The multiplex mess: Road to recovery for pandemic-battered cinema is long

The pandemic and OTT have changed the cinema ecosystem. Now, as states start allowing movie halls to reopen, the road to recovery is in sight. But it is likely to be long and hard

The devastation has been absolute.

PVR Cinemas had sold over 101 million tickets, made Rs 3,500 crore in revenues and over Rs 600 crore in operating profit in the year ending March 2020. The previous year, 2019, had been one of the best for Indian cinema, and it showed on the balance sheet of the country’s largest film retail firm.

Just a year later, its revenues have tumb­led to Rs 310 crore; less than 10 per cent of the March 2020 topline. Its 842 screens remain shut. Over 6,000 of the group’s almost 15,000 employees have been laid off. PVR