By Fareed Zakaria, CNN
Going to the movies is a great American pastime. And whether it's Kung Fu Panda or Harry Potter, there's always some extra cache in catching the films as soon as they're released. So if you're a Mission Impossible fan, you know that the latest installment of Tom Cruise's action series is opening soon. But if you want to be there for the first day, first show, don't go to Los Angeles to watch the world premiere in Hollywood. Try New Delhi or Mumbai. You see, Ghost Protocol releases across India five days before it hits U.S. cinemas.
And it's not an isolated case. Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of the comic book series Tintin opens in Asia and the Middle East more than a month before it hits American cinemas. Now, we are all used to a world in which events, ideas and products start in the West and move East. Is this the beginning of the Great Reversal? Well, maybe.
Partly this is happening so companies can avoid piracy in Asian countries. Earlier, when movies would arrive in Chinese or Indian cinemas two months late, many fans there would have resorted to pirated DVDs. But there's also a major economic trend here that big companies are picking up on. Overall, U.S. consumer spending declined by 2% in 2010. The sector that declined the most was entertainment, by 7%. It makes sense, when times are tough, you can't cut back that much on essentials like food and housing, so you spend less on things like movies and music.
Meanwhile, Indians, for example, are moving in exactly the opposite direction. Consumer spending is up in general, but on entertainment, it is up 14% in 2010. Emerging economies, including China and India, account for half of global output, but only a third of global consumption. This is changing, and it's not just the movie companies that have figured this out.
When Dell launched its new ultra thin laptop last week, it made China its first stop. The XPS 14z is being marketed as the world's thinnest laptop, but you wouldn't be able to buy it in the U.S. yet. You have to wait. You see, China is now the world's biggest PC market, so it gets prioritized.
Look at the auto industry. The 2013 Chevy Malibu is going to launch in Korea and China before it hits dealers here in the USA, and General Motors has done that for years with a series of new Buicks.
So there is a big shift at work here - a picture of the two-speed world. Consumers in developing markets are growing in importance in the eyes of the biggest global companies. Meanwhile, here in America, consumer demand is stagnant.
Could things change? Yes, but only if we get growth going again in the West and, particularly, in America. U.S. companies are currently holding more than $2 trillion in cash reserves. I saw a chart this week that illustrated in the starkest possible way why this needs to change. Take a look at the chart in the video above. It plots corporate spending along with employment numbers. The correlation is unmistakable and tight. As corporate investment goes up, employment goes up.
So the question everyone in Washington should be asking is how do we get corporations to invest more and sooner, looking at permanent changes in tax and regulatory policy. Let's agree on five measures and pass them right away. This doesn't need to be Mission Impossible for America, and we don't even need Tom Cruise to fix our problems.
For more of my thoughts throughout the week, I invite you to follow me on Facebook and Twitter and to visit the Global Public Square every day. Also, for more What in the World? pieces, click here.
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People in all cultures want to be entertained. In ancient times there were theatres and today cinemas. India has always been the biggest market for Bollywood productions and Indian films can't beat the West, when it comes to international appeal. The Chinese work hard during the day and enjoy themselves in the evening. It comes as no surprise that China and India are the most important markets to generate reveneues.
USA film makers are dependent upon Indian finance to make movies. The whole finance for this movie comes from Bollywood.
So Bollywood can barely fund its own movies for $30 million (usually much less) .. but it has the money to fund US movies for $150 million and higher?
It might seem odd, but its true, a lot of Indian producers have taken over Hollywood production houses while studios like Fox, Disney are going to Indian films, not just bollywood (Mumbai based), but major film hubs like Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata too. The reason why Indian movies don't get that much money is that the rich Indian folks choose to spend on hollywood movies, which has larger audience due to the language and can earn more money, while Indian movies work only in places where a particular language is spoken. Ofcourse things are changing, as Indian movies (not just Bollywood) on the whole are watched by Non-Indians too. So yea Indian producers do control Hollywood.
Show me what Bollywood money is financing Ghost Protocol. The movie is paid for by:
Paramount
Bad Robot
FilmWorks
Skydance Productions
Stillking Films
Johan ..Indian films o cost a lot less than western ones in nominal terms....but almost everything is a lot cheaper in India than in the west...So with US $ 30 milllion yoU CAN DO MORE IN India than you might be able to do with 100 mill in the US...
Actually it is this differential of exchange rate that made outsourcing so attractive...At $20,000 dollars a year an Indian family of 4 may live like kings , while here in the US @ 20k dollars a year a family of 4 wont even be able to eat..
