Cinemas reopened, but business yet to pick up

Cinema halls have reopened after the pandemic, but exhibitors say they are struggling to bounce back in business.

Lack of new content, missing magic of big Bollywood entertainers and fear of the virus have all led people to avoid the cinematic experience, forcing theatre owners run shows with empty seats.

Last month, cinemas in several states including Delhi-NCR opened doors to patrons after seven months. The government of Maharashtra also announced reopening of theatres across the state on November 5, with 50 per cent occupancy.

These are positive signs for the film trade but they pose new challenges, mainly pertaining to luring people back into the theatres.

"The initial response has been slow primarily because of safety concerns, norms with respect to occupancy limits and the lack of new content. Patrons however have responded well to new regional content released. Increased confidence amongst patrons on the safety measures undertaken by the exhibitors, new big releases, further relaxation on occupancy limits and re-opening of cinema halls pan India may drive increase in footfalls," Chandrashekar Mantha, Partner, Deloitte India, told IANS.

Ashish Saksena, COO (Cinemas), BookMyShow, added: "With the majority of the key cinema regions including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab now getting ready to entertain audiences on the big screen, we expect the revival cycle to accelerate, with new and largerscale film releases getting ready to hit cinema screens across India."

The reopening brought back previously released films like "Housefull 4", "Street Dancer", "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan", "Tanhaji", "Thappad", "John Wick 3", "Hellaro" (Gujrati), "Vedalam" (Tamil), "Dharala Prabhu" (Tamil)", "Din Ratrir Golpo (Bengali)" and "Carry On Jatta 2" (Punjabi). There were few new releases as well like "My Spy" and "Ebhabei Golpo Hok" (Bengali) as well.

That hasn't been enough to revive the thriving movie-going culture just yet.

"Nothing much has improved. The occupancy is around 10 per cent, which is expected with old films re-releasing. We need new films to release to get people back in the theatres," Raj Kumar Mehrotra, general manager at the Capital's Delite Cinema, told IANS.

According to trade analyst Girish Johar, the response to the reopening of theatres has been muted. IANS