How China has managed to beat India at the BO

In 2008, the Chinese box office ($0.71 billion) was not even 50 per cent of India’s ($1.74 billion). Flash forward to 2016, China’s ($6.58 billion) was worth three times India’s box office ($2.19 billion). How did China manage to achieve such a growth in a short span of eight years? Kollywood producer G Dhananjayan has recently done a study on why we are lagging significantly behind China, as part of his doctoral programme.He says that three factors are majorly influencing the financial growth of Indian film industry — number of screens, ticket pricing and piracy control.
Dubbing these as the three Ps — proximity, pricing and piracy — Dhananjayan, who has been awarded doctorate for this research study by Mumbai University, informs, “In 2009, China had just 6,323 screens versus India’s 12,000. By 2016, their number (41,179) was more than thrice that of India’s (13,200). And by the end of 2018, they had 55,623 screens! This proximity to a movie screen has meant that it has become convenient for the Chinese audience to go and watch a movie, unless the situation in India, where people have to travel a certain distance to catch a film that might be playing only at a certain time.”
HIKE IN TICKET PRICES WILL NOT TRANSLATE INTO BOX-OFFICE NUMBERS
Interestingly, India sold more tickets (2.1 billion) compared to China (1.4 billion) in 2016. But the average ticket price in China (`350) is thrice that of India’s (`100). But cost of viewing a film — which includes ticket price and other costs like snacks, online booking and parking — is a key factor in influencing an Indian viewer to go watch a film in theatres. “In my research, I found out that 70% of the people are willing to pay only between `80 and `120 to watch a film. Presently, multiplexes are charging more than this amount, but we cannot hike the price any further to boost our box- office growth. In fact, I observed that any hike in ticket rates only leads to a decrease in the number of footfalls,” he says.
Movie theatres remain the most preferred means to watch a film for a large section (82%) of our audience, says Dhananjayan. “Of course, content remains king and is a crucial factor in influencing people to go to the theatres. You simply cannot expect audiences to turn up for your movie if your content is poor. The presence of stars (actors and directors), reviews (which also include word of mouth), cost of snacks, distance to the theatre, convenience of booking tickets and parking are also influencing what people want to watch in theatres,” he elaborates.
PIRACY MARKET IS BIGGER THAN THE OFFICIAL SIZE OF our film INDUSTRY
Piracy is also controlled in China, states Dhananjayan. “Over 100 million are paying to view for online content there, while in India, 70% of our films are viewed through illegal modes. The piracy market is bigger than the official size of our film industry; the revenue lost due to piracy is $3.34 billion — higher than our total industry revenue, $2.19 billion,” he points out.
Controlling piracy, reducing the cost of viewing and increasing the accessibility by setting up more screens are the main options to move ahead, states Dhananjayan. He says that while pricing is something that exhibitors and distributors can influence, piracy prevention and increasing the number of screens require support from the government. “The Chinese government sees movie theatres as a way to reach people faster. The government is setting up most of the screens there and leasing it out to private theatre chains. It is both a revenue stream and a medium of propaganda. Perhaps such a thing might not be possible in a democracy like India, but our governments (both central and state) can make the process of setting up theatres easier for private operators,” he says.
While the advent of streaming platforms has started to cultivate a habit of paying for content among sections of the Indian audiences, the government can come up with stronger laws against and ensuring stringent action against pirates, he says. “The recent amendments to the Cinematograph Act (film piracy offences are now punishable with imprisonment of up to three years and fines that may extend to `10 lakh or both) is a right step in this direction. But enforcement of these provisions is essential to curb piracy,” he says.