Hey Presy, please give some examples of "Indian producers" that "have taken over Hollywood production houses." Names and postions, please.
Ashok Amritraj and Mukesh Ambani are two names I could think of right now, who had produced a lot of American movies. But other than that many rich Indians invest a lot of money in American production houses
Sorry Anil Ambani
For example Anil Ambani's company Reliance bought 50% of Spielberg's DreamWorks for $325MN in June 2009.
It amazes me...jobs get outsourced due to greed to cheap labor countries like India and China and now the Middle East is up and coming as one. THAT IS WHY AMERICANS ARE NOT GOING AS MUCH!!!!!! You are sending the jobs to other countries!!! The wealthy are destroying America! Nobody else!!
Premiering the movie makes sense though as (due to outsourcing) it was probably 90% made in India anyway, it is their film. The studios simply do not put the Indian Names in the credits as it would REALLY tick people off and Americans could possibly boycott the film. So by simply adding in a few VFX house American names that touched it and hide the vast majority who did not (Indians) we will never know.
Think of the most crooked thing possible and that is most likely how it was handled.
Think more about when US Congress is going to stop shoving costs down our companies throats so we can compete again, and level the playing field with international trade by enforcing apples to apples work enviroments. Beyond that, assume the trend will continue until the salary playing field is more level.
Which American companies are finding it hard to compete?
well greed is capitalism lets not forget. survival of the fittest! why cry now? let fittest win
Ahem ! Ahem ! In case you dont realize shah rukh khans movie is watched by more than 3.2 billion even more than Tom cruise. Yes we cant bring the same quality of american movies. but they are catching up
Well there you have it. By the way, have you heard about the new true-to-life movie called "Offshoring" ?? Of course not, it's a recently released dual themed tragical comedy still only being shown overseas. And yes, movie goers there are getting a real good chuckle, but the reaction is expected to be much different when it's released here. It should be a real tear jerker.
Off shoring is not new, in the US it started just before the revolution fo 1776 with the fur traders coming to the US instead of trapping in Europe. Why? (hopefully you have enough common sense to ask). Because they had depleated their own supply and demand outstripped supply so their costs went up. Going overseas was cheaper, and surprise surprise, the country providing the goods made out pretty well. Ask yourself what invisible hand supply/demand economics parameter changed that would cause this scenario to be any different. America has a lot of bright people with no common sense.
Hello Mr(?). Grey, if employment in America was currently at full capacity and there was an actual shortage of factory and general laborers required to meet a peak in the foreign demand an American made commodity, then your parallel would have some application. But even in such a parallel, it would be the owner(s) of the fur trading enterprise that would immediately reap the greatest profits. The OFFSHORING situation we're discussing here involves the massive relocation of manufacturing and even services to a lesser degree, to an entirely different country in order to take advantage of lower labor costs. Yes, to some degree this has been going on for decades and is not so bad as long as a countries population has time to adjust. But the recent acceleration has become so disproportionate that the country has become incapable of sustaining it's population and the government is basically powerless to do anything further about it.
The corporations can simply walk away because it's not their problem. But on the other hand, what can the government do about it..lay them off as Americans?
Fareed, as I may have mentioned before, you might want to hone up on some of your edges; "...get growth going again in the West..."??, Sure, peace of cake, we'll get right on it! And while everyone else is trying to figure this one out from their tent cities, perhaps a nice long interview with Paul Craig Roberts might shed some reality on the situation, or would that be asking too much?
"peace of cake"?... you nearly had me going there, son...
Thanks...Dad
ARE INDIANS UBER TERRORISTS OR WHAT????
In India, at least 1,370 girls are aborted every day. As a comparison, some 250 Indians die every day in road accidents. Terrorists killed about six people, on an average, every day in 2009. In the last two decades of economic progress, 10 million girls have died before being born.
More are strangled, slowly starved or simply tossed in the trash in India.
SHAME ON INDIA AND ITS BARBARIC AND MEDIEVAL CULTURE !!!
Indians have killed more human beings (girls particularly) than Al Qaeda and Talibans put together.
Some rough talk from our Pakistani = Talibani/Jihadi neighbour.
