Kannada Movies: Big budget films to stay off screen for some more time

Kannada Movies: Though the Centre has given the green signal that theatres and multiplexes can open from October 15 but with only 50 percent capacity, the Sandalwood has planned to take necessary action to safeguard the audience as it is also said that no big movies will be released.

With several movie producers hesitant to release their films, it would not be viable for the exhibitors to open theatres. Also, many exhibitors demand to continue with the shutdown rather than to operate with 50 per cent audience. Also, exhibitors in Bengaluru feel that opening theatres is not an easy task in this situation and plan to open only by November 1, Kannada Rajyotsava Day. There is a lot of preparation and a lot of confusion to be resolved before the theatres reopen, says owners.

Sandalwood producer KP Srikanth on Thursday said that option of opening theatres from October 15th with 50 percent audience will not be convenient to films like Yuvaratne, Robert, Kotigobba-3, Salaga, and KGF-Chapter 2.

Speaking to The Hans India, Umesh Banakar, the vice-president of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC), said, "Covid-19 has upended the Sandalwood film industry, halting film production and closing cinemas. The entire film industry is waiting for the good days and normality should resume; production has restarted with films with minimum numbers and also adopted remote-work protocols where possible. Now they are permitted to open theatres with 50 percent audience. It all left to the producers and the exhibitors because it is a huge business and we cannot draw a line. As per my knowledge, not many teams will come to release their film, I guess we have received requests from the film which was released before lockdown to re-release now."

In recent days, it was reported that a few newcomers are ready to hit screens and have lined-up to get censor clearance like films titled 'Critical Keerthanegalu' and others.

No increase in ticket price

Umesh Banakar also made it clear that ticket prices will not be increased. "The owners of the theatres have seen huge losses for seven months due to this lockdown. So, increasing the ticket prices to cover our losses is not a good move. Because most of the people are also going through the same problem. So, it's clear that ticket prices will remain the same," he said.