Every sector of the film industry is excited that cinemas will reopen on 15th October. Each sector is putting its best foot forward to revive the industry which has suffered huge losses during the pandemic and resultant lockdown. On its part, UFO has introduced a new rate card for a temporary period of six weeks (till 30th November).
The press release issued by UFO says, “Being cognisant of the difficult times the industry is going through, the impact of reduced capacity due to social distancing and the fact that the footfalls would be uncertain, we are introducing temporary measures to support the film producers/distributors and exhibitors by introducing reductions or changes in our rate card.
“While old films which have already released in cinemas will be charged just the logistics cost, the Content Distribution Charges for new films will be charged as a percentage of the box-office collections or as a reduced flat fee, depending upon the individual producer/distributor. These special rates shall be applicable for all India except the Southern states (which shall be addressed separately) and shall be effective for a period of six weeks till 30th November 2020.
“For New Releases –
| NON-DCI PROPERTIES | DCI PROPERTIES | |
| OPTION – 1 VARIABLE VPF/ CDC RATE CARD | 15% OF NBOC OR RS. 25,000 WHICHEVER IS LOWER | 20% OF NBOC OR RS. 30,000 WHICHEVER IS LOWER |
| OPTION 2 – DISCOUNTED RATE CARD | 50% DISCOUNT ON REGULAR RATE CARD | 50% DISCOUNT ON REGULAR RATE CARD |
“With this, we hope that the films which are releasing after the opening of the cinemas, such as Zee Studios’ Khaali Peeli, Yash Raj Films’ Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, T-Series’ Indoo Ki Jawani and other films will be incentivised to release their films as widely as possible since the variable rate card will remove any element of risk to distributors on account of digital charges. Under the variable option, our charges will be linked to the box-office performance of the films and this will ensure that our charges shall be a fraction of the box-office collections from every cinema, enabling the distributor to exploit their films to the maximum.”
It may be mentioned here that producers and distributors have been demanding the abolition of VPF, more so after the cinemas are preparing to reopen on 15th October.
For the uninitiated, UFO is the first one to enable cinema digitisation with satellite technology in India. That also makes UFO the largest in-cinema advertising platform, with the power to impact almost 2.1 billion viewers annually through 3,743 screens comprising of 1,993 screens in the PRIME channel and 1,750 screens in the POPULAR channel across 1,220 cities.
In the early 2000s, UFO optimised the potential of Indian cinema with satellite-based technology that transformed annual jubilee into Friday box-office collections, slow-chain release into First Day First Show, one blockbuster after another. It has made cinema into an equal experience for the whole country, making it an instant success with the youth that is already teased with pre-release teasers and trailers.
UFO is the end-to-end service provider for all DCI and non-DCI related cinema solutions. As on June 30, 2020, UFO’s global network, along with subsidiaries and associates, spans 5,449 screens worldwide, including 5,239 screens across India and 210 screens across the USA and Mexico. UFO has created a pan-India, in-cinema advertising platform with generally long-term advertising rights to 3,743 screens as on June 30, 2020.