When August commenced, exhibitors were gearing up for an eventful month. Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha and Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan were expected to do roaring business. Sadly, both films failed to entice viewers. The exhibition sector was still hopeful as Vijay Deverakonda’s Liger promised to be a fun, massy entertainer. However, the word of mouth was horrible. Though it held on the weekends, it crashed on Monday.
These three films were expected to dominate a chunk of the screens in multiplexes. Due to their underperformance, the theatres had no option but to reduce the number of shows. Meanwhile, other films like Anurag Kashyap’s thriller Dobaaraa, the Hollywood film Nope etc too failed to attract audiences. As a result, several theatres have decided to partially shut down screens. Many have reduced shows already.
A source from the exhibition sector said, “When most films are not performing, it becomes difficult to keep so many screens operational. Sadly, many theatres can’t shut down screens as they have got the ad revenues for the week. So this week, they have reduced the number of shows per screen. From Friday, September 2, some multiplexes will close down some screens for the week.”
Akshaye Rathi, a film exhibitor and distributor, explained, “There are two ways to stay in the green. One is to increase the income and the other is to reduce the expenses. While movies aren’t doing well and big-ticket movies aren’t coming up till the release of Brahmastra on September 9, a lot of exhibitors are finding different ways to go through such lean patches by minimizing expenses. That could be by shutting operations entirely. Though salaries have to be paid, at least the operational costs are reduced significantly. Meanwhile, some reduce the number of shows. Rather than running the show with zilch occupancy that doesn’t even allow you to break even on the cost of running that show, it’s better to run a reduced number of shows.”
Mumbai’s G7 multiplexes, popularly known as Gaiety-Galaxy, have already shut down one theatre, albeit temporarily. It consists of a nearly 1000-seater Gaiety and approx. 800-seater Galaxy. For nearly a week, Galaxy has been kept shut as besides Liger, there is no other film that could fill such a big auditorium.
When contacted, Manoj Desai, executive director, G7 multiplex and Maratha Mandir Cinema, thundered, “Kya karein? Koi picture hi nahi hai. Even next week, there’s no film. I’ll have to see what to do and whether I should keep both Gaiety and Galaxy shut till September 9.”
Kiritbhai T Vaghasia, who runs The Friday Cinema in Surat, told Bollywood Hungama, “Next week, there’s only one major release, a Gujarati film named Hey Kem Chho London. There’s no Hindi film releasing on September 2. We are thinking of discontinuing morning shows. Our shows will start at 11:00 am or 12 noon. There’s no point in having morning shows since the turnout would be zero. Or if only 1 or 2 tickets are booked, we have to refund the money. At times, the patrons get angry and demand that we start the show. To avoid such uncomfortable situations, it’s better to not schedule any show before 11:00 am.”
Kiritbhai also added, “Had Liger carried good reports, it would have had a clean run for two weeks. We, the exhibitors, would also have breathed easy.”
However, Devang Sampat, CEO, Cinepolis India, said, “Ups and downs are very common and it’s happening across the globe. Running a cinema hall means incurring a fixed cost. The manpower is fixed and so is your rental. The only thing you save is electricity. But the electricity cost is such that it’s not feasible to play a show if less than 10 tickets are sold. However, we always have more than ten patrons in each show. So, we don’t believe in cancelling shows. We believe in continuing exhibiting content.”
Puneet Gupta, AVP – Corporate Communications, Inox Leisure Limited, in agreement, stated, “We don’t (cancel or shut down screens). We have enough content.”
High hopes from Brahmastra
There’s no big Hindi film releasing on Friday, September 2. What will keep the theatres going is the sleeper hit Karthikeya 2, which will be the dominating film in its fourth week. The other holdover releases that should do well are the Marathi film Daagdi Chaawl 2, the Gujarati film Fakt Mahilao Maate and the Hollywood film, Top Gun: Maverick. The extended version of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the Hindi dubbed version of Dulquer Salmaan-Mrunal Thakur’s Telugu film, Sita Ramam, and the re-release of Hollywood classic ET (in IMAX only) will also get a release in cinemas and exhibitors are hoping it’ll find few takers. But will it be enough to bring in the desired profits remains to be seen.
Hence, all eyes are on Brahmastra, which will be released next week. Akshaye Rathi said, “Brahmastra hopefully will get people back in the cinemas in big numbers. There’s also Vikram Vedha on September 30.” Devang Sampat opined, “Starting with Brahmastra, the line-up looks quite strong.”
G7 has often played big films in both Gaiety and Galaxy. When asked if he’ll follow the same trend for Brahmastra, Manoj Desai retorted, “Nahi. Ek theatre mein chal jaaye, bahut badi baat hai!”
