Source: Telegraph India
Date: May 19, 2010
Hrithik lifts Friday fare beyond 300 mark as box office banks on biggie to beat the blues You could get 10 Chicken Mcgrill burgers, six Mama Mia! Fro Yos, a pretty kurti from Pantaloons or... a ticket for Kites this weekend as the price tag soars like a, well, kite. For the first time since multiplexes set up box office here seven years ago, the city cine goer will have to cough up more than Rs 300 for a ticket for Friday’s Bollywood biggie, touted as the hottest release this season.
“Kites is one of the biggest films of the year and the interest generated has been huge. A Hrithik Roshan release after two years justifies this kind of a price,” says Rishi Negi, the chief operating officer of Fame Cinemas, which has priced its silver class tickets in South City at Rs 310. A Kites watch at the plex’s plush gold class audi will cost Rs 550, the highest that Calcutta has seen so far. “We have observed that the Calcutta audience has the potential and the willingness to pay. Ever since we opened two years ago, our gold class shows have been the fastest-selling and Kites should be no different,” adds Negi. So, dig deep into your pockets and fish out a fistful of notes if you are to feast your eyes on Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori romancing the sun-kissed beaches of Mexico this Friday. That’s the message from INOX Forum, the city’s oldest multiplex, too. “There has been a lull for a long time and everyone is looking forward to watching a big Bollywood film like Kites,” says Virendra Marya, the regional director of INOX, confirming that the ticket price will cross the Rs 300 mark for the first time this weekend.
“The audience in Calcutta is always on the lookout for good cinema and they don’t really pay too much attention to the price. The queries so far have been extremely good,” he adds. With a trip to the plexes for a big Bollywood film figuring high on the list of entertainment options, Calcutta is happy to shed its price-sensitive tag for a Shah Rukh, Aamir or Hrithik. “If the audience paid Rs 290 for a 3 Idiots ticket, we see no reason why they wouldn’t want to pay just Rs 20 more for a huge film like Kites,” says Mahendra Soni of Shree Venkatesh Films, the regional distributors of the Anurag Basu movie. “With the industry facing a box- office lull for months, the hike in rates was essential to enable the producer, distributor and exhibitor to make some money. We are pretty sure that the audience will get its full value for money with Kites,” adds Soni. No wonder even the Rajarhat-located Bioscope, which opened last month with the promise of a ticket for “no more than Rs. 75”, has been forced to up its rates for some Kites shows to Rs 100. “We have had to bow to the pressures of the market,” concedes Arijit Dutta. Tickets at Big Cinemas are going at Rs 200, the highest that the Sector V plex has recorded in its two years. Though advance bookings will only open on Wednesday, plexes maintain that the rush for corporate bookings and paid preview tickets has been “tremendous”.
But will the film be worth the pocket pinch? Says Mumbai-based trade analyst Taran Adarsh: “Bollywood’s first true international project and the Hrithik-Barbara chemistry in the promos make Kites one of the hottest films of the year. People will throng the theatres, no matter what the price, at least in the first weekend.” Tolly star June will be one of those. “Being a Hrithik fan, I wouldn’t mind paying upwards of Rs 300 for a ticket. It’s better than watching the film on a pirated DVD later.”
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Source: Mumbai Mirror
Date: May 19, 2010
Get ready for the mother of all releases in Bollywood. Kites, which is a hit even before its release, will have as many as 31 shows per day, with the earliest show starting at 6.30 am There is bound to be a lot of excitement when a star as big as Hrithik Roshan comes up with a release, that too after two years. His last release was Jodhaa Akbar in 2008. This Friday, the Hrithik Roshan starrer Kites will go down as the biggest release in the history of multiplexes in India. Multiplexes across the country will screen as many as 31 shows of Kites per day, which surpasses the record of 27 shows screened for the Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots. All this despite the fact that the film’s distributor Reliance is taking a much higher advance payment from the exhibitors than they did for 3 Idiots.
Buzz in the trade is that Reliance has taken this step because they have still not entirely received the outstanding amount of 3 Idiots from some exhibitors. A distributor says, “Hrithik and Aamir only do a few movies. So there is generally a lot of curiosity about their films. This time is no exception. Everyone is upbeat about Kites. Picture bahut garam ho gayi hai. The advance booking is good. It should do well.” The short length (124 mins) has only spurred the exhibitors into thinking big in terms of the likely profits. Devang Sampat, Senior VP, Cinemax India Ltd, says, “Yes, we are having as many as 31 shows of Kites at Versova.” Ashish Saxena, COO, Big Cinemas, says, “Apart from the crisp length of the film, Hrithik’s stardom came into play when we took the decision of stepping up the number of shows. As of now, the plan is to have at least 27 shows in R City, Mulund.” Fun Cinemas, however, said that their screenings of Kites would be on par with 3 Idiots. “We will give it maximum exposure. Wherever we have six screens, we will have 30 shows,” says Vishal Kapoor, COO, Fun Cinemas.