O really, you probably using the same oppurtunity to burst off your dirty indian thinking on Paki,,, Let's talk about the terrorists organization in india?HOw long you going to keep your eyes closed n the terrorists org which is sitting in your countries ? Do you want me give your the names of them? or you already know about it? If not, feel free to ask and i would love to post it here...The link which i will post here, will defintely come from the respectable newspaper of your own bloody country,.,,,, got it?
krm1007, it seems for sure that you're a Pakistani nasty guy, that's why you want to spread lies about Indian culture, the whole world knows by now that Pakistan is the most dangerous country, the biggest terrorist country in the world, who aids and protects Al-queda and the Taliban, ( proof ....Osama bin laden was protected by the Pakistani military and the government) but thanks to GOD, he was killed and sent to the devil in hell by the American navy Seals.
The whole world knows the truth about your country also.... Stay tune idiot punk..
You gotta stop your copy paste work. And yeah take your stinkin ass outta my country
what abot your stinking ass .....o sorry.. it is already going away anyway....
Another Paki loser..on the loose.
Another idiot... on the way of loosing ... Good luck.
It seems you can't digest the fact that India is one of the fastest growing economies. Every major company is looking at India for selling their products. It's a huge market.
If your economy is so fast growing.. THen why you keep sending thousand and thousands of INdian on H1-B visas here?
@krm1007 Instead of wasting yourself on web forums. You should go & read Kouran.
I think the krm1007 is talking about his own country...
Movies and girls getting killed? what are talking about? Please speak about the issues on proper forum..
and certainly agree with the girls getting aborted in India.. that should really change.. I am an Indian..
How the hell does all this relate to the article? Are you a hater or something?
I saw thi9s pakistani guy krm1007 pasting same comment on every Indian-specific forum. I think this guy is suffering from mental disorder.
October 8, 2011 I'm so happy you weren't hurt! That looks like rough daagme (and completely LOL'd at your license plate blackout with sad faces!! Too funny!). I was hit by a drunk driver TWICE! Once time my car flipped three times and was clearly totaled and the other time it wasn't as bad but my car was totaled then too... when a DD hits you (I have found) insurance companies are quick to get you off their back and cut you a check! Hopefully you will get your car looking brand stinkin' new in no time! Keeping my fingers crossed!AND I AM LOVING YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS! Have a very great and relaxing weekend!XOXOStephanie @ Blonde Highlights recently posted..
You must be such an idiot to trash India, cos your father and mother were part of that country not so long ago. In that aspect, you are no different than any Indian. Politicians in both our countries are corrupt and they would do all that they can to keep up the enimity between our countries. Think of Pakistan not being a different nation and still part of India, would we still be fighting against each other? Only fools and uneducated people would fight over one another on religion, caste, creed and so forth, let's try to be educated humans and not barbarians. If India, Pakistan were together, think of how much progress we could have made together and atleast let's take effort to eradicate all the evil things within our countries and live in peace.
This idiot(krm1007) pakisthani commenting all the times about INDIA. even topic is not about INDIA in some articles he is writing bad about INDIA all the times.
I would like to tell you just know what the World view about pakisthan. you terrorists.
krm1007 is a pakistani guys –so u know how much to believe him
How can they simply sit on all that wealth and not give a dime what happens to the unemployed, their families, their communities? Do they hate O'bama so much that they would do this to America to make him appear to have failed? Do they plan to continue to withhold until someone else is elected and then open the floodgates and make it seemingly appear that the next President fixed the problem and saved the Good Ship Lollypop? Who are these puppet masters?! I say they're terrorists, criminals and traitors!!! Post their names!
Think of it this way. Millions of people go to work in factories building stuff for themselves and the world. Plenty of taxes coming in for the government. Everyones happy, but much of the world is poor and willing to work for peanuts. So the government changes foreign trade policies and American corporations move their operations overseas where they get stuff built much cheaper resulting in big profits. Before you know it, unemployment is out of hand, the tax base is shrinking, deficits skyrocket, corruption and stupidity run rampant, then add it a few wars and global financial crises, and voilà! The end result is a small but extremely wealthy corporate aristocracy, a broke government incapable of supporting the masses of unemployed and homeless, with no possibility of any real solution.
" As corporate investment goes up, employment goes up."
The fact that two variables are directly related does not prove a causal relationship. They could both be depedant on a different factor entirely and be unrelated to each other.
Exactly, buy shares on Wall Street and they'll use the money to build factories in Malaysia where employment goes up.
No thank Brother. Mission is very very possible, here in America.
This rocks SO MUCH! I remember movies getting to India FIVE YEARS after they were released in the US. Hollywood releasing movies in India BEFORE releasing them in the US is SO COOL! Go, India!
