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Cricket World Cup vs movies: Experts say India matches will impact box office but two can co-exist
With ICC Cricket World Cup set to begin on May 30, how will it impact the business of films? Trade experts and filmmakers give their opinion.
One thing that you can’t expect a majority of Indians to do is choose between cricket and Bollywood — both enjoy equal fan base. And as the ICC World Cup fever readies to take over, starting May 30, filmmakers might be in a dilemma as to whether it’s the right time to release their films or not. However, going by the calendar, there are quite a few big ticket films slated to release during the world cup period that will continue till July 15.
Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif’s Bharat, Shahid Kapoor’s Kabir Singh, Ayushmann Khurrana’s Article 15, Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra’s Jabariya Jodi and Sushant Singh Rajput and Jacqueline Fernandez’s Drive are few films set to release. However, The Zoya Factor, that was to release in June has now been pushed to September. Yet, the big question remains: will their business get affected by cricket fever or not?
Trade analyst Joginder Tuteja predicts that “there will be at least 10-20 percent hit in the business”, especially on the day when India is playing the match. “Since the matches are going to happen in England either at 3pm or 6pm IST, it is going to affect the prime time shows in theatres.”
Additionally, trade expert Taran Adarsh points out that business is likely to get impacted the most on the days when India is playing. “So films like Khamoshi (releasing on May 31), Kabir Singh, 99 Songs (both releasing on June 21), Drive, Article 15 (both releasing on June 28) won’t see much of a footfall in theatres. But, if India reaches the semi-finals and finals (which will be played on July 9 and 14 respectively), it might have a high impact, especially on Jabariya Jodi, which is releasing on July 12,” explains Adarsh, adding that “entertainment can co-exist with cricket”.
However, Article 15 director Anubhav Sinha, refrains from using the terms “clash” for films releasing during World Cup. “This is a movie, that’s a match,” he says adding, “I believe in the film and in its audience. They’ve enough bandwidth for both. Having said that, there are distractions every week but a good film goes through it effortlessly. When Indian audiences have a good feeling about a film, they find time and money to go watch it.”
Jabariya Jodi director Prashant Singh agrees with the viewpoint and calls it a “double treat” for the audience. But to pull in a lot of moviegoers to the theatres, Prashant shares, “We’re planning an extensive atypical promotional campaign for the film. Audiences are receptive to fresh and entertaining content and we hope Jabariya Jodi will strike that connect, gain positive word of mouth, resulting in greater footfalls. Also, in the past years, we have seen that content-driven films have stood their ground be it during World Cup or IPL.”
Amidst all this, Bharat seems to be the first and only film that will face the maximum impact as it releases on June 5 — the same day when India will play their first match against South Africa. Producer Bhushan Kumar says that a large number of audiences would get split between movie and cricket. “There will be an impact. Cricket does disturb the film business, especially big events like the World Cup. The IPL final on Sunday affected the business of movies running in the theatres that weekend. But with Bharat, I hope we can take advantage of it being a Salman Khan release and an Eid release.”
Bharat’s director Ali Abbas Zafar feels, “Since its summer holidays and longer day time, the impact wouldn’t be that much because if the audience can’t go to watch the movie on the first day of its release, they can plan it go on the second or third day.”
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