SOPs for movie halls further eased, but will cinema lovers return to pre-COVID levels?

A friend of mine who went to watch the much talked about Hollywood film ‘Tenet’ recently in Mumbai narrated her somewhat eerie experience of watching a movie in a cinema hall amid the pandemic. Armed with the Aarogya Setu app on her mobile and doing a double check on her body temperature at home, she left for the movie hall with her husband. Once at the hall, there was a wait as all the movie goers got their temperatures checked. Inside the hall, there was kind of a hushed silence as people took in the masked audiences, the heavy smell of sanitizer, ticket ushers donning gloves and face shields, and the markers on the seats marked for social distancing. Of course, once the movie began all the apprehensions faded away.

Will she visit the movie halls with the frequency of the pre-COVID-19 times? “Not really, unless it is a really must watch, big screen spectacle that has to be enjoyed in the hall. Watching a movie will never be the same again,” she said with a tinge of sadness.

The 50 per cent capacity rule was in place when my friend went to watch the movie. As of February 1, 2021, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting said that now cinema halls can operate with full capacity. While announcing an update on the standard operating procedures on preventive measures to contain spread of COVID-19 for cinema halls and theatres, I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar said that sanitisation and COVID protocols will have to be adhered to, but people can buy food from the stalls inside the theatres. He further said that the restrictions put in place due to COVID are on the verge of ending.

The Multiplex Association of India (MAI) has thanked Javadekar for allowing 100% seating capacity in cinemas and said that this decision will give the cinema industry the necessary impetus to recover from the impact of the on-going pandemic.

In a release issued, Kamal Gianchandani, President, MAI, commented, “With multiple vaccines beginning to roll out, the cinema industry is well poised to quickly recover from the unprecedented impact of the pandemic. A quick and timely decision by the Government to restore 100% seating capacity means that all cinema operators now have the seating capacities to attract new films to their theatres. We are gratified by the Government’s decision and would like to express our sincere appreciation. We urge all State Governments to urgently implement the new SOPs.”

As is known, the Union Home Ministry, as part of its announcements for Unlock 5.0, allowed the opening up of cinema halls from October 15, 2020 onwards with strict COVID-19 protocols. However, with no big Bollywood releases taking places, the audience mostly stayed away from the movie halls. However, Hollywood releases ‘Tenet’ and ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ did manage to draw in some crowd.

The release of big-budget Tamil film ‘Master’, starring Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi, in January 2021 saw huge numbers of movie goers thronging the cinema halls, making it the first blockbuster film in the pandemic times. This shows that big ticket releases will prove to be a huge draw for cine lovers. Moreover, with the nationwide COVID-19 vaccine rollout has also lifted some of the fear among the people.

‘Master’ could be seen as showing the way for the movie industry to usher in the much needed revival. The cinema industry suffered massive losses due to the shutdown of movie halls due to the pandemic. The Multiplex Association of India claimed that the rate of losses resulting from closure of cinema halls stood at Rs 1,500 crore monthly and amounted to Rs 9,000 crore in just six months.

According to a Deloitte report, post partial re-opening, the theatre business has been slow to pick up pace. The shift of media and film consumption through digital means has increased competition and will be a major hamper to the recovery of businesses, especially the smaller players.

People have lost the fear of crowded places, as can be seen in the huge crowd at political gatherings, the farmer protest at Delhi’s borders, festival shopping; people increasingly stepping out to grocery stores, malls, restaurants; and even travelling via flight and trains. But will the movie halls see the “Housefull” boards again? It’s true, we all crave for and terribly miss the whole movie theatre experience – the big screen, the popcorn & refreshments, a fun evening out with friends & family. But ask yourself, will you go to a movie hall with your family for an evening at the cinemas in these times? Do you have the confidence in the COVID-19 protocols taken at the movie halls?

Never in the century-long history of cinemas has the industry had witnessed a shutdown as long as this one, so the setback has definitely been an unprecedented one. Saurabh Varma, CMO, INOX Leisure, commented, “Any business with zero cashflows for more than 200 days would suffer tremendously, and we were no different. Keeping in mind that the industry clocks about Rs 1,000 crore per month of Box Office revenues and about Rs 400 crore of F&B revenues, collectively, the cinema exhibition business would have suffered revenue losses of more than Rs 10,000 crore during the lockdown.”

Amid the industry losses and tough times, INOX Leisure recently announced the launch of 3 new multiplexes – 2 in Gurugram and 1 in Salem – taking the total number of its multiplexes across the country to 150, operating 637 screens.

Speaking on the launch, Alok Tandon, CEO, INOX Leisure, in a release issued, had said, “As we prepare ourselves for the year 2021, which we believe is the year of cinema entertainment, we are gearing up to enthrall our patrons with experiences like never before. Having seen through the difficult phase, it is time that we get back to our normal buoyancy, well complimented by the flow of great quality content.”

Even as multiplexes are optimistic of a revival, we have also seen the shutting down of single screen theatres in some parts of the country. Speaking about the shutting down of single screen theatres, Karan Taurani, VP - Research Analyst (Media & Consumer Discretionary), Elara Capital, remarked, “If you look at the industry dynamics, single screens have anyways been losing market share for the last few years. Primarily because multiplexes are expanding their business and secondly, the purchasing power of the consumers is also increasing and they want to experience the premium facilities of the multiplexes. Hygiene is also an important factor, especially during the COVID-19 times and multiplexes have given the surety to the consumers about safety and hygiene, which is not seen much in single screens. Thus, 15%, that is, almost 1,000-odd single screen theatres might shut down in the country.”

Kapil Agarwal, Joint Managing Director, UFO Moviez, is more optimistic about the cinema theatre revival. According to Agarwal, “It’s a matter of a just 1-2 months and we believe that the theatre industry will start going back to normal from March-April onwards. Movies have already started releasing in theatres. UFO Movies since its announcement of foraying into film distribution released 3 movies, including the blockbuster big budget movie ‘Master’, which released on January 14, 2021 across North India.”

There is no dearth of new big budget lined up for release this year, including ‘Sooryavanshi’, ‘83’, ‘Bell Bottom’, ‘Jersey’, ‘Bhuj’, ‘Radhe’, ‘Sam’, ‘Maidaan’ and ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’, among others. There are also sequels to hit movie franchises in the pipeline, which include ‘Hera Pheri 3’, ‘Golmaal 5’, ‘Satyamev Jayate 2’, ‘No Entry 2’ and more. In the regional cinema space, there are ‘KGF Chapter 2’, ‘RRR’, ‘Aranya’, etc. Among the Hollywood releases expected this year are ‘Mortal Kombat’, ‘No Time To Due’, ‘Black Widow’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘MI7’.

There is no word yet on the release dates of the movies in the pipeline. But this much is a given, that unless the big ticket movies hit the big screens again, the audience is not going to return to the cinema halls in droves.

One concern amid all this is the fate of small budget and offbeat films that might not have big stars in them. Will they find an audience in the movie halls? Or will they find the digital platforms to be a more lucrative marketplace? How will the new normal impact the movie distribution business? There is still a lot to be explored here...