India produces more than 1000 films in a calendar year. Not all movies are making a profit at the box office. The US is the second most film-producing country which earns a 50 percentage of profit margin. It has a global market hence it is making table profits most of the time. But the hit ratio is less than 20% in India. Not all movies are profitable for the producer. In Spite of publicity, big stars, directors, technicians, and production houses, movies fail miserably at the box office. One good thing about post corona era is that star-value movies are making table profits through OTT. Even if their theatrical release flops up, they still manage to recover their investment. This opportunity is not available for newcomers and art house producers. Bollywood is facing a massive setback in recent times. They are unable to prove their worth in the Indian market. Even though Bollywood's star-rated movies are making a table profit, they fail at the box office. It is essential for the stars to keep their theatrical presence and audience-pulling capacity. Otherwise, a newcomer with good content and word of mouth can turn the tables overnight. This keeps the filmmakers in a guess on what the audience really wants? In spite of doing all gimmicks, publicity, social media marketing, and touring across the country, why only a few films are getting successful? What is the mantra for success?
As you know that I am doing research on various topics in the film industry, and this topic is a special one for me. I had to look into many films to decode the factors. Here is my understanding in chronological order;
First and foremost of all is the "Conflict(s)" that the movie speaks. Every film has some sort of conflict but why do only a few films cross the profit border? The answer is simple. Audiences need relatable and new conflicts. Even if the conflicts are told many times, they need to have a new view or dimension or point of view to it. Filmmakers need to highlight the conflict, blow out the proposition and immerse the audience in the storytelling process. Without strong conflict, there is no use in having to start valued projects. We will revisit this point as a separate article in the coming days.
You need to have a powerful performance from the artist. Because artists are the face value of your conflicts. If the conflicts are new and the artist's performance is poor, then it is of no use.
Freshness in the scenes is required. The romance between the couple is told several hundred times in various films. You need to find a new way such that the audiences feel the scenes are fresh.
Make an understandable screenplay. Not all audiences have access to world movies. At the cost of showing your talent, don't experiment on the audience's IQ. Experimentation on the patient level of the audience will kill your success.
The pace of the movie is wrongly understood by the slowness of the movie. Once the audience likes your fresh scene and immerses in it, they accept long-duration shots/scenes. If the screenplay is not engaging and the usual scene, then they tend to get disconnected from the purpose.
Hand-hold the audience from the beginning till the end of the movie. The moment you shake hands with the character, the audience will lose focus on the storytelling. You need to tell them through visuals what they need to see in each scene. The point of view of the story is very much important.
The movie is a visual medium. Limit your auditory skills wherever possible. Show most of the scenes through visuals.
Re-visit your script frequently. Identify and remove scenes that are not connected with the story. Even if it is a new scene and can create goosebumps in the theatre, avoid it. The unwanted scene will not only test the patience of the audience but also lag in storytelling.
Production value is of high priority. Whatever that scene requires filmmakers should not compromise on the quality and outcome.
Keep the right people at the right place - Your technicians are your supportive shoulders. If you compromise on the quality, you lose quantity (audience response). Not all directors can play a single-man army role. From the inception of the story (Pre-production stage), till it hits the theatre, you need passionate people.
Keep the title short and sweet - Which is easily relatable to the story's main theme and can easily pronounce.
The release date is important - Not just any Friday. Based on the theme of the movie and less competition, you need to fix the release date. Buying power of the audience is important. You need to know when people will have excess money in their pockets.
If the above requirements are holistically met, filmmakers need not worry about the star value. KGF, Kantara, Bahubhali, RRR are not from Tamil soil and these starts are new to the audience. Not only the Tamil audience, but the Pan-Indian audience also gave huge success to the project. This is because, the conflicts were relatable, new views, good performance, better execution, sensible title, etc.