The big screen experience

Will becoming an experience help multiplexes deal with film piracy and the growth of digital?

Is it a multiplex or an experience? As PVR Cinemas, Cinepolis, Inox and Carnival among other multiplex chains spend crores building high-end lounges, recliner seating and restaurants the question is more than academic. About 12-15 per cent of the Rs 2,182-crore PVR Cinemas’ operating profits and 10 per cent of its revenues come from its high-end offerings such as Gold Class and Director’s Cut which brought in just about three per cent of its 75 million admissions last year. There is the usual recliner chairs, usher on call and so on. But Director’s Cut, launched in 2012, took the whole