July 21, 2025 • 20 mins
Naman Ramachandran gives a report on the biggest rom-com to hit Bollywood in years, "Saiyaara," and how its performance reflects India's changing movie market. Rebecca Rubin details "Superman's" week 2 performance at the box office. And Brian Steinberg discusses the fallout from CBS' decision to ax "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" after next season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
India is not just Bollywood. Bollywood is only the Hindi
language film industry, and as such, it is the third
largest film industry in India.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Monday, July twenty first,
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am
co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm
in La He's in New York and Variety has reporters
around the world covering the business of entertainment. If it's Monday,
(00:39):
we're talking box office with Rebecca Rubin. And today we'll
hear from Noamen Rama Chandron in London on Bollywood's first
big romantic comedy hit in years and how it's boosting
the box office in India. And we'll hear from senior
TV editor Brian Steinberg in New York on the fallout
from the bombshell news that CBS will end The Late
Show with Stephen Colbert next year. But before we get
(01:01):
to that, here are a few headlines just in this
morning that you need to know. Kevin Feige tells all
the Marvel chief is extremely candid about the company's recent struggles.
In a wide ranging interview with Varieties Adam B. Veri
and Angelie Jackson, Marvel has simply produced quote too much
end quote content in recent years. Figi admits he talks
(01:23):
about ironmn X, Men, Blade and other projects. We have
a long Q and A and two sidebar stories on
Variety dot Com. Right now, Tyler the Creator has just
dropped a new album, Don't Tap the Glass. It's the
Rapper's ninth album release. And rip to actress Eileen Fulton.
She starred in the CBS soap opera As the World
(01:44):
Turns for fifty years. She's died at the age of
ninety one. Now we turn to conversations with Variety journalists
about news and trends in show business. If it's Monday,
we're talking box office with Rebecca Rubin, our senior film
and media reporter. She breaks down how Superman fared in
week two and how the arrival of Smurfs and I
(02:06):
Know What You Did last summer impacted the summer box office.
Rebecca Rubin, thanks for joining me, Thanks for having me
so big second weekend for Superman. I gotta believe there
is joy in Burbank because seemed like the Man of
Steel showed his metal in weekend two. How did you
rate this film's second weekend?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
The second weekend of Superman was definitely something to his
people or quire much ticket sales would drop, and it's
been performing very middle of the road. Ticket sales in
its second weekend dropped fifty four percent from its opening,
which is fairly standard, and it's a good sign that
I didn't have this massive second weekend drop like The Flash,
(02:49):
which was a twenty twenty three DC movie that had
this catastrophic seventy two percent second weekend drop, but it
also didn't have an incredible hold Life Sinners, which is
another Warner Brothers movie that dropped less than five percent
in its second weekend, which is basically unheard of, and
twenty seven percent in its third weekend, which shows really
(03:12):
outsize interest. And so in the case of Superman, I
think this second weekend shows that there is genuine interest
in this movie. It's been well received, which is very
important in terms of earning back the goodwill of DC fans,
but it's really not this runaway, undeniable smash. So there's
(03:32):
still this wait and see element about how much excitement
there will be for the franchise without Superman as the
Markee character. And I'm referring to two of these upcoming
movies that they have for twenty twenty six, meaning Supergirl
and Clayface, and so that really is kind of more
(03:52):
important to them than just the box office. It's how
much excitement it's generating in the culture.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Re Becca. There few other big wide releases with very
well known properties Smurfs and I Know What You did
last summer. How did those two movies perform.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Neither were embarrassing flops anything on that scale, but they
didn't exactly set the box office on fire. And it's
kind of notable because they are both from recognizable properties,
and I think maybe there's a lesson in there about
brand awareness. Just because something is a sequel or a
reboot doesn't necessarily mean people are going to feel compelled
(04:30):
to go to the.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Theaters to see it. There was one other film that
was an interesting test, a western from a twenty four.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yes, the new ari Astor film called Eddington opened to
about four million dollars. And what's interesting about Eddington is
it earned a C plus grade on CinemaScore and for
basically any other film that would really be a death
sentence in terms of the rest of its theatrical run.
