Lights, camera, action: Miraj Cinemas revives India's first IMAX, aims to tap into 50-lakh audience

Imax Wadala reopened.

For Mumbaikars like Devendra Nagvekar, the year-long interval in the two-decade saga of India's first IMAX screen has come to a stop.

"I was waiting for the real IMAX and it’s back with full renovation and 70mm-format screen," he said, as the IMAX Wadala property gears up for a comeback.

India's third largest multiplex chain Miraj Cinemas, which has brought back to life Mumbai's oldest IMAX cinema, was looking to reach out to the suburbs and it found the right opportunity as Wadala property was up for grabs. "The property caters to a very large area with places in Mumbai like Colaba, Dadar and Chembur - all within 20 minutes of drive. We have more than 5 million (50 lakh) niche consumers to tap into," said Amit Sharma, managing director of Miraj Cinemas.

New lease of life

With a Rs 35-crore investment so far in revival and renovation, the multiplex firm aims to bring back the glory of IMAX Wadala, which once hosted British-American filmmaker Christopher Nolan as well as Hollywood actor Tom Cruise had hosted a special screening of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol in 2011.

Under its new partnership with IMAX, Miraj, with the revamped Wadala property that now flaunts Mumbai's largest IMAX screen of 70-by-40 feet, will also launch the first-ever IMAX in Rajasthan's Jaipur and bring its third IMAX screen in one more location yet to be disclosed.

"Miraj has 236 screens running across India. But when it comes to suburban Mumbai, Miraj had no presence. Also, if a company is a late entrant in the multiplex market, then it is hard to get premium real estate. We do not have a presence in the premium real estate of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru because of our late entry. So, when there were few marquee properties up for grabs in Noida, Mulund, and Wadala, we considered all. From conversation to closing, the deal took six months. We entered the property in November last year for renovation," Sharma said.

Change in ownership 

IMAX Wadala has seen many owners. Film producer Manmohan Shetty of Sarkar Raj and Singh Is Kinng fame, switched to construction of multiplexes and IMAX projections in Wadala in early 1990s. While the multiplex business performed well, IMAX failed for being too expensive. Later in 2005, Shetty and his partner Vasanji Mamania sold the majority stakes of Adlabs to Reliance Capital.

"I will give credit to Manmohan Shetty for this property. Whenever people make cinemas, companies look for a mall. But it was Shetty’s vision of making this gigantic cinema. It is a cinema where you can have grand red carpet events for movie premiers. This is an event cinema," Sharma said.

Cut to 2015, Reliance MediaWorks, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, sold its multiplex businesses to Carnival Cinemas. The magic of IMAX continued in Mumbai for a few years but when Carnival Cinemas shut shop, it also brought down the curtain on India’s first IMAX theatre early last year.

Once the world's largest dome theatre, IMAX Wadala was a landmark for movie lovers. "This iconic property has people’s memories attached to it. It is also one of the few standalone grand cinemas the country has at five times the size of a regular five-screen multiplex which typically requires 20,000 square feet of space. The Wadala property spans across 1 lakh square feet of space. It sports 1,600 seats across screens with over 100 recliners," Sharma said.

Bang for the buck

He expects the Wadala property alone to contribute around 6 percent to Miraj Cinemas' overall revenue.

"This property recorded eight lakh admissions (footfalls) in a year despite being in a bad shape before Covid. If we continue that number of footfalls, then we are talking about Rs 50-crore gross revenue in a year from box office and F&B (food and beverage). With 250 screens next year, I think we (Miraj Cinemas) should be doing Rs 800 crore gross revenue and this property should contribute 6-6.5 percent to total revenue," the MD said.

After the re-launch, IMAX Wadala saw 20,000 people coming to the cinema. "Once we have movies like Pushpa 2 and Mufasa, the numbers will skyrocket."

Screen expansion

Along with IMAX screens, Miraj Cinemas is expanding its overall screen portfolio. "We opened three screens in Jamshedpur, six in Delhi and five in Wadala. Three screens in Delhi are expected soon. We have another four-screen property expected in Hyderabad and four screens in Gurugram. That will take the number to 240 and by March we will cross 250 screens," Sharma said.

The Miraj deal is also said to be the largest expansion in India for IMAX in five years. IMAX is targeting the 150-screen mark in India. The company had earlier planned 50 screens in five years. It has 31 screens in India and has agreements for 14 more.

Despite multiplexes and global companies like IMAX fueling screen openings in India, India's overall screen portfolio growth remains slow.

"Covid has broken the back of the cinema exhibition. The pace at which the industry wanted to expand has slowed down. Multiplexes are adding 250-300 screens in a year. The issue now remains real estate supply. Mall launches are thin. I don't see a bigger change in the screen portfolio. We all talk about 9,000 screens in the country. By 2025-26, we can probably start talking about 10,000  screens if more screens don't shut down. We are clocking a 5 percent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) in screen growth. From 2025-32, there wont be more than 2,000-2,500 screen additions because of supply issues," Sharma said.