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Trade Tutor: With Valimai, Bheemla Nayak & Gangubai, will cinema halls be third time lucky?
Trade Tutor Vishek Chauhan discusses if the exhibtion sector will be revived with movie releases this week or not
Cinemas are generally first to close and last to open. Governments across the country think Cinemas are Covid hotspots without any concrete scientific backing. Exhibitors are also told that they fall into non essential services. Airlines on the other hands are said to be Covid free and completely essential. Looking for logic in these orders has become an exercise in futility.
Cinemas have been closed thrice since the onset of the pandemic. Cinemas were closed in March 2020, April 2021 and Jan 2022. Some states chose to remain open but the over zealousness of others caused film releases to cancel this year, that brought the business to a grinding halt.
Krack and Master got the ball rolling down south and Roohi kickstarted the business in Hindi belts in early 2021. The devastation caused by the Delta Wave was unprecedented and subsequently theatres across the country were shut by April.
Sooryavanshi and Annaatthe started the proceedings in November 2021 with terrific results and that set the ball rolling for the industry. December 2021 was probably one of the best months for the Indian Box office in a very long time. Pushpa, Spiderman: No Way Home and 83’ dominated the ticket counters with terrific results. Then the business was hit by a new variant of the virus named ‘Omicron’ and Arvind Kejriwal panicked and closed movie theatres in the capital. Jersey cancelled its release date and subsequently RRR too. That led to a complete shut down of releases leaving cinemas in states that were open with nothing to play. Its here that Pushpa scored and kept scoring. With no new films coming and only Pushpa playing, it reached dizzying heights of popularity.
Now Cinemas have opened across the country and most importantly Covid restrictions have been removed by states across the country. Cinemas have been allowed to operate at 100% capacity across most states and that makes this Thursday/Friday very important. This week the theatrical business in this country will embark on its revival for the third time as Valimai, Bheemla Nayak and Gangubai Kathiwadi hit cinemas across the country.
Cinemas have suffered on many counts throughout the pandemic. The leading chains have tapped the stock markets twice in order to survive. Smaller chains have borrowed to stay afloat and single screen owners have tapped into personal savings to keep their cinemas alive. Its been a very tough two years for Cinemas across the country as many owners leaving the business for better opportunities. The ones that have stayed on the love for this business have been a very important factor.
The Theatrical Business that was pretty much written off at the onset of the pandemic staged a tremendous comeback in December. This week Cinemas embark on its 3rd revival with a robust line up of films in the coming months. The idea would be to achieve Pre Pandemic Level numbers at the ticket counters and get the complete set of audiences back in theatres. The films are ready, the audience is waiting and the only threat looming in Cinema owners' minds is that the virus doesn’t disrupt again. Hopefully they will be third time lucky. Fingers Crossed.
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