India's top multiplex chains bank on festive season to bring cheer back

PVR INOX

22/10/2022 24:00

(Repeats with no changes to text)
    By Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Shilpa Jamkhandikar
       BENGALURU/MUMBAI,Oct 20 (Reuters) - A slate of flop
Bollywood movies have hit India’s top cinemas hard, leaving the
industry to bank heavily on the current festive quarter to
revive its fortunes
    Inox  INOL.NS  and PVR  PVRL.NS , the top multiplex
operators in the country who reported results this week, both
blamed a lack of good content for lackluster second-quarter
performance, and said they are betting on the third quarter to
put them back on a growth track. 
    "Q3 is crucial (for the companies)," said Karan Taurani, an
analyst at Elara Capital.
    Audiences have traditionally flocked to theatres during
India's busy festival season, which culminates in the Hindu
festival of lights, Diwali, which will be celebrated on Monday.
    Producers save the biggest films of the year for a Diwali
release, and the industry expects them to do well during this
period, but it may not be quite as festive this year.
    "Even the Q3 releases, which happen to take place during the
festive season, are somewhat muted and underwhelming in the
response they are getting," film producer and trade analyst
Girish Johar said.
    Occupancy rates at Inox were at 17% for the quarter, with
PVR at 24%, analysts at domestic brokerage and research firm
Nirmal Bang said, blaming the lackluster attendance on "poor
consumer connect with the content released in the second
quarter." 
    In the first quarter, Inox reported a 29% occupancy rate,
while PVR said its rate was 33.6% in the same period.
    The two chains are set to merge in an all-stock deal and
become the country's largest exhibition company with 1,546
screens across 109 cities.      
    "We all know that occupancy is related to the content which
we are showing. And we have some major challenges with the
content in Q2," Inox Chief Executive Alok Tandon said in an
earnings call on Wednesday.
    In addition, the rise of streaming services like Netflix
 NFLX.O  and Amazon Prime  AMZN.O  during the COVID pandemic has
combined with growing Bollywood fatigue among younger
generations who view many of its movies as outdated and
unfashionable.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2ZZ0RO
    "Ram Setu" (The Bridge of Lord Ram) and "Thank God" are the
two main Bollywood releases scheduled for next week, both
starring actors who have proven to be a hit at the box office in
the past.
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INSIGHT-Bollywood broken? Movie moguls' spell over India fades  
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 (Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai and Nivedita
Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by  Praveen
Paramasivam; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
 ((shilpa.jamkhandikar@thomsonreuters.com;))