In India, The Incredible Hulk is hoping to replicate the success of its opening weekend in North America ($55.4 million, according to industry sources). The sequel to Ang Lee’s 2003 not-very-successful The Hulk is supposed to be closer to the spirit of the hit Marvel comic character: the film also has a change in lead actor. Edward Norton, who replaced Eric Bana, was involved at every stage of the movie, changing scads of things around, including the filming style.

It looks as if something has worked: Hulk 2 has knocked off the animated children’s flick Kung Fu Panda (also on its way to India shortly, after a glittering red carpet premiere in Cannes, and making whoopee at the box office in various markets), and is sitting pretty at the top of the US heap this week. And has paved the way for that magic phrase, so beloved of Hollywood studio bosses — ‘the successful franchise’. Expect more hulks, by and by.

It’s been a good year for Sony Pix in India this year. Prince Caspian, the second part of CS Lewis’s Narnia series, is a huge hit. “There isn’t a single centre where we haven’t played Narnia,” says a pleased Nitin Bikchandani, Regional Sales Manager, Sony, North India.

A total of 331 prints (105 English, 116 Hindi, 60 Tamil, 50 Telugu), and a collection of Rs 8.246 crore till now: Prince Caspian has had the biggest opening in 2008. Our conversation follows Bikchandani’s getting off the phone with a distributor from a tiny town near Meerut who wants a print of Caspian. The first Narnia movie had done well for him; now he wants this one.

That’s called ‘penetration’, another magic phrase which movie execs adore. Hollywood is still a tiny part of the Indian film market, in terms of absolute figures. But every time a Hollywood film (original, or dubbed) opens in a centre traditionally not associated with it, it is a victory for those who have been up against the sheer might of Bollywood and other language cinemas.

The market share may still veer between 4-6 per cent, but more and more smaller centres are getting a taste of films from other parts of the world. And given the hunger for new, the numbers are only going to grow.

The other Hollywood biggie, Warner Bros has reasons to smile, too. Its latest release, Sex and the City, is drawing full houses of delighted women in major metros.

In a wired world, where each little tremor of the movie markets internationally is felt simultaneously, a slick chick flick like SATC, based on the hit TV series, was always going to be a success. But it’s obvious that the studio, always the most cautious of the Hollywood clan, didn’t anticipate quite how much fun its fans will have with the movie in India: in upscale South Delhi, two PVR theatres, at a distance of about 2 km, were sharing a single print till last week.

Those who couldn’t get into SATC (Hollywood films always play in smaller capacity theatres, even if sometimes they get the bigger crowds) were heading into Sarkar Raj, Ram Gopal Varma’s second part of Sarkar, starring the Bachchan parivaar and a story which seems to have rescued the director from complete ignominy.

The lines between those who only saw Hindi movie, and those who only saw Hollywood, which has been blurring for some time, has been totally decimated. Everyone sees everything.

And New Hollywood in India is realising that, and looking at it as a way to increase its sphere of influence. “Earlier, we wouldn’t be bothered about what was going on in Bollywood, but now we look at the industry as a whole,” says Bikchandani. And that includes not only strategising on distribution, (keeping in mind the shows reserved for Hindi movies), but also to produce their own.

Sony’s Rs 40-crore 2007 Saawariya led the way, Fox is in talks with several potential Indian partners, but it is Warner Bros which is going to take the Hollywood-Made-In-India tag to the next level.

A line-up of productions is starting in autumn with two smaller films which will test the waters (something that Sony didn’t do before taking the plunge, to its disadvantage). Saas Bahu aur Sensex, directed by Sona Urvashi, and an untitled film with Vinay Pathak, directed by Ajoy Verma, will lead to the much anticipated, much publicised one — Rohan Sippy-Nikhil Advani’s Chandni Chowk to China, starring the red-hot duo of Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone, is the first Hindi film to be shot partly in China. It’s a semi-autobiographical take on Akshay’s life; he plays a chef who is mistaken for a martial arts expert, and early reports suggest that the leading lady has also turned in good performance, in one of her double roles.

And it’s no longer about Hollywood shopping Indian talent. It’s also about Indian studios cherry-picking talent from overseas. UTV’s co-production with 20th Century Fox, Manoj Night Shyalaman’s latest horror flick, The Happening, released last week, on a most appropriate date — Friday the 13th.

This is just the beginning. With Reliance Big declaring, at Cannes, its intentions of opening co-production channels with Hollywood heavyweights, it’s only going to get bigger from now. A billion dollars bigger.

Responses may be sent to shubhra.gupta@gmail.com

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