PVR, Inox Leisure, Big Cinemas and other multiplexes plan to maintain their investment tempo in the year ahead betting on big Bollywood releases, lower rentals, a cut in entertainment tax and the drop in equipment prices.
Multiplexes including Fun Multiplex, Cinemax and others plan to invest more than Rs 15,000 crore in 2009 almost the similar amount as last year, according to industry experts. The additional investment comes even as movie viewership is estimated to have dropped by as much as 15 per cent in 2008 owing to poor content. Multiplexes were able to maintain steady revenue by raising movie tickets, food and beverage prices by 15 per cent in the past year.
“We plan to have 100 properties by 2012 with 300 screens, up from 23 properties right now with 69 screens,” said Devang Sampat, VP-marketing and programming, Cinemax. Big Cinemas, the multiplex chain of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), expects to add around 50 properties, 140 screens in the next 15 months, up from 75 properties and 189 screens at present.
The company has plans to build 12 megaplexes in India in which one can not only see movies but also enjoy cricket and soccer matches on-screen, according to Tushar Dhingra, Chief Operating Officer, Big Cinemas. Unlike 5-6 screen multiplexes, the megaplexes have 11-15 screens with a seating capacity to accommodate 4,000 to 5,000 people in each of them. Inox Leisure aims to have about 72 multiplexes and 290 screens across India by the end of 2010, according to Alok Tandon, COO, Inox. Currently Inox has a pan-India footprint with 27 multiplexes and 94 screens in 19 cities. Still, multiplexes expansion plan may be affected by the availability of real estate.
“Depending on completion of shopping malls and delivery, we expect a 30-40 per cent growth in the number of properties and screens in 2009,” said Pramod Arora, president, PVR. PVR has 108 screens and 26 properties in India.
Vishal Kapur of Fun Multiplex said the company has already signed additional 200 screens in 36 cities across the country which will be operational by the end of 2009.
In addition, the company has planned to acquire 300 screens during the course of 2008-09 under ‘Fun Cinemas’ and ‘Talkie Town’ formats, taking its total screen count to 550 by 2011. The company will invest around Rs 1-1.5 crore per property.
While Fun Cinemas is positioned as a lifestyle brand, Talkie Town is its value brand, with its ticket prices being 50 per cent cheaper than those at Fun Cinemas. Currently, Fun operates 66 cinema screens in 17 cities.
Fame India, the fourth largest multiplex chain in the country, plans to double the number of screens to around 140, from the existing 68 screens by 2009-end. It will invest Rs 150-180 crore towards the expansion, a spokesperson said.
Big releases, lower taxes
In 2009 multiplexes are banking on 18-20 big-ticket releases including Akshay Kumar’s Chandni Chowk To China, Shah Rukh Khan’s Billu Barber, Farhan Akthar’s Luck By Chance, Anil Kumar’s Slumdog Millionaire’ and Abhishek Bachchan’s ‘Delhi 6’.
