There was a time when a film ran in a single theatre for weeks on end. We had silver jubilees and golden jubilees, and some of the stars even got titles like Silver Jubilee X or Golden Jubilee Y. But with the advent of multiplexes and the enormous rise in production and cost, competition became intense with each movie in a do-or-die race with the other.
It was also rumoured that box-office figures were fudged, and advertisements in the media were highly exaggerated. Full houses they said. Running to packed halls, they hailed. But the truth sometimes was quite something else. I remember walking into “house-full theatres” only to find many, many empty seats. I would call this unethical promotion.
Something similar seems to be happening in South Korea, where the police have started to probe the country’s three top exhibitors and distributors suspected of manipulating box-office data. A report in Screen said: “The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Division confirmed they had proceeded with search and seizure of materials today and (June 13) at leading multiplex chains CJ CGV, Megabox and Lotte Cinema and distributors Lotte Entertainment, Showbox and Kidari Studio…It is understood that the six companies are under suspicion of inflating figures to secure higher rankings at the box office”.
A police official speaking on behalf of the investigating division said: “It wasn’t off a complaint or accusation. We started a cognitive investigation into obstruction of business, developing intelligence of our own that cinemas and distribution companies were conspiring to manipulate audience numbers.
“Cinemas and distribution companies are required by the promotion of the motion pictures industries Act to report audience numbers daily to the Korean Film Council’s Korea Box-office Information System. Conspiring to send false audience numbers is an obstruction of [KOFIC’s] business.”
This crime, and it is viewed as crime, carries a punishment of five years in jail. And a huge fine of around $ 11,775.
It is about time that Indian film-goers are also given accurate figures about how a movie is faring. With films becoming hugely popular in India, it is about time these anomalies are corrected.
(DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article are of the author alone and not the organisation.)
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