Fareed Zakaria never fails to amaze he. he is one smart cookie that one.
this guy should helm the United Nations.. although that organization seems to be getting diluted and unsubstantial
:-h
like it or not , you can't compare to 2.8 BILLION people in both China and India. Not all of them will watch but if 1% of them will that 28 mil customers x ticket price.
only solution to the problems is either you put tax on outsourcing equal to the difference of the wage paid in usa and the wage outsourced to.
yeah? then we pay $5 for a loaf of bread, $3 for a bottle of coke...EVERYTHING we consume (goods or services) practically will cost more, inflation will shoot up overnight...pls understand my friend, we are now used to current cost and standarrd of living and sudden vertical inflation will have dire effect on our economy, off-shoring unfortunately is here to stay...
Why should we Americans do anything? It only benefits foreigners when we do.
Hey Fareed, you sound genuinely in-impressed today. What's wrong?
This film is sponsored by Bollywood.
Why do indians act as if Pakistanis are from another world. They are literally the same people and not too long ago the same country! Average pakistani is no different then the average indian and have the same goals for their kids and future. We condemn terrorist acts because we face it more within our homelands then any where else. I have many indian friends and we get along just fine...actually not one can tell from the other if one is paki/indian unless the name gives it away. Bollywood runs on urdu language with urdu lyrics that the typical indian does not speak. Pakis love indian movies and songs not to mention the industry has already seen some big names like atif aslam, adnan sami, nusrat fateh ali khan and so on...not to mention how many muslims are involved from all the khans that basically represent the entire industry. My point is being born on the other side doesnt make one different or better then the other. I care as much for an indian as i would for any other human being.
Long live india and long live pakistan.
Lets have a situation where 9 Indian citizen go to pakistan shoots kids, women in face and masacare innocents just as they did in Mumbai and then every Indian will say that you are lying when you are blaming India for this.Then my dear dear so called good pakistani I will really ask you , do you still love Indians??
That has already happened many times Ajeet. If Indians weren't afraid they would have burned every Muslim and every Pakistani already as they tried to do at the time of separation. You act like you're strong, but all you're good for is to lick clean a British shoe. That's all.
If india had guts they would have already done it... remember you whole nation was united after 26/11... to attack on Pakistan.. but your Crook generals still didnt dare it.....
Please don't even compare yourself with Indians; we take it as an insult. I really feel sorry for your "Indian" friends as some day you are going to back-stab them.
Why do you have to bring religion in every discussion of yours. Indian film industry uses Urdu or our industry is ruled by Muslims...? What you keep on forgetting is that all of them are Indians first.. If it was all about religion why don't you have a booming film industry or for that matter what about any other so called Islamic countries. It is not about religion my friend it is about opportunities, it is about freedom of ideas, it is about richness of culture and ideology...which you can only dream of. we have the second largest Muslim population in the world, so please don't bring religion ever, you won't be successful!!!
this is why you cannot ever trust a muslim...their loyalty is only to islam and other muslims only...not to the country they were born/live or the people they grew up with...every pakistani hates india and wants every indian dead...still this guy claims he likes indian movies...yeah the movies staring muslim actors(sharukh khan,salman khan and aamir khan)...movies starring hindu actors does zero business in pakistan...same with muslims in india...whenever india plays cricket with pakistan and pakistan wins you can always see indian muslims celebrating...f@#k muslims
New mission: outsource spectators.
that was hilarious.. those are the only people left in USA.. outsource them too..
??
The only real "Mission Impossible" is our Congress!
"Permanent changes in taxes and regulatory policy" eh, Fareed? Now where have I heard that before? Corporate/Republican/Tea Party rhetoric perhaps? Oh, that's right, CNN is a multi-national, globe straddling CORPORATION, isn't it? Why am I not surprised that you propose tax cuts and deregulation (thinly veiled) as the solution?
Dont care.. don't go to the movies anyway. to many blacks talking ruin it for me...
OH PLEASE!!!!!!! THAT'S aLL BuBBLE. LoL
AlL BUBBLe
i don't think indian can produce american movies what ever money they have. it s the jews who did that it s a big budget, please indians stop bluffing what kind of movies you have just garbage little music and a boring story if you proud of india just help indian people dying of hunger in a dirty country 1,300,000,000 population and you still talking about movies shut up
If you think Indian's are not capable of producing hollywood movies, open up forbes list of top 10 billionaires and you will find Indian's who produce your movies. Also USA has about 10% unemployment rate, so why don't you better take care of the needy in there or better yet give away your job to a jobless person if you have one
"In America. U.S. companies are currently holding more than $2 trillion in cash reserves."