But with ari Astor's film, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Do you think A twenty four takes this opening weekend
number as a good sign. It's sort of middle of
the road.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
It's not a fantastic opening, but it is also not
a complete wash gotcha.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Of course, another big movie coming for next weekend the
new iteration of Fantastic four on the theme of superhero
movies and how the audience for them is changing. What
are you tracking for Fantastic four at this time?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
What'll be interesting is how much appetite there is for
superhero movies because already Disney has put out two Marvel
movies Captain America, Brave New World and Thunderbolts, and now
Warner Brothers has put out a DC movie in Superman.
And so this is the fourth comic book related movie
(05:48):
within the first half of the year, and right now,
the expectation is that it's going to do very well,
and it's opening weekend and is really going to represent
a reset for Marvel, which I think I think they
wanted to happen with Thunderbolts, and they got there in
terms of reviews, but not quite with turnout, and so
I think this will bridge the gap and bring moviegoers
(06:10):
back in a significant way, just.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Like on Superman. There will be a lot of eyes
on the Marvel Court tet next weekend. Thank you so much.
Appreciate you always being our box office steward. Thank you.
The news that CBS would give up on The Late
Show with Stephen Colbert after next season set off an
earthquake across the TV business. It's such a stark example
(06:33):
of the industry's problems in more ways than one. Brian
Steinberg is righty, senior TV editor and a chronicler of
Late Night for many years. He brings us up to
speed on the fallout from this decision. Brian Steinberg, thank
you for joining me. You have had a busy couple
of days of reporting this Stephen Colbert news was truly
(06:55):
a bombshell on Thursday evening your time, and you did
not stop working until after midnight that night. Now that
the Colbert News has landed and people have had a
little time to process, what are you hearing? What is
this telling us about the marketplace, about late night, about
network TV.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
People are still shocked by this. And yes, there's still
some debate over whether CBS canceled this because of his
upcoming merger of sky Dance and Stephen's tendency towards you know,
anti Trump humor August because you know, late night's not
doing so great. But the fact of the matter is
this show is going away. CBS is going to add
this business they've been getting out of it for the
(07:34):
last couple of months, canceling the twelve thirty show at
Taylor Thomlinson and now this program as well. It is
a sizeable shrinking of the late night TV we know
it and a signed that a very signature piece of Americana.
Late night TV is having a tough time staying relevant
in today's digital world.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Now CBS is not NBC with the legacy of the
Tonight Show in late night. CBS has not been in
this area for sixty years, but they've been in it
for thirty plus years, and it's shocking to see a
network just give up on a franchise. Do you know,
was there any discussion of downsizing the show and was
(08:13):
there any discussion of cutting the budget significantly and reimagining
the show? That would cost less but still have that
presence in late night.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I understanding from talking to you people close to Colbert,
people called CBS is CBS felt they didn't want to
take costs out of this program and put it on
the air. Wouldn't look like a late night show. They
just can't make the numbers work in today's where we're young,
people don't flock to an eleven thirty program all one time.
So Peter felt that they have Colbert, they'll pay cut
to get rid of his band to make if you
(08:45):
reduce a number of writers on this show would make
it look less like a broadcast ready late night program,
especially when you have Kimel and Follon still going pretty strong.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
So we still have one more season of Stephen Colbert.
It sure seems like that's gonna be hard for CBS
to keep that time as a network day part, which
sounds so quaint in this area, but you know, all
of that time really matters. Who controls that ad time
really matters. I got to believe that the affiliates are saying,
we'll take that back, thank you very much, and just
(09:16):
program news or other things. What prompted the timing, what
prompted this to happen on Thursday.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
This is a great question. And what I've been putting around,
you know, the operating theory by John Q Public's that Stevens,
you know, anti Trump humor finally got the people at
CBS to shake a hand and rip him off the air.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Coming right after they agreed to write him a sixteen
million dollar check. The timing of all this you cannot.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Separate right, And the opics are horrible. They're not not
great opice for CBS. They just got to the sixteen
minutes thing bloodied and bruised in the public domain. This happens.
But what I am told is actually a business affairs
situation in which every year around July August, the producers
and writers on these shows get new one year deals
(10:03):
to keep them in place the twelve months August to August.
These are going to have to go out very soon.
As since CBS had already just heard this is going
to happen, these deals were going to be like a
ten month or a nine month deal rather that twelve
month deal. Every agent in town is going to start
seeing these contracts. Had been saying, what so I mean
it was going to be getting out very quickly and
not through CBS's control.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Brady has been writing weekly, if not daily, that the
underpinnings of television are changing dramatically. This is the kind
of clear jolt that I think the general public will realize, WHOA.
