While piracy played the villain in the early 2000s, high-speed internet, over-the-top platforms (OTT) and other factors are now responsible for lesser footfalls in cinema halls.
Many theatres in Kerala underwent a huge renovation before the pandemic. The owners upgraded their single-screen theatres to multiple screens to cater to the audience’s demands.
However, the recent trends followed by the audience aren’t helping the exhibitors. In most movie halls, the shows are getting cancelled if less than 10 people turn up for the first day of release!
OTT has become the key platform for audiences to watch films. People are waiting for more than a month to watch a movie. Audiences prefer to wait for the OTT release if a film garners average reviews.
..The ticket rates and food prices are so high that they burn a hole in our pockets. Hence, we prefer OTT releases,” Annu Mathew a media professional said.
“For Avatar 2, we upgraded the technology by spending around ₹7 lakh. But it takes us another two years to recover the cost since we are finding it difficult to keep the flow going,” Vinod Iyer, one of the owners of the iconic Crown Theatre in Kozhikode. explained.
Vinod Iyer is critical of the government building new theatre complexes amid the uncertainty in the film business. “They should utilise these funds to help theatre owners like us,” he asserted.