Box Office India Trade Network

The year gone by proved a poor one after a not so great 2013. This year also does not hold much hope to get things going. The industry saw a good run from 2006-2012 as the footfalls increased year on year. A lot of this was due to wider releases which meant more initial footfalls but however it may be, there was an increase in footfalls.

This came to an end in 2013 as footfalls did not increase and then 2014 saw a drop in footfalls. Basically 2006-2012 saw footfall increases with ticket price growth which was a perfect scenario for growth.

There was a little growth in 2013 but that came from ticket price increases and in 2014 the average ticket price had a good leap but footfalls had a bigger fall which led to lower business. Business today has become about higher ticket rates rather than volume of footfalls and with this trend likely to continue its hard to see 2015 showing growth in business. Growth cannot be sustained on rising ticket prices - it needs increase in footfalls. Despite a growing population in the country, there seems to be a decreasing cinema going population and this maybe more than just a domestic thing as North America is facing the same problem.

The estimate for the lifetime business of PK is 340 crore nett and if this happens the business in 2014 will finish at around 2745 crore nett. This is 45 crore nett less than 2013 and chances are that 2015 will finish lower than 2014. The growth in screens also faces hurdles with high real estate prices. Today a standalone multiplex or single screen just cant sustain well as recovery is far slower than other type of investments on the same land. So a new theatre has to come with a mall and these are already there in abundance in most major cities.

The screen issue is such in India that two major films can't release side by side due to lack of screens but generally weekly occupancies are so low that they struggle to cover costs and rely on the big ticket films to take them into the black. So basically for a festive period there is a lack of screens but that is just 3-4 weeks in the year, otherwise there are more than enough screens. The only way this issue can improve is better content. We have 3-4 big ticket films a year when the need is a one every month which can make cinemas a lucrative business and push screen growth. But the weekly software that screens get are films with names like Finding Fanny, Citylights, Ugly, Pizza etc which hardly help the cause.