It is a changing landscape, and I'm just grateful that
we have seasoned writers like you, Brian. You are extremely
(10:46):
dedicated to this beat.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I think it's a part of American life that is
in flux, and that's kinmon surprise for a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Our job is to cover that flux. Thanks Brian, thank you.
Next up, we hear from Nomen Rama Chandron, an international
reporter for Variety who covers the UK in South Asia.
He tells us about the Bollywood movie Sayara that has
become a massive hit. It brought in eleven million dollars
(11:13):
in its opening weekend in India alone. Nomen Rama Chandron,
coming to us from London, thank you so much for
joining me.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It's a big, big hit at the Indian box office
right now, called Sayara, a love story that has apparently
turned its young stars into superstars overnight. Tell us about
the backstory about this movie that has taken the Bollywood
box office by storm.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Sayara is from a studio called Yeshaj Films. It's a
fifty year old studio and they are known primarily for
two genres. One is the yearning eternal love story and
the other is the more recent one, which is the
Hollywood has the MCU. You have the Spy Universe from
(12:00):
Yes Sharge Films. So they are two completely distinct different genres.
Sayara is that rarity a Bollywood love story which is
done right because since twenty nine, since post COVID, I
would say there hasn't been a proper love story in
(12:21):
Bollywood and definitely not one that has worked at the
box office.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
That is surprising because when people in the US think
of Bollywood, we think of love stories and big dance numbers.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Since COVID, the focus has been to bring audiences back
into cinemas. That's been the number one focus. We need
to take a step back and look at the larger
picture of India, which is India is not just Bollywood.
Bollywood is only the Hindi language film industry and as
such it is the third largest film industry in India,
(12:55):
the largest being the Telugu language film industry. And the
second one being the Tamil language film industry. This is
a fairly recent phenomenon, maybe the last decade or so,
and the other industries India makes films in about twenty
plus languages. The other industries have been making films across genres.
(13:15):
Bollywood post COVID has been trying to focus on the
spectacle film or the event film. Because of that, unfortunately,
the love story has had taken a bit of a
back seat until Sayara.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
I want to make sure I understand you right. You're
saying that these large markets in two languages that are
not Hindi have emerged in the last decade and have
overtaken Bollywood films.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yes, especially since post COVID. What's happening is because of streaming.
India used to be fairly insular markets, with Bollywood being
the only unifying factor. As in, you could watch a
Hollywood film across the length and bread to the country,
(14:04):
but a Tamil language film or a Telugu film or
a bengalifilm would mostly be seen only their respective markets.
But what happened with COVID is that the streamers began
dubbing everything into everything, so you could watch a Tamil
Netflix show dubbed into Hindi. You could see a Hindi
(14:27):
Prime video show dubbed into Telugu. And because of those
three or three years of COVID, the Indian audience got
used to watching from across the country in a language
of their choice. And what happened because of that is
the South Indian markets, the Tamil and Telugu films they
(14:47):
got dubbed into Hindi and those films became what is
known in India as Pan India hits. So if you
look at the box office of the last two years,
the biggest hits in India have been in films in
Tamil or Telugu dubbed into Hindi and released across the
country until twenty twenty five, when Bollywood is now slowly
(15:09):
back in the ascendent.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
That is fascinating. Back to Sayara, what was it about
this film that caught fire?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
One is the audience thirst for a young love story
with a gen z love story, if you will. In Bollywood,
they haven't been too many. They have been in the
other languages, but not in Hindi and people were I
think they're a bit tired of the star system and
they wanted to see young fresh faces and so in
(15:43):
ahan Pandaei and anit Padda, you have this young fresh
on screen couple. You can see the on screen chemistry.
It's it's palpable. And secondly, it's the music. The Indian
audience anywhere in India, the want a good musical as in,
(16:03):
people love their music. It doesn't matter which generation you're from.