A source from Cinemax says, “The earliest show will be around 6.30 am and the last one will be around midnight.” Saxena of BIG Cinemas says, “We have hired a few part timers who will assist the existing theatre staff.” As for the exorbitant amount Reliance has asked from the multiplex chains, Sampat says, “That’s not a problem when it comes to a Reliance film. We usually expect great results from them. Mani Ratnam’s Raavan, too looks very promising.” “The advance paid is an indication of the business expected. The kind of release we have planned for Kites says it all,” seconds Saxena.
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SOurce: Boxoffice India
Date: May 19, 2010
Kites is looking set to take a thunderous opening at the box office on Friday. The collections could even challenge the opening weekend figure of 38 crore nett of Three Idiots which was set on Christmas weekend last year. A more realistic figure would be around the 35 crore nett mark as Kites is not a holiday release but it would not be a big surprise if it has record figures as the film has aroused huge curiosity amongst the public. There are many films that are claimed to have 70 crore, 80 crore, etc budgets but Kites is actually one of the most expensive films to be made in India. The promotion of the film has not been heavy but gives a good perception of what the film is about. The music also does not have a chartbuster track but started growing after a slow start. The promos make Kites look a very big canvas film and that is most important today as the public comes out in huge numbers over the first weekend for these type of films. Other plusses for the film are the return of Hrithik Roshan to the silver screen after a gap of nearly two and a half years and a 20-30% increase in ticket prices at many multiplexes across the country.
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Source: Screendaily
Date: 19 May, 2010
By: Liz Shackleton
Both the English and original Hindi version of the film have done brisk IM Global has sold Reliance Big Pictures’ Kites, starring Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori, to a string of territories including Optimum for the UK, Rapid Eye for Germany and Austria, Svensk for Scandinavia and StudioCanal for France. The film, directed by Anurag Basu, also went to Icon (Australia/NZ), Pathe (Benelux), Impulse (Switzerland), MediaPro (Eastern Europe), Cinemax (CIS), Swen (Latin America), Forum (Israel) and Nu Metro (South Africa). IM Global’s world cinema label Anthem, headed by David Jourdan, also sold the film to Asian territories including City Entertainers for Hong Kong, Philippines, and Thailand; Studio Solutions Group for Taiwan; PT Amero for Indonesia, and Antenna Entertainment for Malaysia and Singapore.
All the distributors acquired both versions of the film: Kites – The Remix, edited by Brett Ratner, and the original Hindi version. Deals had already been concluded before the market in traditional Bollywood territories such as Mauritius, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Middle East. The Hindi version launches on May 21, while the shorter Ratner version will have its world premiere on May 28. IM Global CEO Stuart Ford said: “The terrific sales on this film, including a number of big territories with minimal Bollywood track record, confirm our feelings that the films being produced in India today are ready to take their place on the worldwide stage.” IM Global is also pre-selling Mani Ratnam’s Raavan, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Ashiwarya Rai, which opens in India and overseas territories on June 18.
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Source: The National
Date: May 19, 2010
Bollywood’s first movie in English hopes to grab the attention of a Western audience with a romantic adventure about a fugitive who searches for his lady love while on the run in the US. Scheduled for release in India and 35 other countries, Kites: The Remix stars the popular Indian actor Hrithik Roshan and the Mexican actress Barbara Mori. It has been reworked by Brett Ratner, the Hollywood director of Rush Hour and X-Men fame, into a 93-minute package. The English version releases in the Middle East on May 27, a week after the Hindi version tomorrow. The Hindi version will be shown on 45 screens in the UAE.
The number of screens for the English version has not been finalised. Film analysts believe a crisply edited Bollywood movie in English will be more palatable for western audiences who may like Indian cinema but struggle through subtitled fare. The Hindi version lasts more than two hours. 3 Idiots, the highest-grossing Bollywood movie released in the US, took in a modest US$8.7 million (Dh32.1m) in 2009. “This film aims to target Americans and Europeans,” said Komal Nahta, a Mumbai-based publisher of Film Information, a trade guide. “It’s looking at a crossover audience to draw in non-Asians and non-Hindi speakers. They are trying to break new ground.”
Tall and well-muscled, Roshan enjoys superstar status in India and filmmakers are banking on his star power to tempt audiences into cinema halls. The star’s fans in Dubai are already vowing to drag friends to see the English version. “I love everything about him,” said Ann Taylor, 23, a French national who is studying management at the University of Wollongong in Dubai. “My friends make fun of me because I even see his movies without subtitles. Now it’s great; I will understand what he says.” Abi Burgess, 38, a British expatriate who lived in India until she was 15, also planned to watch the film. She hoped her friends would tag along to re-examine their notions of cinema from the subcontinent. “I will get my friends to see the English version,” she said. “They usually think Indian movies have no substance and I’m hoping to tell them, ‘Come see this, it will be different’.”