Mexican theatre chain and international cinema exhibitor Cinepolis has opened its first megaplex of 15 screens in Pune. The company has invested Rs 35 crore in the project. Cinepolis has planned to open 500 screens across 40 cities in India by end of 2017. The estimated investment in this expansion is over Rs 1000 crore. According to company officials, this is India's first foreign direct investment (FDI) project in multiplex chain. Cinepolis is located at Season's Mall in Magarpatta City. After Pune, it is opening another megaplex in Thane which will have 14 screens.
Speaking to media in Pune today, Devang Sampat, strategy head, Cinepolis, "We signed this project in 2008 when most of the multiplex players were planning to exit from the business. After five years, the business has flourished again, at the same time the property is also operational. For audiance, this will be a complete diffrent experience of watching cinema. Our plan is to open 500 screens across 40 cities of India. We have a very analytical approach in deciding the number of shows and pricing for the upcoming movies basis the demand from our patrons. We will endeavor to have suitable price bands for all segments of the society."
The company spends around Rs 2 t o 2.5 crore for each screen. The total capacity of Pune megaplex is of 2500 seats.
The patrons can enjoy more than 80 shows every day in the cinema.
He added, "A megaplex format would give a great platform to Marathi and other regional movies which will also get prime-time slots apart from regular Hindi and English movies. It will also give us the freedom to cultivate markets for Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati movies which don’t get to the large screens because of constraint of fewer screensCinépolis VIP would be the first of its kind offering in this space. We have a live kitchen and a bar along with the cinemas, where patrons can order anything on the menu from their seats."
Cinepolis opened its first cinema in April 2013 in Bhandup, Mumbai. Cinépolis currently operates at Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Hubli, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Mangalore, Mumbai, Patna, Pune, Surat, and Thane.