And Sayara has a super hit soundtrack and especially the
I think the title track before the film release has
had fifty five million views on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You've been writing that they that the distributor took an
unusual approach to promoting the movie in India.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yes, they adopted the less is more strategy. They they
let the content do the talking, you know, for want
of a better phrase, So they put out the songs,
they put out the the trailer which was, you know,
a very well cut trailer, and they kept the lead
(16:45):
where fairly quiet, as in it's only the director who
spoke to the media, including two Variety and Anitada and
ahn Pandi did not do any promotional appear insans. They
did not visit malls, they did not visit cinemas, there
(17:05):
were no influenza appearances, and they were not all over
social media, so there was a thirst for people to
know more.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
You've also have been reporting that its box office has
broken records, and it's particularly impressive because it's not as
wide a release as it could be in India.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
In India alone, it's made about three million dollars on
its opening day, and typically to get that kind of
money you need to release across at least eighteen thousand screens. Yeah,
they released in just across eight thousand screens, which means
the per screen average is pretty high.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
How long does a hit movie stay in theaters in India?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
If it's four weeks, it's a good run.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I'm guessing that Soraya, which you told me means wandering
star in English. I'm sure that's a nice boost to
the overall Indian box office. How is overall the Indian
box office this year?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
So it's been a fairly encouraging box office sign this year.
Because the numbers just came in a few hours ago.
The Indian box office is up fourteen percent year on year.
I'm talking about just the Indian box office in India increase.
If you include the Indian box office, the collection of
(18:23):
Indian films outside of India, then the numbers go up.
So right now, for the first six months of the year,
we are roughly at six hundred and sixty five million
US dollars, which is running fourteen percent above twenty twenty
four year on year, and from India alone, this number
(18:44):
is likely to go up to one point six billion
US dollars by the end of December, and if you
include overseas obviously that'll go up to roughly about two
to three billion US dollars.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Those are impressive numbers by any measure. Nomen then, we
so appreciate your reporting telling us all what's going on
in this most important market.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Thank you, Cynthia.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
As we close out today's episode, here's a few things
we're watching for The Venice Film Festival announces its full
line up on Tuesday. We'll have a report in tomorrow's
episode from reporter Nick Viverelli and Rome and International editor
Elsa Kislassi in Paris. Of course, Comic Con San Diego
begins this Thursday. We'll have a big contingent down there
(19:31):
to cover all the action, and we're hosting a photo
and video studio for invited guests before we go, Congrats
to Aaron Westerman. She's been promoted to president of Lionsgate
Motion Picture Group. She's been with the studio since twenty seventeen.
Thanks for listening. This episode was written and reported by
me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Rebecca Rubin, Brian Steinberg,
(19:53):
and Ramachandron. It was edited by Aaron Greenwald Stick snick
hick picks. Please leave us a review at the podcast
platform of your choice, and please tune in tomorrow for
another episode of Daily Variety.
India is not just Bollywood. Bollywood is only the Hindi
language film industry, and as such, it is the third
largest film industry in India.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Monday, July twenty first,
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am
co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm
in La He's in New York and Variety has reporters
around the world covering the business of entertainment. If it's Monday,
(00:39):
we're talking box office with Rebecca Rubin. And today we'll
hear from Noamen Rama Chandron in London on Bollywood's first
big romantic comedy hit in years and how it's boosting
the box office in India. And we'll hear from senior
TV editor Brian Steinberg in New York on the fallout
from the bombshell news that CBS will end The Late
Show with Stephen Colbert next year. But before we get
(01:01):
to that, here are a few headlines just in this
morning that you need to know. Kevin Feige tells all
the Marvel chief is extremely candid about the company's recent struggles.
In a wide ranging interview with Varieties Adam B. Veri
and Angelie Jackson, Marvel has simply produced quote too much
end quote content in recent years. Figi admits he talks
(01:23):
about ironmn X, Men, Blade and other projects. We have
a long Q and A and two sidebar stories on
Variety dot Com. Right now, Tyler the Creator has just
dropped a new album, Don't Tap the Glass. It's the
Rapper's ninth album release. And rip to actress Eileen Fulton.
She starred in the CBS soap opera As the World
(01:44):
Turns for fifty years. She's died at the age of
ninety one. Now we turn to conversations with Variety journalists
about news and trends in show business. If it's Monday,
we're talking box office with Rebecca Rubin, our senior film
and media reporter. She breaks down how Superman fared in
week two and how the arrival of Smurfs and I
(02:06):
Know What You Did last summer impacted the summer box office.
