Movies Now Cover Their Budget Even Before Release Date
Movies don’t really wait for their release dates to cover their budget costs these days. Distribution and overseas rights, music rights and other such technicalities that come with the production of a movie have always been there in the picture.
But the question at the moment is how movies not only manage to cover their budgets but even manage a substantial proportion of profits much before their release dates at the box office, sometimes even before the first trailer launch itself?
About 10 years back, film producers use to sell the rights for their movies territory-wise. However, now distribution rights are sold, specially for big releases, are sold to big ventures who takes entire country into account and sometimes overseas too.
‘Tubelight’ starring Salman Khan and directed by Kabir Khan, is one such example. Even before its first trailer launch, the movie had already earned an approx. amount of Rs 227 crore through music as well as theatrical release rights. Made at a budget of Rs 100 crore, the movie has already earned Rs 227 crore, with a profit of over Rs 100 crore.
‘PK’(2014) was the highest grosser of its release year. Apart from its box office collections, the distribution rights for India and overseas were sold to UTV for an approx. amount of Rs 118 crore. Another Aamir Khan starrer ‘3 Idiots’(2009) was made for a budget of Rs 45 crore but even before the release of the movie, the distribution rights were sold to Anil Ambani’s Big Pictures for Rs 80 crore.
‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’, starring Salman Khan and Sonam Kapoor, directed by Sooraj Bharjatya, earned around Rs 135 crore through its distribution rights that were sold to Fox Studios. Music rights were sold at an approx. amount of Rs 18 crore as well as TV rights that were sold to Star TV for Rs 50 crore. This sums up the business of the movie even before its release at over Rs 200 crore.
Another example could be Salman Khan’s another blockbuster, ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’(2015). The movie’s total production cost was around Rs 55 crore but through its satellite rights itself, the movie had earned around Rs 50 crore and through music rights, it managed to rake in an approx. amount of Rs 10 crore, earning a total amount of Rs 60 crore even before its theatrical release.
‘Dilwale’ starring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon, one of the biggest releases of 2015 sold its distribution rights at an estimated amount of Rs 125 crore.
