Poor show: Reopening fails to attract movie lovers to theatres

Vijayawada: Problems faced by the film exhibitors due to the impact of Covid seems to continue some more days or weeks in the State as there is a lukewarm response from the movie lovers. They opened the theatres to screen movies from July 30 but very few audiences turned up.

The State government recently issued permission to screen the movies with 50 per cent attendance. Consequently, the film exhibitors reopened the theatres on July 30 with a hope that audience would visit the cinema halls and enjoy watching the latest movies. But, there has been no response from people. Hardly 100 viewers are seen in the theatres.

Two new movies Timmarusu and Ishq were released in most theatres in the State. But, there is no response from the movie lovers.

Significantly, the film theatres had stopped screening of movies about three months ago due to the second wave of Covid pandemic.

For the poor show, the theatre owners also blame the night curfew. Because of the night curfew the film theatres are closed by 9.30 pm at any cost. So, there is no scope for screening the second show in the night. In rural areas and semi-urban areas, people are habituated to watch movies in the second show in the night.

Now, exhibitors are requesting the government to give permission to screen the movies after 9 pm also so that the attendance in the theatres will increase in the coming days.

Due to the threat of third wave, both the State and central governments in the country are contemplating to implement lockdown to check the Covid cases. It is not clear whether the government would concede to their request giving permission to screen movies till midnight.

K Venkata Rao, manager of a theatre said the film exhibitors will suffer huge loss if they screen movies at low ticket prices. He said people habituated to watch movies second show in the night and requested the government to give permission to screen movies till midnight with Covid guidelines of 50 per cent attendance and regular sanitization.

At the same time, the cinema ticket price fixed by the government is also very less for the non A/C halls. In rural areas, the ticket price for non AC theatres starts at Rs 5 only. The film exhibitors are saying that they get Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 only per show if the price is very less and they would suffer huge loss if they run movies at low tickets.

They are asking the government to increase the price tickets. The film exhibitors from the State met in Vijayawada recently and later took their problems to the notice of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Each theatre employs 10 workers including some office staff and has to pay salaries every month. Besides, they have to pay power bills and meet other expenses for sanitation, keeping the toilets and theatre premises clean. The film exhibitors have not recovered from the first wave of Covid. The second wave completely paralysed the film industry. In this backdrop, the film exhibitors are asking the government to give concessions like giving permission to run the second show till midnight with Covid guidelines and increase the ticket price.

However, many theatre owners are keeping fingers crossed as there is a scope to attract the audience when films of big stars will be released.