Business Desk, ETV Bharat: Even as cinema halls have started reopening across the country after a closure of nearly seven months, there is little reason to rejoice for theatre owners as they expect further financial troubles.
While on one hand, theatres are unable to garner any significant revenue due to extremely poor footfall, their operating expenses are hitting the roof because of following the standard operating procedures (SOPs) as laid down by the central government.
For instance, Old Delhi’s popular Delite Cinemas, which has a seating capacity for 980 people but can currently accommodate just 490 due to the 50% occupancy rule, told ETV Bharat that just 23 tickets were sold for the first screening after lockdown.
That might be partially because the theatre was not exhibiting any fresh content, rather a 2019 film Housefull 4 starring Akshay Kumar.
In Gwalior, many cinema halls were still shut even as the Madhya Pradesh government allowed reopening them in the Unlock 5 phase. According to theatre owners in the city, exhibiting old movies at the time of the pandemic may not be worth the risk.
Other cinema hall chains such as PVR and Inox are also showing movies that have already been released on OTT platforms during the lockdown months (like recently released Khaali Peeli) or last year’s hits (Tanhaji, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, Malang, War, Thappad etc).
Read more: Maruti launches special edition of Swift in festive season
Producers are refraining from releasing new films on theatres as cinema halls are still shut in key markets like Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Exhibitors are waiting for crowd-puller films like Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi and Ranveer Singh’s ‘83 among others to see some traction in ticket sales.
Meanwhile, operating expenses for cinema halls have risen exponentially now compared to when they were shut as exhibitors implement SOPs, which includes frequent sanitisation, contactless sale of tickets, maintaining social distancing and even ensuring protection of staff members. A PTI report also said last week that multiplex operators are expecting up to 25% rise in their operating costs.
Theatre chains are incurring huge expenses on purchasing equipment like sanitisation machines, face shields and masks for staff etc. To top it up, they are also offering schemes like cashbacks, discounted tickets and meal vouchers as incentives to draw crowds.
The rising expenses and negligible revenue will now add to the mounting losses that theatre chains have seen in the last two quarters. No wonder, after the initial hullabaloo, PVR shares are now down nearly 11% in the month of October so far, while Inox Leisure Ltd shares have slipped 7%.
