Amazon Prime Video announces new film ‘Red White & Royal Blue’

Amazon Prime Video has announced the release of a new film Red, White & Royal Blue on 11 August. The American romantic comedy film directed by Matthew Lopez, is based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Casey McQuiston. The film stars Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine as the son of the President of the United States and a British prince, respectively, who fall in love. Uma Thurman, Stephen Fry, Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, and Ellie Bamber co-star.

Viewership of international content on over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platforms in India has nearly doubled in 2022 as audiences took to original and dubbed versions of English, Turkish, Spanish and Korean shows and films.

Viewers have become increasingly language-agnostic owing to the dubbing and subtitling of international shows popular for high-quality storytelling and production, said streaming services firms. Many services also used social media influencers and Bollywood stars to market these shows in India over the past year.

With JioCinema forging content deals with Warner, HBO and NBCUniversal, media and entertainment industry experts say the competition has turned intense for premium, English language content offerings in India.

These platforms specifically target and cater to discerning viewers who are willing to pay a premium for quality content. While Disney’s original and Marvel game content remains strong, Netflix is known for launching international originals. Even niche services such as MUBI are stepping up their game in India.

To be sure, while Disney, Netflix, Amazon Prime and Sony have the advantage of a global parent, others such as Jio have to bear an acquisition cost.

Audiences on the top end of the pyramid are well exposed to international content and look at new releases from across the world. These are people who are happy to pay for great international programming and any OTT would love to have them on board, say media experts.