If I was CEO of a multi-billion $, multi-national company, I would hold my dollars until my desired representatives were in a place of power to help me down the road. Once elected, I'd spend to ensure they were in charge during the sudden "recovery". That would give my company the best chance of having representation in my best interest for as long as possible.
At the last as Fareed said, " We don't need Tom Cruise to fix our problems."
No, We need the Idiots in Washington to stop letting these big companies close shop here and open back up in China or India ! End of story. How else are we going to make OUR OWN economy grow.
Off shoring is not new, in the US it started just before the revolution fo 1776 with the fur traders coming to the US instead of trapping in Europe. Why you ask? Because they had depleated their own supply and demand outstripped supply so their costs went up. Going overseas was cheaper, and surprise surprise, the country providing the goods made out pretty well. Ask yourself what invisible hand supply/demand economics parameter changed that would cause this scenario to be any different. America has a lot of bright people with no common sense.
Pass them right away? In DC speak that means when hell freezes over or when it suits the "job creators". Face it, this is no longer a republic, it is a plutocracy run by 400 oligarchs.
It may be more to do with the fact that the villan on MI is Anil Kapoor, an Indian with a lot more popularity in India than Tom Cruise has in US.
So all the corporations laid of all thier western employess to go and get cheap over seas labour so they could increase their profits and now have realized they have wiped out their own market for thier goods and now have to sell in the cheap market encomies
What a great move! Finally the US wakes up to international trends.
You mean Tom Thumb is going to play the action here again?
What is wrong in openning Hollywood movies in India or China? It is just business as India/China is booming and people spending more money on entertainment....that's all (similar reasons are for cars as well). It is certainly no insult to America, it is only the intelligence of film distributors.....! I am sure Tom Cruise and his colleagues will be very happy if this move make the movie successful and earn a lot of money. All the best for "Ghost Protocol". Though, as Tom is getting a mature actor, it is a good time for him to choose more challenging role in terms of acting (e.g. Rainman) and look for a n OSCAR...!
The Multidimensional Poverty Index developed by Oxford University shows that India is far poorer than Africa not just in number but also in intensity.
The new poverty measure shows that 8 states out of the 29 states in India have more poor people than 26 poorest African countries combined. The Multidimensional poverty index views poverty from several different angles instead of just GDP figures. India is crippled by so many problems. For example, India's population growth rate is increasing by the day putting pressure on the limited resources and leaving many Indians in absolute poverty. India is very poor in terms of education, in terms of economic improvement, infrastructure, heath care, etc.
In other news, India mass-converted to Scientology under the threat of more Mission Impossible movies starring Tom Cruise.
India has one of the highest poverty levels... Talking about success for 5% of the population does no justice. Corruption, abortion you name it...why act so tough?
There are bad people in every country And some go to extreme levels.
That's okay. It just means I'll get to watch it the next day online instead of two days.
OBSERVATION: i think US movie attendance has dropped because the movies suck! Overseas looks like the audience movie corps are aiming for based on the brain dead entertainment being offered here in the states.
"While the war clouds gather from across the North and East,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us be grateful for a land so fair,
Let us thank our forefathers who sought independence from the tyranny in India,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer."
GOD BLESS PAKISTAN,
land that we love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a flash from above.
From Kashmir to Karachi and onto New Delhi,
And to the oceans, white with foam,
GOD BLESS PAKISTAN, Our home sweet home.
Home to the rich, poor, needy and tired,
Home to the Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and everyone else,
GOD BLESS PAKISTAN, The land of the Beautiful and the Brave.
AMEN AMEN AMEN
" As corporate investment goes up, employment goes up."
Yes, employment goes up...just in different countries
omkareshwar
please vist this place in india mp one of the most tourist godess place .
Omkareshwar temple to be found in Madhya Pradesh, ujjain india.
This Hindu temple is situated on the bank of river Narmada.
This holy holy place is one among the 12 enshrined Jyotirlinga shrines of the Lord Shiva
ujjaincity.com
Real reason is "Show Me the Money," a well-known phrase uttered by Tom Cruise in the 1996 film Jerry Maguire. Production houses make film to make money, so they will go where money is. As simple as that. In India we have a similar "hinglish' phrase from a old hindi movie " whole thing is that ke bhaya sabse bada rupaiya "
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