Will your movie tickets get cheaper? Multiplexes may not play ball

Representative image: AP

Multiplex operators and film producers are toying with low ticket pricing to attract audiences back to theatres but the weak second-quarter results of PVR and INOX, lower footfalls and a drop in box office collections have put a question mark on the strategy.

The spotlight is back on National Cinema Day held on September 23 when multiplexes cut ticket prices to Rs 75.

Some industry insiders called the affordable pricing, which saw the second-highest single-day footfalls at 6.5 million, an eye opener for the film industry while others said movie ticket rates should be slashed to bring back viewers.

However, the crowd is not yet fully back with footfalls down 10 percent in Q1 against pre-Covid numbers.

National Cinema Day has triggered a conversation on correction in movie ticket prices and exhibitors after seeing strong traction on September 23 are looking at the possibility of experimenting with ticket rates, said Akshaye Rathi, film exhibitor and director, Saroj Screens.

Many top exhibitors continued offering movie tickets at lower rates in the range of Rs 100-112 after September 23. But this was mainly due to weak content running in theatres.

INOX Leisure ran all films at Rs 112, including Godfather, Vikram Vedha and PS-1 on October 12 and 13 and continued similar pricing for another week. "But for Diwali, we cannot afford to have Rs 112 pricing," said INOX Leisure's Chief Programming Officer, Rajender Singh Jyala.

In its Q2 earnings call, PVR said that ticket prices were brought down in July-September quarter but average ticket price is expected to go back to Q1 level at Rs 250 in the December quarter.

Pricing experiments

While rates may not come down, exhibitors are looking to experiment with pricing. PVR said it is thinking of creating more events like National Cinema Day whereas INOX said it has experimented with pricing and will continue to do so.

"Weekend pricing should not be slashed but exhibitors during the week should collectively decide on a particular day to offer movie tickets at lower rates. This way theatres will be able to attract the third category of customers that come to theatres mostly on weekdays," said Amit Sharma, MD, Miraj Cinemas.

Producers on pricing

An official of a top multiplex firm said that cinemas will not be slashing ticket rates but producers are looking at correction in pricing.

Amitabh Bachchan starrer Goodbye released on October 7 opened with a ticket rate of Rs 150, while director Ayan Mukerji had announced special pricing for Brahmastra at Rs 100 for four days during September 26-29 to mark the Navarati festival.

"If we lower the price, it will double the percentage of movie-going audience, which is about 2 -3 percent of the current population," said Deepshikha Deshmukh- Producer, Pooja Entertainment, the movie studio which has made films like Akshay Kumar's Bell Bottom, Varun Dhawan starrer Coolie No 1, among others.

Producer Anand Pandit, who will be releasing his new film Thank God during the Diwali holiday, said lowering ticket prices will boost box office numbers, especially for small and mid-budget movies.

"Small and mid-budget films attract niche audiences and high ticket prices can be prohibitive for them. Audiences wait for such films to come on an OTT (over-the-top) platform to watch it, he said.

Due to the current pricing, cinema-going audiences cannot afford multiple tickets for a new release every week, Pandit added. "Lowering prices will ensure more people, especially college-going audiences, to come to theatres and not just watch one film a month as is usually the case," the producer said.

However, he added that just lowering ticket prices will not help boost footfalls, the quality of content also needs to improve.

Content married with cost

PVR pointed out that a lot of films opened with lower pricing like Goodbye at Rs 150, Code Name: Tiranga at Rs 100; some films were released at Rs 95 but the films did not perform at the box office as consumers did not show up.

Jyala said that when films were priced at Rs 112 after National Cinema Day, the response for the content was slightly better than regular days in terms of occupancy and footfalls and was nowhere close to September 23 numbers. Occupancies in theatres went as high as 70 to 90 percent on National Cinema Day. But in the September quarter, PVR and INOX reported 24 percent and 17 percent occupancy.

"While lowering ticket prices may increase footfalls, will it able to make additional box office?" questioned Jyala.

He said reducing prices was not viable for all content, especially big movies with budgets of Rs 300-350 crore.

Ticket pricing depends on several variables from the type of film playing in the theatre and buzz around the film to paying propensity of the area where the theatre is located, said Satwik Lele, COO, Mukta A2 Cinemas.

"To constantly lower the ticket pricing will not support the business economics for us to operate and run the exhibition business," he said.

While pricing is a key factor to bring more people back to cinemas, cost married with content will be the right strategy. Pandit said that pre-pandemic, ticket prices were on the higher side but there was no drop in admissions.

"There was no pricing talk when Kannada film Kantara was released and the Hindi version was released a week later. Kantara Hindi's Tuesday business at Rs 1.7 crore was bigger than Doctor G starring Ayushmann Khurrana at Rs 1.5 crore. For Kantara, the audience is paying Rs 200. It is expected to see a bigger ROI (return on investment) than KGF: Chapter 2," said film producer and trade business analyst Girish Johar.