It is not an alien strategy for streamers across the globe to invest in films getting released theatrically. Platforms like Netflix in the USA market produce films like The Gray Man, and to qualify them for Award Shows, they release them theatrically on a small scale.
This ensures a pre-release buzz and of course, adds a lot of revenue to the film. This was seen in the case of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery which was a huge success theatrically.
In India, Prime Video seems to have adopted this policy. They produced Akshay Kumar‘s Ram Setu and as you may know, was released theatrically. The film however was not a success but it still was a new step in India nonetheless.
When asked about the same to Prime Video’s Country Director Sushant Sreeram, he stated (excerpts from the statement)
“Prime Video was the first service to start acquiring films for direct digital release during the pandemic. Over the last three years, our content approach sits between movies that go to theaters and then come to the service, direct-to-service movies that we brought in during the pandemic and continue to look for opportunities for, and finally co-productions. We released Ram Setu in cinemas last year and have more movies lined up, two with Dharma Productions and one with Abundantia Entertainment. These will all have a theatrical run and then exclusively premiere on Prime Video. There are also our original movies where we collaborate closely with creators.”
This was stated in an Interview which Sushant Sreeram happened to give to media portal Mint.
This statement clarifies a lot of things that are going to happen. Prime Video will be extensively producing films that go to theaters. In the USA, Netflix plans to scrap this strategy but let’s see how it works for Prime Video India.