Box office duds prompt some theatres to cut ticket prices
Owners of small theatres are taking initiatives to equip low-cost cinemas with basic amenities
After testing various promotional pricing strategies for small films over the past few months, theatre owners are now revisiting their ticket pricing plans, given the box-office failure of recent titles.
This is particularly relevant for those lower down the value chain, operating in smaller towns and who are striving to attract audiences to upcoming non-star filmsthathavegarneredlimitedattention.
For example, Mukta A2 Cinemas implemented a uniform ₹99 ticket price forallshowingsofthesportsdrama Maidaan, while many independent cinema owners are considering general price reductionstoenticetheirtargetaudience.
Initiatives are also in the works to make low-cost cinemas equipped with basic amenities. Some theatres plan to continue offering discounts on specific films in partnership with producers.
“Pricing is an issue for a majority of the audience. They are ready to go for moviesatslightlylowertariffsandthat issomethingweasexhibitorshaveto bemindfulof,”RahulPuri,managing director of, Mukta Arts, which operates Mukta A2 Cinemas, said.
While the company is not looking at reduction in prices across the board, it will look at pricing strategies continually on a film-by-film basis, Puri said. He noted that the positive response to Maidaan was driven by flat pricing, boosting attendance in the process.
Pricing is a double-edged sword across the industry at the moment. There is a section of high-end audiences that are ready to shell out even ₹800-1,000 in top metros, while there is also a need to drive mass volume in terms of viewers in smaller markets.
“These(flatpricingstrategies)arecalculatedrisksforus,butonewillincreasingly seemoresuchexperiments,”Puriadded.
SOME theatres plan to continue offering discounts on specific films in partnership with producers
MANY independent cinema owners are considering general price reductions to draw target audience
Amit Sharma, managing director of multiplex operator Miraj Entertainment, agreed that low pricing or oneplus-one offers for specific films are plannedincollaborationwithproducers to encourage price-sensitive crowds, especially on weekdays.
However, multiplex operators like Sharma believe audiences consciously sign up for the experience in premium cinemas which cannot be replicated elsewhere.
Exorbitant ticket pricing by top multiplex chains in Tier-I markets cannot be
MUKTA A2 Cinemas issued a uniform ₹99 ticket price for all showings of sports drama Maidaan sound and air-conditioning, but no premium luxury experiences or gourmet food. “Masses have no cinemas to go to anymore; theatres have been taken over by the rich,” he said.
Mint had earlier reported that Common Service Centres—the physical facilities for delivering government e-services to rural and remote locations—has tied up with a firm called October Cinemas to meet the target of opening 10,000 movie screens over the next five years.
The latter will coordinate with village-level entrepreneurs to build movie theatres with a seating capacity of 75-150 in small towns and provide them with low-cost projectors besides acting as distributors of films.
These theatres, developed as community centres, for other occasions such as weddings and birthdays, will sell tickets starting at ₹50 and will serve as spaces for family entertainment.
To be sure, several film trade experts point out it is the unreasonable pricing keeping masses away from cinemas that has led to rampant piracy across the country.
“We will have to look at revision across the board. There are anyway no big Hindi films lined up for the next few months, and in case of those that have released recently, it isn’t uncommon to see viewers walking out in the middle,” said Pranav Garg, managing director at Maya Palace, a two-screen cinema in Muzaffarnagar.
Garg reduced prices for the two films released on Eid—Maidaan and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan—after seeing the lukewarm response to both and is contemplating lowering rates at least for the next few months.
TRADE experts say unreasonable pricing keeps masses away from cinemas, leading to rampant piracy
the template for the rest of the country, said Bihar-based exhibitor Vishek Chauhan, who believes ₹50-100 is the ideal price point to attract mass audiences.
Chauhan is in conversation to acquire small cinemas across the state and adopt a standard model for them—good projection,