New Delhi: The year has witnessed several movies ruling at the box office, both in India and overseas. However, many high-budget action films fell flat when they were released in theatres. What led to the cause of the flop was word of mouth stemming from negative reviews. But when released on the digital platform, these films topped the charts on their respective platforms.
Recent times saw few superhero films that did as bad as Morbius. The film focussed on Marvel antihero received negative comments universally from critics. Though Sony Pictures released it twice, it flopped both times. After four months the film arrived on Netflix where it dominated the service’s global top ten films list. It has been among the top 2 spots of the list for close to two weeks now.
Morbius has several parallel movies in the Hindi cinema, which saw a fair share of flops this year. John Abraham’s Attack, Kangana Ranaut’s Dhaakad, and Aditya Roy Kapur’s Rashtra Kavach OM were major flops at the box office, earning just ₹22 crore, ₹8 crore, and ₹9 crore, respectively. The combined budget of these films was ₹200 crore. However, each film when released on Zee 5 has become number one. Dhaakad which is considered to be the biggest flop in Kangana’s career ranked in 60 million viewing minutes in one week after it dropped on the streaming platform.
The common thread in all these films has been their genre. They are all action films or big-budget thrillers. Streaming platforms stated that the positive response to the genre as a whole on OTT has helped these titles. Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 India, said, “From RRR to Attack and Dhaakad to Rashtra Kavach OM, action as a genre works has received an overwhelming response from the audience on the platform. At ZEE5, it makes us extremely happy that we have been successful in catering to the audience’s expectations with diverse content that appeals to them.”
Citing the example of Vidyut Jammwal-starrer Khuda Haafiz: Chapter 2 – Agni Pariksha which was recently released on ZEE5, Manish stated, “It went on to clock 77 million streaming minutes within a week of its release (on OTT) even after its theatrical release.” Khuda Haafiz 2 was a disappointment at the box office. Having ₹30 crore budget, it managed to make only ₹14 crores from its theatrical release.
But what is the reason behind films already rejected in one medium are finding takers in another? An exhibitor explained, “Some people watch a film on OTT that they simply didn’t want to spend 200 bucks on for a movie ticket. But when it comes on streaming and they already have a subscription, they watch it. That expands the reach of these films. And out of those people, there are many who find it fun, at least in a casual watch way.”
Many advice to take this trend with a pinch of salt. “The numbers of streaming platforms need to be interpreted correctly. The number of minutes does not always tell you how many people watched the film. Someone may have watched just 15 minutes out of curiosity. And a major film always trends on a platform in the week of its release,” said trade analyst Atul Mohan.
Subsequently, these films are reaching a wider audience because of their digital release. Weeks after the original reviews and being free from severe criticism, they find newer fans who give them a second life.
