Tollywood: The active Telugu film Producers Guild (ATFPG) has decided to halt film shooting from August 1st this year till the industry can resolve issues such as star remuneration and cinema ticket prices, etc.
We all know that Telugu films are making records in Indian film history one after the other. But there seems to be trouble arriving in Tollywood due to the disturbances in wavering ticket prices in recent times.
This move has become a serious business implication as Elara capital’s Kamal Taurani notes, Telugu cinema brings 12% to 15% of the national box office Kitty every year. The two Telugu States Andhra Pradesh and Telangana itself contribute up to 3% to 21% respectively to the revenues of the major multiplexes notably PVR and INOX.
Additionally, the regional dubbed films as established by the success of Pushpa, RRR, and KGF: chapter2 are expected to contribute about 15 to 20% of the Hindi film industry’s box office revenue. In the first quarter of 2022-2023, the heavy budget films have contributed up to 55% of the Hindi industry earnings according to Taurani.
The Producers Guild announcing the strike has said “With the changing revenue situations and increasing costs with the post-pandemic, it has become important for producers to discuss the issues we are facing as a community of filmmakers.”
The Producers Guild has further added that “It is our responsibility to better our ecosystem and ensure that we are releasing our films in a healthy environment. In this regard, all producer members of the Guild have voluntarily decided to halt the whole shooting from August 1, 2022, and to sit in discussions until we find a workable resolution.”
The producers have raised their concerns for mainly 3 reasons. They are:
- The remuneration of the stars is too high to ensure a decent return on investment.
- The reduced 4-week window between the theatrical and OTT releases of films is not practical. It would be conducive to trade if big budget films continue to have an eight-week window and the ones with small to medium but it could opt for 4 weeks.
- Cinema ticket prices: This is major concern film producers are having. The strike according to the guilt will continue as long as these issues remain unresolved.
