There seems to be some light for Hindi films in the Overseas market now. The markets in the Far East have been doing well but they hardly matter for our films. There have been cinemas open in North America for some months now with limited business but finally cinemas in New York are set to open on the 5th March.

These theatres have been shut for around one year and have finally got permission to open with 25% occupancy from 5th March onwards. The hope is that cinemas in Los Angeles will follow suit. New York and LA are the hubs for cinema business in USA and are very crucial not just for Hollywood cinema but even for Hindi cinema these as two places form a huge bulk of the business.

United Kingdom will also cinemas to open from 17th May and it could be with 100% occupancy allowed but if that is not the case, then 100% will be allowed from 21st June. The opening of cinemas in UK will not be in time for Eid which along with Xmas is the best period for Hindi films in United Kingdom but it will allow the Eid releases to get a theatrical release in UK.

The other two main markets (Gulf and Australia) for Hindi films have had cinemas open for some time. Australia seems to being doing very well going by the business of some Hollywood releases while the markets open in Gulf are generally lackluster though MASTER (Tamil) scored very well in UAE and Saudi Arabia. If SOORYAVANSHI keeps its early April release date and cinemas open in LA, then it could see a healthy release in North America and it will only be missing UK and some smaller circuits.