Hollywood films like Fast and Furious 7, Jurassic World, among others have done better business than Indian films released around the same time. However, the production houses of big Hollywood releases are still cautious about avoiding box office clashes with big-budget Indian films. The most recent example of this is Ice Age: Collision Course. The film was scheduled to release on July 15, a week before the US release, to avoid a clash with Rajinikanth's Tamil film Kabali, which was to release in the first week of July .Now that Kabali's release has been postponed to the end of this month, Ice Age is also looking for a new release date. This is the second Hollywood movie that has postponed its India release in the last one month. Steven Spielberg's The BFG, which was scheduled to release on July 1 in India, will now release on July 15. Although no official reason has been given for the delay, sources say that it was done to avoid a clash with Salman Khan's Sultan, which released yesterday. Earlier this year, Shah Rukh Khan's Fan and The Jungle Book were both scheduled to release on April 15, but The Jungle Book release was then preponed to April 8. While the official statement for change in release date is usually 'technical issues', sources say that more often than not, it is done to avoid clashing with a big Bollywood film.

SHIFT IS TO AVOID CLASH
Even as production houses maintain that shift in release dates are due to reasons other than big Bollywood releases, exhibitors tell us that the change in release dates don't affect the film's revenue, rather, it increases it. Yogesh Raizada, corporate head, of a multiplex chain, says, “The release dates of Hollywood movies are moved around to avoid clashing with Bollywood films. They don't want to create competition for themselves.“

Devang Sampat, business head of a multiplex chain, adds, “The films are often postponed because of unavailability of screens. If two major movies are released in the same week, then it is a loss for cinemas too because the screens and the audience get divided.“

FILM RELEASE IS SHIFTED ON BASIS OF THE MOVIE'S APPEAL
Amrita Pandey, the VP of the Indian arm of an international studio tells us, “For us, a movie's release date is based on the familiarity and existing appeal of the movie among the Indian audience. For a movie like The Jungle Book, which was an Indian story at heart, we did not want the audience to wait and wanted to bring it to India before the American release. We believed the movie would resonate strongly with the audience here. Also, the weekend we released the film, it was a long one in a few key states. In some cases, we prefer to wait for a week or two after the global release if we think that the movie will benefit from the international publicity and reviews. “