Social Media's impact on the Box-Office - Planet Bollywood Features

Social Media's impact on the Box-Office
- Pankaj Kumar Sinha, Special Correspondent Let us know what you think about this article

The social media has become a powerful tool for change in our country. It can unite people on various social causes and also allow them to give their views on government policies. We have seen that through demonetization, jallikatu protests and now GST. The films and box office cannot run away from the impact of social media. It is the biggest word of mouth on review of films. It reaches fast and opinions are made. The social media can make or break a film at box office. Today people in towns and villages are having access to internet. Many of them follow Facebook and twitter. The film fraternity need to understand social media has become more powerful than films.

Today generation is more open to watching international cinema, regional cinema and short films on YouTube. They are looking for strong content driven films in entertaining manner. Aamir Khan Films come close to that and so his movies do excellent business at the box office. He is the most admired actor of today's time. The big stars have disadvantage with social media if the film is average or poor because they will be torn apart by filmgoers and sarcastic memes made on them in social media. The recent release Salman Khan 'Tubelight' is the big example of this. The film was decent but negative reviews in social media killed the film at box office.

The small films also have great advantage with social media. If the movie has great story and entertaining, the social media platforms are best way for marketing the films for film makers and actors. You can release your films on Netflix. The small films with interesting stories are getting good audience and also getting great support through social media. Irrfan Khan's 'Hindi Medium' is a classic example for this. The film has done great business and is a big hit. Actors like Irfan Khan, Manoj Bajpai and Nawazuddin Siddiqui are making big name with their films and social media has been great advantage to increase in their popularity.

The audience today is more educated and have more access to different kinds of entertainment. The movie is not the only choice of entertainment. Many of them are well travelled and understand the different cultures of other countries. With this the market has also opened for Indian movies at different countries. The film makers should make more socially engaging films in entertaining manner to capture the larger audience of the country.

The big actors can't remain dumb anymore with their choice of films because the audience has become intelligent. The film fraternity needs to be more aware of what is happening in society and change in government policies. Some of the actors look really dumb interacting with media during their film promotions. Salman Khan and Sushant Singh Rajput lacked energy and look disinterested to promote their films. The movie fans in social media takes pun shots on these actors.

The social media in future will change the mathematics of box office for films. The film industry may not take critics seriously but the audience is. The actors need to be down to earth and approachable to media. They need to show more energy and need to be more engaging and fun during their film promotions. It plays big role to get good opening for the film. If the film is a good, the social media will help to increase the business more with audience posting their reviews and opinions on films in Facebook and twitter.

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