Image: Leo, Seven Screen Studio
The Indian movie business is having a global moment, with Leo and Jawan breaking box office records, and both peaking as the most in-demand movie worldwide at various points over the past several weeks, according to Parrot Analytics Movie Demand data.
The success of both films points to the importance of this massive market in the global entertainment industry, and shows why leading streamers, especially Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, are investing in the region.
South India
Leo is an Indian Tamil-language action thriller that has become the fourth highest-grossing Indian movie of 2023, and the highest grossing Tamil movie this year, and is expected to debut on Netflix in the coming weeks. The South Indian film industry is booming of late. Leo’s success comes on the back of a Telugu-language thriller — Academy Award winner RRR — capturing global audiences in 2022.
This market is a major focus of Netflix’s investment strategy. While the Indian market provides significantly lower ARPU than UCAN and EMEA, it can still help the streamer to continue expanding its global subscriber base.
In 2022, Netflix greenlit six TV shows in southern Indian languages, pursued deals in Tollywood and the wider South Indian film and TV industry. In that vein, Netflix acquired the streaming rights for Leo well before its release, in February 2023.
Leo has been the second most in-demand movie worldwide since it debuted in theaters, and has hit number one in a wide array of markets such as Qatar, Singapore, Kuwait, Malaysia, and Oman.
Bollywood
Netflix is not only focused on South Indian content, the streamer also has Bollywood firmly on its radar. In 2022, VP of content at Netflix India Monika Shergill announced partnerships with large scale production houses such as Red Chillies Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment, RSVP Movies and more.
Netflix’s strategy to “broaden the service,” as Shergill said, and reach newer audiences appears to be coming together this year. This is underscored by the post-theatrical release of Jawan (from Red Chillies Entertainment) on the platform on November 2. Jawan became the most in-demand movie worldwide across all platforms shortly after its Netflix debut, demonstrating the scale of both Netflix and the Bollywood fandom.
Red Chillies Entertainment is the shingle of movie star Shah Rukh Khan (SRK), often called the ‘King of Bollywood.’ SRK is the most in-demand actor worldwide by a wide margin. Indian movie stars dominate the global talent demand charts, spurred on by passionate fanbases. Nine of the 10 most in-demand actors in the world in 2023 are from the Indian film industry, with five of these being South Indian actors.
Leo vs. Jawan Global Demand Rankings
- Leo debuted in theaters as one of the most in-demand movies worldwide, and is the highest-grossing Tamil-language movie of the year. Since its theatrical debut, Leo has been the second most in-demand movie worldwide and peaked as the number one movie worldwide for a day on October 27.
- Since October 19, Jawan has been the third most in-demand movie worldwide on average, and peaked at number one shortly after its Netflix debut. Jawan debuted at No. 4 on Netflix’s own charts in its first week and moved up to No. 2 in its second week.
- Leo looks poised to repeat Jawan's rise once it too becomes exclusively available on Netflix.
Top 10 Global Actors
- Indian actors typically dominate the Talent Demand charts, and 2023 is no exception.
- SRK is the most in-demand actor worldwide this year, with 84.5x the average global demand for an actor. SRK’s global demand is 45% higher than second place N.T. Rama Rao Jr.
- N.T Rama Rao’s 58x demand also further underscores the global popularity of South Indian actors. Dhanush, Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan and Allu Arjun all hail from the South Indian film industry.
Audience Demographics: Leo & Jawan
- The audience demographic data for both Leo and Jawan point to a male dominated fan base, which makes sense considering the action-thriller genre.
- Gen Z and Zennials make up most demand for Leo, with 58.2% of demand for the movie led by this 29-or-younger age group.
- The audience demand for Jawan is slightly older, with 47.8% over the age of 30, and significantly more female than the audience for Leo.
