Fahadh Faasil-starrer ‘C U Soon’, ‘V’ starring Nani and Sudheer Babu and Air Deccan founder G. R. Gopinath-based ‘Soorarai Pottru’ have two things in common; first, all of them are South Indian-languages movies and second, they are going to be premiered directly on Prime Video instead of a theatrical release.
The ongoing pandemic situation has affected the film fraternity to a great extent, and hence, the filmmakers have to decide between releasing directly on an OTT platform or, to wait for the theatres to get open in the country. Some of them have opted for streaming straight on digital services and their first choice is Amazon’s Prime Video over Netflix or Disney+ Hotstar. Likewise, Prime Video isn’t hesitating in signing brobdingnagian deals in the South to get the upper hand.
Producers have told in interviews that Amazon chooses the movies based on the cast and crew and their popularity. Prime Video endorses the new releases on the platform using mediums like advertisements in newspapers, television commercials and digital promotions. Familiar faces make it worth publicizing through the ways mentioned before. Why South producers happily sell their films to Prime Video is because they get their total amount in a span of 30 days from the premier, like the usual and Amazon pays higher prices than the competition making the deal a no-brainer for the filmmakers.
South India’s contributions are around 44% of the total Indian box office collections, getting twice the number of movies certified than the Bollywood in the country, justifying Prime Video’s interest in the content and as such, the clear edge they’ve achieved.
‘C U Soon’, ‘V’ and ‘Soorarai Pottru’ will stream from September 1, September 5 and October 30, respectively.
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