Movies may see action-packed footfall by May-end, says PVR INOX's Bijli

India’s largest cinema exhibitor PVR INOX is upbeat that footfall will increase by May-end owing to a strong line-up of movies by both Bollywood and Hollywood. This comes at a time when very few films have been able to drive movie buffs to the theatres.

 

With movies like Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Final Destination Bloodlines, Jackie Chan’s Karate Kid: Legends, Brad Pitt’s F1, and Ballerina (from John Wick’s universe), the pipeline is robust, said Sanjeev Bijli, executive director, PVR INOX.

 

He said that in Hindi cinema, there has been buoyancy in the box office post Sikandar’s release in March, with Kesari Chapter 2 and Raid 2.

 

The company’s consolidated net loss narrowed to ₹125 crore in the January-March quarter compared with the same quarter last year.

 

Films like Akshay Kumar-starrer Sky Force and Salman Khan’s Sikandar had failed to increase footfall for the multiplex chain.

 

In comparison, PVR INOX had reported a consolidated net profit of ₹35.9 crore in the third quarter of last financial year (Q3FY25) mainly driven by Pushpa 2: The Rule.

 

Revenue from operations marginally fell by 0.5 per cent to ₹1,249.8 crore in Q4FY25 on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis. 

 

PVR INOX is also banking on more initiatives like re-releases and affordable pricing initiatives like Cinema Lovers Day and Blockbuster Tuesdays.

 

Re-released movies added 7.1 million to the footfall and contributed about ₹124 crore in gross ticket sales during FY25.

 

“We can't have a passive approach any more. Also, a lot of cost-cutting has happened in terms of rent rationalisation across the country, reducing other operating expenses and slowing capacity expansion by getting into collaborations with developers,” said Bijli. By reducing capacity expansion, the company has saved about ₹200-300 crore in costs, he added.

 

Chhaava (released in February), a historical action film based on Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, emerged the highest-grossing film in the fourth quarter (Q4) with around ₹700 crore at the box office, contributing 32 per cent to the company’s revenue, Bijli said.

 

“In our business right now, we need at least three films a quarter, that is one film a month, to get us those (higher) admissions,” Bijli said.

 

He added that the underperformance of movies like Sky Force (released in January) and Sikandar (released in March) has impacted the overall performance in Q4FY25.

 

Overall, in FY25, the box office was impacted by an uneven release calendar, marked by inconsistent content availability across Bollywood and Hollywood. This led to a 9 per cent decline in the company's overall gross box office revenue.

 

Profit before depreciation, interest, and taxes (PBDIT) increased by 5.1 per cent to ₹344.3 crore in January-March on a Y-o-Y basis. Other income surged by 25.1 per cent to ₹61.4 crore in Q4FY25 compared with the same quarter last year. 

 

The company reduced net debt to ₹952.2 crore as of March 31, 2025. The multiplex chain expects to open 100-110 new screens in FY26.