PVR to make most out of Oscars

To re-release award-winning films such as Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, Her, Dallas Buyers Club

The US film awards season came to an end with the Academy Awards — popularly known as the Oscars — being announced from the Kodak studios in Los Angeles on Monday. To make the most of the Oscar rush this year, PVR Pictures will re-release major Oscar attractions such as Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club, Her and Frozen (animation) from this Friday, which would give a renewed push to the otherwise box office-unfriendly critically-acclaimed Hollywood movies.

“Oscar-winning films do create a lot of excitement in the market. So, we are bringing all these films back at PVR from this Friday as part of our Oscar festival,” said Gautam Dutta, chief operating officer.

While Gravity, directed by Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron, won seven Oscars, 12 Years a Slave has created history by being the first movie directed by a black director to win the best picture award at the 2014 Oscars. Gravity and The Wolf of Wall Street were released in India before the annual awards season started in the West. Her, directed by Spike Jonze, has been creating waves across the globe and picked up the statuette for best original screenplay on Monday.

PVR’s share in box office collections for Hollywood movies in India comes to 30-35 per cent. By distributing most of the Oscar-winning or nominated films, the footfall at the cinema chain is also expected to get a boost, with connoisseurs ready to catch their favourite films.

Earlier, most of these films used to be on hold on the India release. However, of late, the trend has started changing since various digital platforms provide access to such films. One prime reason for importers and distributors of Hollywood films to release their films before the Oscars is the rising threat of piracy.

Most films nominated for the Academy Awards usually release in foreign countries and, as a consequence, the pirated version of the films are easily available on various digital platforms.

In the past couple of years, awards such as Golden Globe have also gained a higher credibility.

These days, the Golden Globe is even seen as a precursor to the Oscars, with many winners at the former finding themselves with the Oscar statuette as well.