Rebecca Rubin, thanks for joining me, Thanks for having me
so big second weekend for Superman. I gotta believe there
is joy in Burbank because seemed like the Man of
Steel showed his metal in weekend two. How did you
rate this film's second weekend?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
The second weekend of Superman was definitely something to his
people or quire much ticket sales would drop, and it's
been performing very middle of the road. Ticket sales in
its second weekend dropped fifty four percent from its opening,
which is fairly standard, and it's a good sign that
I didn't have this massive second weekend drop like The Flash,
(02:49):
which was a twenty twenty three DC movie that had
this catastrophic seventy two percent second weekend drop, but it
also didn't have an incredible hold Life Sinners, which is
another Warner Brothers movie that dropped less than five percent
in its second weekend, which is basically unheard of, and
twenty seven percent in its third weekend, which shows really
(03:12):
outsize interest. And so in the case of Superman, I
think this second weekend shows that there is genuine interest
in this movie. It's been well received, which is very
important in terms of earning back the goodwill of DC fans,
but it's really not this runaway, undeniable smash. So there's
(03:32):
still this wait and see element about how much excitement
there will be for the franchise without Superman as the
Markee character. And I'm referring to two of these upcoming
movies that they have for twenty twenty six, meaning Supergirl
and Clayface, and so that really is kind of more
(03:52):
important to them than just the box office. It's how
much excitement it's generating in the culture.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Re Becca. There few other big wide releases with very
well known properties Smurfs and I Know What You did
last summer. How did those two movies perform.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Neither were embarrassing flops anything on that scale, but they
didn't exactly set the box office on fire. And it's
kind of notable because they are both from recognizable properties,
and I think maybe there's a lesson in there about
brand awareness. Just because something is a sequel or a
reboot doesn't necessarily mean people are going to feel compelled
(04:30):
to go to the.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Theaters to see it. There was one other film that
was an interesting test, a western from a twenty four.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yes, the new ari Astor film called Eddington opened to
about four million dollars. And what's interesting about Eddington is
it earned a C plus grade on CinemaScore and for
basically any other film that would really be a death
sentence in terms of the rest of its theatrical run.
But with ari Astor's film, that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Do you think A twenty four takes this opening weekend
number as a good sign. It's sort of middle of
the road.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
It's not a fantastic opening, but it is also not
a complete wash gotcha.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Of course, another big movie coming for next weekend the
new iteration of Fantastic four on the theme of superhero
movies and how the audience for them is changing. What
are you tracking for Fantastic four at this time?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
What'll be interesting is how much appetite there is for
superhero movies because already Disney has put out two Marvel
movies Captain America, Brave New World and Thunderbolts, and now
Warner Brothers has put out a DC movie in Superman.
And so this is the fourth comic book related movie
(05:48):
within the first half of the year, and right now,
the expectation is that it's going to do very well,
and it's opening weekend and is really going to represent
a reset for Marvel, which I think I think they
wanted to happen with Thunderbolts, and they got there in
terms of reviews, but not quite with turnout, and so
I think this will bridge the gap and bring moviegoers
(06:10):
back in a significant way, just.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Like on Superman. There will be a lot of eyes
on the Marvel Court tet next weekend. Thank you so much.
Appreciate you always being our box office steward. Thank you.
The news that CBS would give up on The Late
Show with Stephen Colbert after next season set off an
earthquake across the TV business. It's such a stark example
(06:33):
of the industry's problems in more ways than one. Brian
Steinberg is righty, senior TV editor and a chronicler of
Late Night for many years. He brings us up to
speed on the fallout from this decision. Brian Steinberg, thank
you for joining me. You have had a busy couple
of days of reporting this Stephen Colbert news was truly
(06:55):
a bombshell on Thursday evening your time, and you did
not stop working until after midnight that night. Now that
the Colbert News has landed and people have had a
little time to process, what are you hearing? What is
this telling us about the marketplace, about late night, about
network TV.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
People are still shocked by this. And yes, there's still
some debate over whether CBS canceled this because of his
upcoming merger of sky Dance and Stephen's tendency towards you know,
anti Trump humor August because you know, late night's not
doing so great. But the fact of the matter is
this show is going away. CBS is going to add
this business they've been getting out of it for the
(07:34):
last couple of months, canceling the twelve thirty show at
Taylor Thomlinson and now this program as well. It is
a sizeable shrinking of the late night TV we know
it and a signed that a very signature piece of Americana.
Late night TV is having a tough time staying relevant
in today's digital world.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Now CBS is not NBC with the legacy of the
Tonight Show in late night. CBS has not been in
this area for sixty years, but they've been in it
for thirty plus years, and it's shocking to see a
network just give up on a franchise. Do you know,
was there any discussion of downsizing the show and was
(08:13):
there any discussion of cutting the budget significantly and reimagining
the show? That would cost less but still have that
presence in late night.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
I understanding from talking to you people close to Colbert,
people called CBS is CBS felt they didn't want to
take costs out of this program and put it on
the air. Wouldn't look like a late night show. They
just can't make the numbers work in today's where we're young,
people don't flock to an eleven thirty program all one time.
