The Business of Indian Films
Where a Film's Money Comes From
The main revenue streams for an Indian film - theatrical, digital, satellite, music and overseas - and how theatres share ticket money with producers.
A film earns money in several ways.
Revenue streams
- Theatrical: ticket sales in India.
- Overseas box office, strong in the Gulf, US, UK and Australia.
- Digital rights: sold to streaming platforms.
- Satellite rights: sold to TV channels.
- Music rights: sold to music labels.
- Brand tie-ins and in-film advertising.
Sharing ticket money
Of every ticket sold:
- GST is deducted first.
- The rest is split between the theatre and the distributor, who then pays the producer.
- In the first week, distributors often get around 50 percent of net collections in multiplexes, falling in later weeks.
So a film that earns “100 crore gross” returns much less to the producer.
Windowing
Films are released in windows: first in theatres, then on streaming (often after around eight weeks for Hindi films in multiplexes), then on TV.
Changing mix
Digital and satellite rights have become a large share of revenues, sometimes rivalling or exceeding the domestic box-office share for producers.
A film grosses 100 crore in India. After GST, net collections are about 85 crore. The distributor's share might be around 40 crore, from which the distributor takes its cut before paying the producer.
Taxes and theatre shares take a large part first.
- Films earn from theatres, overseas, digital, satellite and music.
- Ticket money is split after GST between theatres and distributors.
- Films follow release windows.
- Digital and satellite rights have grown in importance.
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