Breaking News: Warner Brothers Preempts Chinese DVD Pirates
According to the Los Angeles Times, Warner Brothers released 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' on DVD in China the same day it appeared in North American theaters:
...several industry executives said they believed it was the first time a major U.S. studio had taken a movie scheduled for a wide-scale theatrical run and released it simultaneously on DVD in another country.
"It's a necessary move," said movie industry analyst Tom Adams of Adams Media Research. "It's obviously not as good as having control of the Chinese market, but it's about the next best thing that you can do."
The move comes during a recent debate over DVD release windows here in the United States. Another recent experiment in the Chinese market, which is widely known as a bootleggers paradise, included Sony's svelte 45-day release window for 'Kung Fu Hustle', which resulted in an impressive 2 million copies sold.
[Via the Los Angeles Times]
Bollywood Star Urges Shift to Hollywood-Style Marketing
While speaking at a conference in New York, veteran Bollywood film star Amitabh Bachchan urged Bollywood production companies to refine and redouble their marketing efforts to make them more in-line with western standards:
"Bollywood is a movement known to Americans only through satire. That needs to change. The Americans have a very good marketing system in place... which can, and should be emulated. (Bollywood producers) should get together as one united force. We need to market it [Bollywood] much better, and a lot of discipline is required for that. Hopefully with everybody's concerted efforts. I'm sure the good word will go around and there will be great interest in our cinema."
The Indian film industry's output is the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced and in number of tickets sold. Given that production values have been steadily increasing as the audiences demand quality comparable to Hollywood, it seems only natural that Indian movie marketing budgets will follow. Perhaps we'll soon see the first big "crossover" hit?
Bollywood Star Urges Shift to Hollywood-Style Marketing
