In one of a kind event, Disney+Hotstar has taken Ramoji Film City on rent for three years.
Due to the pandemic, maximum OTT platforms have witnessed a huge spike in content consumption during the lockdown. Homebound to contain the spread, people resorted to OTT platforms for entertainment.
In fact, the lockdown saw many big banner Bollywood and other regional films having a direct-to-OTT release. Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan starrer Gulabo Sitabo released recently on Amazon Prime Video and will soon be followed by Akshay Kumar’s Laxxmi Bomb on Disney+Hotstar, Vidya Balan’s Shakuntala Devi on Amazon Prime Video, Ghoomketu on ZEE5 and Janhvi Kapoor’s Gunjan Saxena on Netflix.
And probably considering this, the Disney owned streaming service has rented the world’s largest film city. The streaming service renting it can put an unofficial embargo on any other film unit shooting at the premise; thus ensuring seamless content production and having an advantageous venue.
Disney acquired Star India and Hotstar as a part of its Fox merger in 2019. The merger as well as the launch of Disney+ through it, has made Hotstar one of the most powerful OTT platforms in India. However, renting the Ramoji Film City is reportedly going to pose business threats to movie theatres given the uncertain scenario. However, OTT platforms wouldn’t be much of a saviour in case of big budget, action/drama/VFX heavy star studded films.
