Can Remastered Classics Find Digital Partners ?

Recently, Akkineni Nagarjuna’s cult film Shiva re-released in theatres and gained immense appreciation from audience for the team’s inspiring efforts to enhance the quality and giving an entirely novel experience with 4K visual appeal and Dolby Atmos audio. The remastering efforts didn’t go in vain as the re-release collected impressive revenues.

Interestingly, Shiva re-release also gave rise to a new idea of releasing many such classical movies by restoring the old negatives and reproducing stunning quality of 4K version prints. The lingering question among moviegoers is whether the remastered versions will be available on digital platforms or not ? 

When Akkineni Nagarjuna was asked about the same during his recent media interaction with Gulte, he replied that there are indeed plans to make the updated version of Shiva available on digital platform which has already has the rights. 

Talking about making similar attempts to restore other films, Nag said that technical team at Annapurna Studios have been making strenuous efforts from the past few years to enhance the quality of old films with respect to sound and visual appeal and finally able to crack the procedure with Shiva. He added that it is now more easy to restore films with advancements in technology after the advent of AI.

Now, the question is whether the remastered prints can do good business with today’s digital platforms like OTT ? 

People who watched old films on YouTube several times might not show interest in rewatching them on OTT sites. But in some cases like the classical movies whose prints are not available in current digital platforms like youtube or DVD, can find patronage if they are enhanced with latest technology. Such movies might get decent deals from OTT players if they are remastered like Shiva.