Disney Plan To Quit Indian Filmmaking

Disney have confirmed that they are planning on ceasing film-making in India, focusing on distributing their Hollywood movies.  Following many film failures such as “Mohenjo Daro”, “Fitoor” and “Katti Batti”, and following the success of “The Jungle Book”, Variety was told by an email from Disney:

“We periodically review and realign our business priorities in response to evolving market dynamics. Given the challenges with the current economic model for investing in the local film industry, we intend to shift the focus of our film strategy to driving our Hollywood movie slate in India.  These movies enjoyed considerable success including ‘The Jungle Book’ which is the highest grossing Hollywood movie of all time in India. We are remain optimistic about the incredible potential of the Indian market and will continue to invest in growing the Disney brand Iin India with our movies, television networks, consumer and interactive products and live experiences.”

With Hollywood films enjoying more success in Indian due to Globalization, plus more multiplexes and digital cinema locations.  Disney have been focused on dubbing their Hollywood movies into languages, resulting in less of a need to create content specially created for Indian audiences.

Our Take:

It makes sense for Disney to focus on their Hollywood blockbusters, with larger budgets and a global audience happy to consume Disney’s style of movie.  Plus with the international box office becoming more important, along with other Asian countries like China, it makes sense to promote bigger global franchises over smaller projects which have limited potential outside of India.

What do you think of this news?