Why NCR movie halls are screening Oscar nominees back-to-back

January-February in India is the season for many festivals ' Baisakhi, Pongal, Sankranti, Bihu... and the Oscars! Many cinema halls in Delhi are running limited, back-to-back shows of this year's Oscar nominees and calling them 'Oscar film festivals'.
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These sort of films, which otherwise would not do too well in India, are released for a short duration before the Oscars ceremony, the only time when the Hollywood-watching audience comes out in decent enough numbers to watch them.So as the countdown to the Oscars begins, Delhi cinemas are screening films like 'Shaun The Sheep,' 'Joy,' 'Spectre,' 'Amy,' 'Carol,' 'The Revenant,' 'Room 'and 'Inside Out,' not only to cash in on the awards night excitement, but also to give Delhiites an opportunity to see why these films were nominated.
Best response in Delhi and Mumbai
Besides Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and cities like Chandigarh are also on the Oscars rollout roadmap. In fact, PVR is screening Oscar movies in a few Tier-II cities as well. Kamal Gianchandani, CEO, PVR Pictures, tells us, 'For the Oscar festival, we are getting the best response from Mumbai and Delhi. But even in cities like Nagpur and Nasik, occupancy in these shows is quite high.' Devang Sampat, business head, Cinepolis, also told us that Tier-II cities are catching up fast with metros as far as Hollywood movies are concerned.
More Oscar film shows this year
Even though most theatre owners agree that Oscar movies are for a niche audience, they say the response to these films is better this year than last year, and so they had to increase the number of shows this time. Gianchandani says, 'The best part is that the response is getting better every year. Last year, we typically had one show ' in some places, two ' at a few locations per day, but this year, all locations are showing a minimum of two shows. Because of the demand, we had to increase the shows this year.'
A representative of DT Cinemas tells us, 'In February, Oscar-nominated films do really well and the occupancy is quite good. The main reason is that after the nominations are announced, people have heard of the movie and know what they are in for.' INOX has also started an Oscar festival for the first time. Rajender Singh, vice president, programming and distribution, INOX Leisure Ltd, says, 'Last year, we screened many Oscar-nominated films, and the response led us to organise a festival this year. The occupancy of these shows is quite high.'
Tinku Singh, group president and chief strategy officer, SRS Cinemas, explains why the occupancy for these shows is high, saying, 'These films are doing well because it's perfect timing. The usual trick for cashing in on Oscar hype is to release the film close to the Oscar ceremony. These films are for a niche audience, but the advance bookings are quite high.'
Films like 'The Martian' being released again
Movies like Spotlight and Room were released in January-February, just in time for the ceremony. For the film festival, however, cinemas are screening not only new films, but have also brought back movies like The Martian, which were released last year. Gianchandani says the reason behind this is that 'after the Oscar nominations were announced, The Martian is doing even better.' Besides PVR, INOX is also re-releasing movies. INOX's Singh says, 'Re-released films do quite well after the nominations ' a few people watch them again, and those who missed them when they were first released don't want to do so this time.'
Oscar films' revenue not massive, just a value addition
Even as the occupancy is higher, revenue is not substantially so. However, exhibitors tell us that even though they can't say that Oscars nominees make for packed halls, those who come for the screenings are movie buffs who understand cinema and thus enjoy the film thoroughly. PVR's Gianchandani adds, 'These films are shown at select screens, so it would be unfair to compare the revenue of Oscar-nominated films with regular releases. This festival is organised to give audiences an opportunity to come back to cinemas, to watch films they have already seen and films they can look out for. And whatever revenue these films generate is incremental.' Other cinema owners also agree that the revenue the Oscar screenings generate is just a value addition.
Revenant by far the best bet
Exhibitors tell us that films nominated in the Best Picture category tend to do better than the films in other categories. Rajender Singh, however, adds, 'The movie that we are expecting will outperform every other is 'The Revenant' because of Leonardo DiCaprio. He is the actor everyone would like to see win this year and we hope he does. Movies like Room and Joy also did well, but good movies like Spotlight were a little too niche and slow for the Delhi audience.'
WATCH: The Revenant | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX