Yahoo Finance Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Releases Its Movie Slate for India
Warner Bros. Discovery WBD s recently announced its massive theatrical movie slate for India that will be released throughout 2023. It contains a diversified range of films from the DC Universe, Fast & Furious Franchise, the Conjuring Universe, and more.
This begins with Creed III, starring Michael B Jordan on Mar 3, Shazam! Fury of the Gods on Mar 17, Evil Dead’s fifth instalment, titled Evil Dead Rise on Apr 21, the long-delayed The Flash on Jun 16, followed by Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of the much-loved toy line Barbie, that will hit theatres on Jul 21.
Towards the year end, Warner Bros. Discovery has scheduled the launch of Blue Beetle on Aug 18, The Conjuring spinoff The Nun 2 on Sep 8 while Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which is a sequel to Aquaman, releases on Dec 21.
This high-budget and long-awaited exciting slate of Hollywood movies could gain traction from the audience in India, boosting Warner Bros. Discovery’s box office collection from the country.
The company has also focused on animation genres to gain traction from children like the Trolls Band Together featuring on Nov 17, along with Migration on Dec 29.
Warner Bros. Discovery to Face Headwinds in India
The most cherished film of Warner Bros. Discovery in the Indian markets in 2022 was The Batman. The fans were thrilled by the cinematography of the film and made it cross $36 million.
India is witnessing a rise of footfalls in theatres as the COVID pandemic cools down, giving movies an opportunity to make it big at the box office. This trend is expected to continue in the near future as well, as revenues in the Indian cinema tickets segment are projected to reach $416.40 million in 2023, indicating an annual growth rate of 2.63%, per Statista.
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Price and Consensus
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Quote
However, recently, Indians are shifting their preference more towards local content movies. Sales from the Indian local content at the box office rose to 30% in 2022 from 2% in 2019. The top performing movies of 2022 were KGF and RRR that are of South Indian origin.
This trend could be seen continuing in India as Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathan releases today and the people also await the release of Prabhas’ mythological film Adipurush. Hence, the lack of local content in Warner Bros. Discovery’s pipeline could serve as a headwind for the company.
Another headwind that Warner Bros. Discovery faces is the growing demand of OTT platforms. Per Mint, the OTT market in India is huge and is estimated to grow from $2.6 billion in 2022 to around $11 billion by 2030.
One of the largest players in it is Netflix NFLX that tracts the Indian audience with its intriguing local content. Its upcoming Indian slate includes
Guns and Gulaab, IRL: In Real Love, Rana Naidu, Scoop and others, which could possibly gain good viewership and distract the audience from the theatrical releases.
Zack Rank & Stocks to Consider
Warner Bros. Discovery WBD currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Some better-ranked stocks in the same sector are Manchester United MANU and Liberty Global LBTYA, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Shares of Manchester United have gained 70.9% in the past year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at a loss of 1 cent, which has been constant over the past 30 days.
Shares of Liberty Global have declined 18.3% in the past year. Its earnings are estimated at 49 cents per share.
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