COVID-19 pandemic | A look at key pre- and post-lockdown cinema trends

Tenet has become the most watched film after the lockdown, having sold 3 lakh tickets so far.

Maryam Farooqui

December 23, 2020 / 20:17 IST

Currently, 2,800 screens are operational across India.

A lot has changed for the big screen business this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Theatres had to shut shop in March due to the nationwide lockdown for nearly seven months.

Sharing some interesting pre- and post-lockdown trends in the exhibition industry in 2020, BookMyShow noted that cinemas were able to sell 7 lakh tickets so far since October 15 onwards.

While theatres got the go ahead to reopen in October, the struggle continued due to the shortage of content. Bengali film Dracula Sir was the first new movie to release after the lockdown during Dussehra.

While regional players released small to medium size films, the major respite for cinemas came with the release of big Hollywood venture Tenet.

Christopher Nolan's Tenet proves to be a ray of hope for theatres, records strong opening business

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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