that the figure is slightly higher, reaching 1,55 billion rupees. Based on the current exchange rate, it is about RMB 14 billion to RMB 16 billion, which is almost one-third of the size of China's film market in 2016 and one-fifth of the size of the United States (China's total box office in 2016 was 45.49 billion yuan, and the total box office in the United States was 11.368 billion US dollars), ranking third in the world.

Many wanders: Bollywood, which filmed "Wrestling, Dad", is a signature of the Indian film industry. But in fact, in addition to Hindi speaking Bollywood, there are many other movies in India. For example, Malayalam speakers Mollywood, Tamil speakers Kollywood, Kannada speakers Sandalwood, Gujarati speakers Gollywood also known as Dhollywood, Telugu speakers and Bengali speakers all call themselves Tollywood. The list is absolutely incomplete and the ranking is in no particular order.

Ultra-high production: For the entire fiscal year from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016, the Indian film industry produced a total of 1902 theater films, exceeding the total of China (944 films) and the United States (736 films). The 1902 films were filmed in 41 languages, of which 7 were produced in more than 100 languages. The largest share of Hindi films was produced, accounting for 340, accounting for only 17.9% of the total.

Transformation pain: The Indian film market has many similarities with the domestic market. One is that the pace of development is similar. It has been rampant after 2010 and has a sudden stop in 2016. In 2016, the growth rate of China's film industry dropped to single digits from an ultra-high growth rate of more than 30% per year in the previous five years; in 2016, the Indian film market also suffered from Waterloo, with an increase of only 3.0% according to KPMG estimates. The Chinese and Indian film markets for a moment felt like brothers in trouble.

In the past few years, the Indian film industry market and Indian theaters have also experienced a rapid modernization process similar to that of China, and all walks of life are very willing to invest in infrastructure. As more and more shopping malls are built in major cities such as Mumbai, the movie city composed of multiple screens and small projection halls has gradually replaced the original projection model of one courtyard, one hall, one screen, and has become the number one contributor to the increase in the number of movie viewers.

On the other hand, the process of replacing traditional cinemas by multi-studio studios has not been smooth-due to meager profits, many old one-bedroom, one-screen cinemas have gone bankrupt and closed before they can be upgraded to modern cinemas, resulting in the total number of screens in the Indian market. The number has slowly declined, from just over 10,000 in 2010 to more than 8,000 in 2015. Waterloo in 2016 should be more or less related to the increase brought about by modernization that cannot keep up with the stock of old cinemas closed and eliminated.

Why is the lively Indian film industry still short of money? Let's break through the bloody and tearful stories that the Indian film industry has to tell.

3. Negative and low ticket prices for Indian films

: Indian movie tickets are among the lowest in the world. The price of a movie ticket is generally in the range of 150 - 250 Indian rupees, equivalent to about 15 to 25 RMB. This is the main reason why India's total number of moviegoers is on par with China, but its total box office is less than one-third of that in China. The causes of low ticket prices are complex. For one thing, India is still a relatively poor developing country. In 2015, its per capita GDP was only US$1593, about one fifth of that of China. Moreover, movie tickets in some places are set by the government. For example, in the southernmost state of Tamil Nadu in India, the government stipulates that all movie ticket prices are 120 rupees (less than 13 RMB). This single ticket price has been implemented for more than ten years.

Complex tax rates: India's complex tax system is notorious among international investors. Specific to the film industry, movie theaters currently pay box office tax ranging from 0 to 50% to state governments as entertainment tax, and the food and beverage sold are subject to a value-added tax of about 12%. The producer must bear a phased transaction tax of 7 - 10% of the total purchase cost. Currently, the Indian government is discussing tax reform and consolidating many taxes into a unified consumption tax (GST). If it can be successfully implemented, the overall profit margin of the film industry is expected to increase by 4 to 5 percentage points.

Endless online piracy: Like the China film market ten years ago, the Indian film industry as a whole is struggling under the weight of rampant Internet piracy. On the one hand, the old hardware facilities of theaters cannot meet consumers 'requirements for high-quality audio-visual effects, and cannot form significant differentiated competition for pirated terminals. On the other hand, the Internet, especially smart Mobile device, is rapidly spreading in India, and pirated products are getting closer and closer to consumers. According to Deloitte estimates, the annual revenue loss of the film industry due to piracy is about 190 billion rupees (KPMG estimates the loss figure at about 180 billion), which is higher than the overall revenue of the film industry in 2016.

Faced by multiple unfavorable factors, the Indian film industry has suffered widespread losses in the past five years. Among the 50 highest-grossing films, the number of profitable films dropped from 30 in 2012 to 18 in 2016.

4. The future of Indian films Indian films

are gradually passing through difficult times. As the per capita income level gradually increases, a huge middle class that is second only to China in terms of number is taking shape. This group's demand for high-quality cultural and entertainment products is on the verge of exploding.

No longer just telling Indian stories. India has a long history, rich and diverse culture, and many outstanding creators have emerged. Due to historical reasons, India's official documents are mostly in English and Hindi, which facilitates the integration of Indian literature and art with the world. In fact, many of the best contemporary English novels were written by Indian British people. Indian-born English writers are also frequent visitors to the Booker Prize and Pulitzer Prize for Literature. The new generation of Indian writers is no longer limited to writing and filming Indian stories, and the scope of topic selection is becoming increasingly international. For example, Rana Dasgupta, the first two novels,"Tokyo Cancelled" and "Solo", have nothing to do with India-there is even a Shenzhen story among Tokyo Cancelled's 13 short stories.

Internationalization. International creative themes are complemented by international production methods. As Bollywood and other Indian film-making groups gradually gain international popularity, more and more films have been filmed in joint ventures. "Wrestling, Dad" is jointly produced by Disney Pictures, Aamir Khan Films, and UTV Films. This year's domestic Spring Festival release films,"Troubles in India" and "Kung Fu Yoga", both have cooperation and investment from India.

Digital mobility. With the gradual popularization of smartphones, India is rapidly becoming mobile and digital. In September 2016, India's 4G network Reliance Jio was officially commercialized, reaching 16 million contract users within 5 months. The surge in demand for digital content by OTT providers has also brought new revenue streams to the Indian film industry. In 2016, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video entered the Indian OTT market in a big way, stirring up a pool of spring water. Netflix has signed exclusive deals with Bollywood's Chili Peppers Entertainment for several films over the next three years;APV has spent 200 billion rupees on digital content, buying film library rights from several film companies including Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Vishesh Films and Excel Entertainment. Driven by the wave of digitalization, digital rights have become the fastest-growing segment of Indian film industry revenue, and in 2016, in some regions, they have matched the revenue of film rights in cable and satellite TV copyright channels.

As theater hardware upgrades and mobile Internet occupies the mainstream of digital content distribution, the legalization movement in China's music and film market will repeat itself in the Indian market. The global box office record of Indian films will not stop at the surprise of "Wrestling, Dad" in the China market.

Editor: jessica