India?s dream run at the ICC World Cup 2011, that culminated into a historic win, has not only spelt success for advertisers, but also benefited multiplex operators to a large extent. Leading multiplex chains, including Inox, Big Cinemas and Cinemax, which screened the semi-finals and final, and PVR Cinemas which screened all India matches, barring a few featuring Bangladesh, Holland and Ireland, have raked in handsome revenues which nearly made up for Bollywood?s cold performance at the box-office in the last few weeks.
According to industry estimates, nearly R5 crore was made by the exhibitors, most of it during the closing matches of the Cup. While PVR obtained the highest revenues of R1.5-1.75 crore from six matches, Cinemax grossed R1 crore from the semis and final only.
Gautam Dutta, CEO, Cinemedia, PVR said, ?We used 10-11 screens during the league stage and had an average occupancy of 94%. The finals were showed across 44 screens and occupancy reached a peak of 98.6%. The average ticket prices for cricket matches are way higher than that of films. About R2,000 was charged for PVR?s 180 degree recliner seats during the final, thus allowing us to generate robust revenues on the day.?
Over 120 screens were used in the country to show matches in standard and high definition, by both national and regional exhibitors. Cinemax, with 60 screens, was the most widespread exhibitor. Sunil Punjabi, CEO of Cinemax, said, ?With India reaching the final, there was a huge demand from customers who were ready to pay a premium for the match. The jump in revenues from the quarter-finals to the semis was nearly 400%. However, we saw a drop of 30% in revenues from the final, because of lesser availability of screens, as two big-ticket Bollywood releases hit the theatres on the same weekend.?
ADAG-owned Big Cinemas, and the country?s largest multiplex chain, Inox Leisure, refused to share revenue figures.
?The tournament was a success but we never give out box office figures,? said a spokesperson from Big Cinemas. Going ahead, multiplex operators expect alternate programming to catch up in a big way, allowing more flexibility to the exhibitors and more choices to the audiences. Dutta added, ?Alternate programming is the best way to go in the multiplex business. In a cricket-dominated season, exhibitors should not rely on only movies to fetch them revenues.?