Eros Now to Stream Hollywood Movies ‘First Day, First Show’ at Rs. 149
Eros Now has announced “First Day, First Show”, a pay-per-view branch of its streaming service that will offer Hollywood movies directly on its online platform in India. At least 10 films will be released as part of Eros Now’s “First Day, First Show” offering over the next 18 months, starting with the Gerard Butler-led disaster film Greenland in March. Every title available as part of Eros Now’s premium video on demand section will cost Rs. 149 apiece. You won’t need an Eros Now subscription to access “First Day, First Show” titles. The movies come from the Hollywood studio STX Entertainment, that recently merged with Eros International to form ErosSTX.
In doing so, Eros Now becomes the second major Indian streaming service to premiere movies directly online. Back in October, Zee was the first to experiment with this unproven model in India with Zee Plex. Studios have been a lot more aggressive in mature markets such as the US. Indie titles have been regularly released on pay-per-view platforms since the start of the pandemic last March. Disney offloaded the $200-million (about Rs. 1,456-crore) Mulan onto Disney+ Premier Access in September, and is set to do the same thing with the upcoming Raya and the Last Dragon.
AT&T-owned WarnerMedia has gone a step further, premiering all of its 2021 Warner Bros. titles on HBO Max as part of the subscription service. But while Disney and Warner Bros. will offer their titles in cinemas too, Eros Now told Gadgets 360 that all the “First Day, First Show” films will “currently” only be offered on its streaming platform in India.
Incidentally, “First Day, First Show” was the name of a similar initiative (albeit for Bollywood films) proposed by Reliance Jio back in late 2019. It was met with severe backlash as it would disrupt the theatrical model, that has currently taken a backseat thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Studios have more leeway to try out these strategies, as cinemas do not have the same bargaining power they once did. Of course, it’s another matter entirely that most of Eros Now’s “First Day, First Show” titles would likely never have gotten an Indian release to begin with.
Greenland — released back in December in the US through video on demand — will be followed by the adventure thriller Horizon Line, starring Alexander Dreymon, Allison Williams and Keith David. Horizon Line premiered earlier in January in the US, also via video on demand.
The comedy Queenpins is also part of the list. It stars Kristen Bell, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Vince Vaughn, Paul Walter Hauser, Dayo Okeniyi, Joel McHale, Nick Cassavetes, and Bebe Rexha. Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly are the directors. Queenpins began filming in October, so don’t expect it for a while.
