Radhe ; Most Wanted on OTT and not in theatres

 Chennai.May15 : Radhe release lessons : If you show crap on OTT and expect audience to come to theatres also, this does not work out, as far as overseas audience is concerned. You can no more boast that Salman Khan movies do not depend on reviews- the public reviewed it on their FB and twitter page after watching it on OTT. Radhe has revealed how mediocre - trash movies broke box office records as they manipulated the exhibition sector to keep STARDOM intact.

Take the first reports of Radhe that come in from countries where theatre releases were held and especially in the Gulf Countries where there is Eid celebrations on.

First day reports on overseas collections.- Film managed to collect $600k in overseas on day one which way below par considering trade was expecting 3 million plus numbers. Film scored poor 40k$ in USA and 50k$ in Australia. Film released in 12 Screens of  Singapore and compared to earlier release of Zero- Bharat and Dabbang 3 the response for Radhe was only 30% of what these movies got. Radhe does not beat Zero in Singapore market.

The Gulf market on which Salman Khan film sells is no longer the market that is as wide as it was in normal times. Kuwait is a no-no and other areas where it opened the response is average. Trade says that if last two days- Saturday and Sunday show phenomenal turnout only can Radhe be termed a hit in overseas. USA and Australia have thumbed down the movie. Going by first day response in Gulf, a $3-4 million collection would best expected. Dabbang 3 collected $5 million and Bharat $6million on opening weekends in Gulf.

Trade says that Radhe overseas figures will decide how Hindi films will be traded in future. Secondly, trade will have to weigh in on the option of whether it can go with OTT alone since it  can kill theatre collections if the content is crap or otherwise as pay per view is still cheaper than a movie ticket. In that case the film budgets will have to be pruned accordingly. If the old method of theatre first and OTT later is followed, gullible crowds will come to theatres and go out cursing bad content  and the box office moolah is already in the box. OTT is a bonus.

If a hybrid release takes place then theatres will have to sell tickets at low prices as more than the OTT release is the availability of the film on DTH platforms. Many DTH agents made money by enabling those who did not know to get the film on their TV set. This in turn would bring back the video parlour.