Maharashtra’s decision to allow cinema halls and multiplexes to reopen in low-risk areas has cheered the industry but viewers may have to wait for weeks before new movies are released.
The state, which accounts for a big chunk of revenue for films, has allowed cinemas to reopen normally in areas listed under ‘level 1’, or those with a positivity rate of less than 5 percent and occupancy of oxygenated beds should be below 25 percent. Cities that qualify for this level include Aurangabad and Nagpur.
Cinemas are allowed to run with 50 percent occupancy in ‘level 2 areas, defined as ones with positivity rate below 5 percent and oxygenated bed occupancy between 25 percent and 40 percent. The list of cities in this category includes Thane and Navi Mumbai.
Amit Sharma, MD of Miraj Cinemas, India’s fifth-largest multiplex chain with a screen count of 152, welcomed the state’s decision.
"In the first wave, it took almost three to four months for cinema reopening post unlocking started. The unlocking had started in June and we could get permission only in October. Also, in the first wave when unlock started, Maharashtra had reopened in the second stage. They had not reopened cinemas from October 15 but from November 14 and they maintained the 50 percent cap till the second wave (of coronavirus). Hence, it is a welcome move by the Maharashtra government (this time)," he said
He said this is good news for multiplexes as Maharashtra leads the release of Hindi or Bollywood films.
PVR said it cannot comment as it is still analyzing the situation, while INOX had not responded to Moneycontrol's queries at the time of writing this article.
Another multiplex player, Cinepolis which has 419 screens in India, hopes that other states would also ease restrictions.
"Maharashtra is a very important part of the country and contributes approximately 20 percent of the national business for us. So, we are very happy about this news. However, we hope that other states follow soon, as ultimately cinema is a national business," said Devang Sampat, CEO, Cinepolis India.
For Miraj Cinemas, Sharma said that there is one property in level 1 and five in level 2 areas.
"So, Maharashtra accounts for approximately 25-30 percent of our total screening capacity and business. We have got green light to open six properties. Also, it paves the way for opening of all screens in Maharashtra in a week's time now. All our cinemas are expected to be operational within June or July first week," added Sharma.
He expects that by mid-July cinemas would reopen in 80 percent of the country.
"Uttar Pradesh has never shutdown cinemas technically and there we have three properties. Delhi and Haryana -- they are reopening restaurants and malls. So, we are expecting that we will get permission to reopen cinemas by end of June or first week of July. Similar is the case in Gujarat where lockdown has been eased and where lot of economic activities are going," said Sharma.
But reopening will come with its own set of challenges and the biggest challenge is content.
Content will remain a challenge
"Content is an issue because when you have such a reopening you do not have content makers confident to release the film only for certain sectors," said Sharma.
Last year, when theatres had reopened they had no new content to screen. It was old content like Taapsee Pannu's Thappad, Ayushmann Khurrana's Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan playing on the big screen.
In an earlier interview with Moneycontrol, Shailesh Kapoor, CEO, Ormax Media, a media consulting firm had pointed out that in India there was no market for old content. And that's why 15 days after reopening last year, cinemas saw only five percent occupancy.
While getting new content will be a challenge, Sharma said that what's different this year is that the international markets have reopened and this has encouraged Hollywood filmmakers to release their films.
Less content constraint this time
"Films like The Quiet Place 2, Fast & Furious 9, these big-ticket items have already released in other parts of the world. So, when 60-80 percent of the cinemas has reopened in India, we'll have these kind of films ready to come to theatres."
He also said that theatres will have at least four good content coming in the four to six weeks post reopening.
Sampat said "regional content will start releasing immediately upon reopening and we expect to have Bollywood content in another four to six weeks."
Sharma said that once Maharashtra gets normalized cinemas will have big-ticket Hindi films getting lined up for release which wasn't the case last year.
"It is going to be staggered reopening but looking at (decrease in) number of COVID cases the normalization in our industry will be achieved much sooner than expected," said Sharma.
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