Multiplexes betting big on gaming, food

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: screens in the next 3-4 years. Says Jitendra Mehta, CFO, Cinemax, “There are basically two ideas behind our plans. We get the space for gaming zones as a cheap bargain as they are located at the top floors of the multiplexes. While the gaming zones are responsible for almost 40% as EBIDTA margins, the food courts contribute 30-35% of the margins. As per our plans, we’ll have six food courts and the gaming zones in equal numbers within 2-3 months from now. The number will increase to 10 each within a year.” Cinemax has already got a gaming zone at its property in Thane, named Eternity Mall.

The noted filmmaker Prakash Jha’s firm, Prakash Jha Productions, whose film Rajneeti is likely to be released next year, is planning to come up with 100 screens at 30 properties in the tier-I and tier-II cities of states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa within three years. It has already acquired 18 properties and construction has already begun on four of them. Work on 12 other properties will begin by June. Adlabs will look after the operations. Says Prakash Jha, “We will also have food courts and gaming zones in our multiplexes. But, we want to go a step further by adding shopping malls and satellite broadband, too.” But then, there are multiplex chains like INOX that do not believe in focusing much on non-box office collection. The INOX multiplex chain, which currently has 22 multiplexes with 76 screens in 17 cities and plans to have over 70 multiplexes by 2010, runs its own brand of theatre food called ‘Refuel’. However, it has no plans to go in for other tie-ups. Alok Tandon, COO, INOX Leisure, says that his company would like to “concentrate on our core business—exhibition—instead of managing stand-alone food courts outside of our multiplexes”.