After what can be termed as a struggling year for multiplexes following a tepid response to several big-ticket films, movie chains are hopeful with the current line-up that includes superstar Shah Rukh Khan‘s much-awaited Pathaan and Prabhas’ Adipurush, among others.
“We are not only ending 2022 on a high with Avatar: The Way of Water and Cirkus, but will be stepping into 2023 with a bang with Pathaan. There are plenty of releases in every genre, which would bring people to cinemas,” said Anand Vishal – chief operations, sales & revenue officer at INOX Leisure.
Film critic and commentator Taran Adarsh, too, believes that 2023 is “going to be great” for the theatres and film industry in general.
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Terming the line-up as “very impressive”, he said, “there are several big-ticket entertainers and medium budget films coming up, with a lot of variety across genres.” Elaborating, he said, “We begin the year with Pathaan, Salman Khan will star in Tiger 3 and Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, Akshay Kumar has a very interesting line-up, Ajay Devgn, riding on the success of Drishyam 2, will come up with his directorial film Bholaa, Ranbir Kapoor is in director Luv Ranjan’s next Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, then there is Prabhas’ film. So the line-us is absolutely full,” he said.
‘OTTs no competition’
While cinemas remained shut during the pandemic, OTTs raged, offering people a wide range of content to choose from, that too at a much cheaper cost. Not just that, much of theatre’s offerings are made available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Hotstar and a dozen other OTT platforms within weeks of their theatrical release.
Despite struggling financially, multiplexes do not see OTTs as any competition.
“OTTs and theatrical entertainment will continue to coexist as both differ in terms of the kind of content which is being consumed on each medium. There is also a difference in the manner of consumption, and even the occasion of consumption. Both are driven by distinct consumer-behaviour patterns, and have their distinct presence in the consumer behaviour cycle,” said Vishal.
Terming the comparison between theatres and OTTs “a far-fetched idea”, Miraj Cinema’s managing director Amit Sharma said, “While OTT is a long form storytelling medium, cinema is a shorter form. Hence, the watching experience is different. Not just that, the target audience is absolutely different,” he said, admitting that OTTs have definitely shifted consumers’ behaviour to a certain degree.”
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Karan Taurani, vice president – Elara Capital, thinks that OTT is, although a small, but one of the reasons why multiplexes are struggling. “There is a small portion of audience that has transitioned to OTT,” post the Covid pandemic. However, it remains “a small fraction of the entire problem,” he adds.
Adarsh, too, agrees that OTTs “to some extent” is the reason why people refrain from visiting theatres as the latter’s higher cost also factor in here.
No rethinking cost
With job cuts and inflationary trends, cinema outing can be an expensive affair for many. However, neither the multiplexes nor analysts think there is a need to rethink ticket and F&B costs.
“Ticket price or F&B costs are no hindrance,” says Sharma. “It is about the choice whether one wants to waste three hours on a bad film. But when it comes to good films, sky is the limit. Take the case of Drishyam 2, which is one of the rarest suspense films that did a business of Rs 200 crore. So if you really make a good film, then sky is the limit. But if you make a really bad film, people do not want to come to just look at the star cast or marketing gimmick or production house or a director.”
Taurani agrees. “In India, we have limited entertainment options. And although inflation does factor, if you look at malls, restaurants, etc, people seem to be spending there. It all boils down to content. Take the case of Kantara, which worked on the same economics of food and ticket cost.”