So Peter felt that they have Colbert, they'll pay cut
to get rid of his band to make if you
(08:45):
reduce a number of writers on this show would make
it look less like a broadcast ready late night program,
especially when you have Kimel and Follon still going pretty strong.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
So we still have one more season of Stephen Colbert.
It sure seems like that's gonna be hard for CBS
to keep that time as a network day part, which
sounds so quaint in this area, but you know, all
of that time really matters. Who controls that ad time
really matters. I got to believe that the affiliates are saying,
we'll take that back, thank you very much, and just
(09:16):
program news or other things. What prompted the timing, what
prompted this to happen on Thursday.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
This is a great question. And what I've been putting around,
you know, the operating theory by John Q Public's that Stevens,
you know, anti Trump humor finally got the people at
CBS to shake a hand and rip him off the air.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Coming right after they agreed to write him a sixteen
million dollar check. The timing of all this you cannot.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Separate right, And the opics are horrible. They're not not
great opice for CBS. They just got to the sixteen
minutes thing bloodied and bruised in the public domain. This happens.
But what I am told is actually a business affairs
situation in which every year around July August, the producers
and writers on these shows get new one year deals
(10:03):
to keep them in place the twelve months August to August.
These are going to have to go out very soon.
As since CBS had already just heard this is going
to happen, these deals were going to be like a
ten month or a nine month deal rather that twelve
month deal. Every agent in town is going to start
seeing these contracts. Had been saying, what so I mean
it was going to be getting out very quickly and
not through CBS's control.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Brady has been writing weekly, if not daily, that the
underpinnings of television are changing dramatically. This is the kind
of clear jolt that I think the general public will realize, WHOA.
It is a changing landscape, and I'm just grateful that
we have seasoned writers like you, Brian. You are extremely
(10:46):
dedicated to this beat.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I think it's a part of American life that is
in flux, and that's kinmon surprise for a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Our job is to cover that flux. Thanks Brian, thank you.
Next up, we hear from Nomen Rama Chandron, an international
reporter for Variety who covers the UK in South Asia.
He tells us about the Bollywood movie Sayara that has
become a massive hit. It brought in eleven million dollars
(11:13):
in its opening weekend in India alone. Nomen Rama Chandron,
coming to us from London, thank you so much for
joining me.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Glad to be here.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
It's a big, big hit at the Indian box office
right now, called Sayara, a love story that has apparently
turned its young stars into superstars overnight. Tell us about
the backstory about this movie that has taken the Bollywood
box office by storm.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Sayara is from a studio called Yeshaj Films. It's a
fifty year old studio and they are known primarily for
two genres. One is the yearning eternal love story and
the other is the more recent one, which is the
Hollywood has the MCU. You have the Spy Universe from
(12:00):
Yes Sharge Films. So they are two completely distinct different genres.
Sayara is that rarity a Bollywood love story which is
done right because since twenty nine, since post COVID, I
would say there hasn't been a proper love story in
(12:21):
Bollywood and definitely not one that has worked at the
box office.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
That is surprising because when people in the US think
of Bollywood, we think of love stories and big dance numbers.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Since COVID, the focus has been to bring audiences back
into cinemas. That's been the number one focus. We need
to take a step back and look at the larger
picture of India, which is India is not just Bollywood.
Bollywood is only the Hindi language film industry and as
such it is the third largest film industry in India,
(12:55):
the largest being the Telugu language film industry. And the
second one being the Tamil language film industry. This is
a fairly recent phenomenon, maybe the last decade or so,
and the other industries India makes films in about twenty
plus languages. The other industries have been making films across genres.
(13:15):
Bollywood post COVID has been trying to focus on the
spectacle film or the event film. Because of that, unfortunately,
the love story has had taken a bit of a
back seat until Sayara.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
I want to make sure I understand you right. You're
saying that these large markets in two languages that are
not Hindi have emerged in the last decade and have
overtaken Bollywood films.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Yes, especially since post COVID. What's happening is because of streaming.
