Box Office India celebrates its second anniversary

For each copy of its 3D lenticular anniversary issue, the film trade magazine has spent Rs 500 on its cover page and back of the panel alone.

Select Publishing Company, a division of Select Media Holdings, which owns the SoundBox and Box Office India magazines, is celebrating the second anniversary of its flagship magazine Box Office. To mark the occasion, the magazine has come out with a 200 plus-page issue. The cover page and back panel of the magazine is in 3D lenticular -- a first by any magazine in the country, as claimed by the company.

3D lenticular is a technology that gives an illusion of depth in the images, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles, the common example being lenticular measuring scales with cartoons printed on them.

Select Publishing has spent Rs 500 per copy for the cover alone, excluding the printing cost of the rest of the magazine.

Talking about the publication, Nitin Tej Ahuja, publisher, Box Office India, says, "Ever since we launched, we have tried to redefine what a film trade publication should be like, in terms of its size, layout, paper, and the design -- our magazine has been something the industry has never seen before, and continues to be so."

For the first anniversary issue in September 2010, the film trade fortnightly came up with a cover with a foil embossing, a first of its kind. "It was something that had never been done before with any trade publication. For the second anniversary issue, we wanted to raise the bar and therefore decided to go in for a cover in lenticular 3D and flip -- this too, has never been done for Indian readers by any publication earlier," adds Ahuja.

For its anniversary issue the magazine tied up with Red Chillies Entertainment and Eros, who were looking for innovative promotions in the film trade for its upcoming Shah Rukh Khan starrer film RA.One. "Since the film is in 3D, it was a perfect fit with our cover concept," says Ahuja.

The anniversary issue of the magazine was unveiled by Khan. The main cover of the magazine has a front panel ad of the film in 3D, while the rest of the cover page has a lenticular 3D image of curtains, which when opened, reveals the message '2nd anniversary special issue'. The back cover, too, has a full page ad of RA.One in 3D.

Box Office India has around 70 ads for this issue, mostly that of films and television channels. Ahuja, however, claims that post the anniversary issue, they have been approached by a few premium brands from the airline, hospitality, wine, automobile and fashion spaces, as well.

For the special issue, the print run of the subscription-based magazine has been increased by 20 per cent. The group is promoting the issue via social media.