Jio Studios to concentrate on strengthening its market dominance and building franchises

According to a top official, Jio Studios is a lucrative business with a content investment of at least ₹2,000 crore. Reliance Industries' content unit aims to surpass its FY24 box-office collections of ₹700 crore in FY25. Stree 2, a collaboration between Jio Studios and Maddock Films, has now earned over ₹500 crore globally, including ₹426 crore in India. The horror comedy picture, produced for over ₹100 crore, earned a net box office collection of ₹361 crore.

At a time when the film industry is struggling to produce large hits, Jio Studios has delivered major hits in FY24, including Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, Article 370, Laapataa Ladies, and Shaitaan, as well as Marathi films Baipan Bhari Deva and Jhimma 2. "We have at least ₹2,000 crore invested in content," said RIL president, media business Jyoti Deshpande.

"Jio Studios is a profitable business; we are ploughing back our free cash flow." She also stated that the studio will now concentrate on tentpole films, strengthening its market leadership and developing franchises such as Stree, Singham, and Son of Sardaar.

It will also prioritize theatrical releases over direct-to-digital releases, since the streaming business has cooled owing to demands to cut costs and have a clear route to profitability. The content studio's upcoming schedule in FY25 includes Singham Again (Diwali), Baby John (Christmas), Sky Force (Republic Day), and Nakhrewaali (Valentine's Day), as well as Marathi releases like as Subodh Bhave's Sangeet Manapman and Nagraj Manjule's Khashabae. It will also include direct-to-digital movies such as Sector 36 on Netflix and Dhoom Dham, as well as a few smaller Hindi releases.

"In FY25, our portfolio mix will alter, with more theatrical and less digital. Previously, it was more digital and less theatrical," she explained. In FY24, it released 11 theatrical pictures, 35 direct-to-digital releases, and 8 original web series in various languages and genres.

Deshpande further stated that Jio Studios sells its material to all TV and streaming providers, not just Viacom18/JioCinema, which is a subsidiary of RIL. Jio Studios' programming was launched across multiple platforms in FY24, including theaters, OTT, and broadcast, such as Jio Cinema, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Colors, and Star Network. Jio Studios places a strong emphasis on regional content, having previously released Thangalaan in Tamil and Dawshom Awbotaar and Kabuliwala in Bengali