India used to be fairly insular markets, with Bollywood being
the only unifying factor. As in, you could watch a
Hollywood film across the length and bread to the country,
(14:04):
but a Tamil language film or a Telugu film or
a bengalifilm would mostly be seen only their respective markets.
But what happened with COVID is that the streamers began
dubbing everything into everything, so you could watch a Tamil
Netflix show dubbed into Hindi. You could see a Hindi
(14:27):
Prime video show dubbed into Telugu. And because of those
three or three years of COVID, the Indian audience got
used to watching from across the country in a language
of their choice. And what happened because of that is
the South Indian markets, the Tamil and Telugu films they
(14:47):
got dubbed into Hindi and those films became what is
known in India as Pan India hits. So if you
look at the box office of the last two years,
the biggest hits in India have been in films in
Tamil or Telugu dubbed into Hindi and released across the
country until twenty twenty five, when Bollywood is now slowly
(15:09):
back in the ascendent.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
That is fascinating. Back to Sayara, what was it about
this film that caught fire?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
One is the audience thirst for a young love story
with a gen z love story, if you will. In Bollywood,
they haven't been too many. They have been in the
other languages, but not in Hindi and people were I
think they're a bit tired of the star system and
they wanted to see young fresh faces and so in
(15:43):
ahan Pandaei and anit Padda, you have this young fresh
on screen couple. You can see the on screen chemistry.
It's it's palpable. And secondly, it's the music. The Indian
audience anywhere in India, the want a good musical as in,
(16:03):
people love their music. It doesn't matter which generation you're from.
And Sayara has a super hit soundtrack and especially the
I think the title track before the film release has
had fifty five million views on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You've been writing that they that the distributor took an
unusual approach to promoting the movie in India.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yes, they adopted the less is more strategy. They they
let the content do the talking, you know, for want
of a better phrase, So they put out the songs,
they put out the the trailer which was, you know,
a very well cut trailer, and they kept the lead
(16:45):
where fairly quiet, as in it's only the director who
spoke to the media, including two Variety and Anitada and
ahn Pandi did not do any promotional appear insans. They
did not visit malls, they did not visit cinemas, there
(17:05):
were no influenza appearances, and they were not all over
social media, so there was a thirst for people to
know more.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
You've also have been reporting that its box office has
broken records, and it's particularly impressive because it's not as
wide a release as it could be in India.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
In India alone, it's made about three million dollars on
its opening day, and typically to get that kind of
money you need to release across at least eighteen thousand screens. Yeah,
they released in just across eight thousand screens, which means
the per screen average is pretty high.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
How long does a hit movie stay in theaters in India?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
If it's four weeks, it's a good run.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I'm guessing that Soraya, which you told me means wandering
star in English. I'm sure that's a nice boost to
the overall Indian box office. How is overall the Indian
box office this year?
Speaker 1 (18:00):
So it's been a fairly encouraging box office sign this year.
Because the numbers just came in a few hours ago.
The Indian box office is up fourteen percent year on year.
I'm talking about just the Indian box office in India increase.
If you include the Indian box office, the collection of
(18:23):
Indian films outside of India, then the numbers go up.
So right now, for the first six months of the year,
we are roughly at six hundred and sixty five million
US dollars, which is running fourteen percent above twenty twenty
four year on year, and from India alone, this number
(18:44):
is likely to go up to one point six billion
US dollars by the end of December, and if you
include overseas obviously that'll go up to roughly about two
to three billion US dollars.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Those are impressive numbers by any measure. Nomen then, we
so appreciate your reporting telling us all what's going on
in this most important market.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Thank you, Cynthia.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
As we close out today's episode, here's a few things
we're watching for The Venice Film Festival announces its full
line up on Tuesday. We'll have a report in tomorrow's
episode from reporter Nick Viverelli and Rome and International editor
Elsa Kislassi in Paris. Of course, Comic Con San Diego
begins this Thursday. We'll have a big contingent down there
(19:31):
to cover all the action, and we're hosting a photo
and video studio for invited guests before we go, Congrats
to Aaron Westerman. She's been promoted to president of Lionsgate
Motion Picture Group. She's been with the studio since twenty seventeen.
Thanks for listening. This episode was written and reported by
me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Rebecca Rubin, Brian Steinberg,
(19:53):
and Ramachandron. It was edited by Aaron Greenwald Stick snick
hick picks. Please leave us a review at the podcast
platform of your choice, and please tune in tomorrow for
another episode of Daily Variety.
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