Theatre chains may soon lower ticket prices to attract more viewers

Theatre owners, distributors, and producers may soon lower the prices of cinema tickets to attract more viewers. This follows the success of the Rs 75 ticket on World Cinema Day, 2022, which attracted 6.5 million viewers, a report in Mint stated.

Currently, tickets cost nearly Rs 350-400 in India. This, according to analysts, is very high for an average consumer in India. On top of that, the prices of food and beverage are also very high. 

The slashing of ticket rates may at first be tried with small and mid-budget movies. These will include evening and night shows as well as weekend shows, Mint added. 

Several movies have already started experimenting with ticket prices. Tickets for Brahmastra and Chup were sold for Rs 100 for a whole week. Drishyam 2 has offered a 50 per cent discount for the opening day. It will release in November. Also, Goodbye, is offering tickets for Rs 150 on an opening day. It will release on October 7. 

"We will be extending our reduced pricing at Carnival Cinemas multiplexes across India for select movies in the coming week. By keeping our prices low, we hope that more people will be encouraged to come out and enjoy films. Affordable ticket prices will enable a wider audience to access our services and help us get the potential customers," Vishal Sawhney, director and CEO, of Carnival Cinemas told Mint. 

Carnival Cinemas sold 70 per cent of all their tickets on National Cinema Day. It operates 450 screens across India. 

Rajendar Singh Jyala, chief programming officer at INOX Leisure was quoted in the report as saying that Rs 75 tickets are not feasible in the long-run. It is not possible for big-budget films to recover their investment with those tickets. However, small movies can benefit from the move. INOX operates nearly 700 screens.