Big screen has high hopes after houseful run in Bengal

Mumbai: A week after 15 states and UTs allowed cinema screens to reopen with 50% occupancy, cinema owners are caught in a chicken-and-egg situation — moviegoers are waiting for new releases to throng theatres while filmmakers are delaying releases till footfall increases.“The cinema industry is caught in a precarious situation, where it is being impacted by lack of new content on one side, and producers’ unwillingness to release movies till relaxation of guidelines and reopening of cinemas in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Punjab on the other,” said Alok Tandon, CEO at Inox Leisure. The country’s second largest multiplex chain has started opening screens “gradually and steadily” on the basis of operational readiness, but is yet to reach usual operational benchmarks largely due to the “absence of fresh content”, he said. “The impact of lack of new movies is visibly evident with single digit occupancies in most states.” The sole exception is West Bengal, where the response has been overwhelming, with some theatres selling up to their permissible capacity of 50%, industry officials said. “While first week was slow, we saw release of seven Bengali films in the second week and the response has been unprecedented,” said Gautam Dutta, CEO of PVR, the country’s largest multiplex chain. “Many of our screens in Bengal and Assam have run houseful shows (50% capacity) and it was very reassuring to see half a kilometre queues outside the box-office, as social distancing norms were maintained.” Bengali films released during the Durga Puja festival include ‘Dracula Sir’, ‘Doodhpither Gachh’, ‘Rawkto Rawhoshyo’ and ‘Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti’.PV Sunil, managing director of Carnival Cinemas, said the multiplex chain is getting “very positive responses from the East due to Durga Puja”. “This gives us confidence that on Diwali we will get more people across the country to come and celebrate the festival at Carnival Cinemas,” he said. “Other states are also picking up.”The situation highlights the importance of new movies for bringing back crowds to cinemas even as some of the biggest movie markets, like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, are yet to reopen.Ashish Saksena, COO – cinemas at leading entertainment ticketing portal BookMyShow, said the new releases in Bengal saw “families making a comeback to watch films on the silver screen”. Most of the large players have opened 30-50% of total properties and are busy readying the remaining ones to reopen as soon as they get permission from the remaining states. PVR, for instance, has opened 495 screens, a little over 50% of its total screens. PVR staff cheers viewers and claps for them at the entry, thanking them at the end of the show. Cinema managers are personally introducing films and explaining standard operating procedures.Dutta said PVR’s average ticket price is much higher now because most viewers have upgraded to luxury formats like Gold Class and Director’s Cut. He said two critical things will help the multiplex industry attain normalcy. “First is that Maharashtra needs to open, which is when Bollywood will start releasing films,” Dutta said. “Second, we will need brand new films for release, which is when consumers will come back.”

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