Though this year was the year of Direct to OTT releases, there were shockers, as many of the biggies turned out to be a dud in terms of content. This started off with Mahesh Bhatt directorial Sadak 2 which was panned by both critics as well as audience alike. Movie like Miss India starring Keerthy Suresh was also a disappointment for Netflix.
The most important film for the OTT platforms as a group was Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Laxmmi‘ which was being touted as a bankable movie seeing the popularity of Akshay Kumar. But it turned out to be a horrible venture for everyone who spared their 2 hours. This made everyone question that a massy movie which was meant to be a theatrical release should’ve released on OTT platform in the first place?
The same cloud of doubt was surrounding the Varun Dhawan starrer Coolie No. 1 and it too faced the same fate as of Laxmii. Now again after the failure of a mass movie such as Coolie No.1 raises the doubts about how should a movie be selected for OTT release. Or should even a movie like Coolie No.1 be considered for OTT release?
This comes due to the fact that niche movies with good content have done tremendously well in the streaming platforms, be it a direct release or a digital premiere. And all the big budget star studded movies have underperformed to put it at best. There was a news floating around the future of the movies, where the OTT platforms were desiring to see the movie beforehand before taking any step further towards the direct release. And after the debacle of Coolie No.1, this seems the apt measure to ensure.
In 2020 we have learned that not all movies are meant for OTT release as some bank on the stardom of the actor which was the case for theatrical release. You must have noticed the fact that no matter now bad or terrible the movie is, it always got a decent audience mainly because of the star factor. But that’s not the case for OTT as people here look for content instead of same no brainer flick. Hence it makes no sense to just dump the movie into the OTT platforms where it will be doomed nonetheless.
Hence, it seems likely that a screening process should be done for the upcoming movies which has an A List star factor by the OTT platforms so that their performance of 2020 could be avoided. The screening beforehand will benefit the makers as well as these streaming platforms as –
1. It will give the idea so as to how people would react to the movie.
2. It will be easier to decide that whether the movie will do good business through a theatrical release or OTT platform.
Hence, seeing the response small and content oriented movies have received this year, OTT platforms will be banking on these content in the future and might go through a strict process before signing any A-Lister movie.