INOX group director: Steady rise in cinema biz over past 3 years

The regular ticket-paying audience always complains about expensive multiplex tickets and many even blame the steep prices for declining footfalls in theatres. INOX group director Siddharth Jain however does not agree.

"We entertain about seven crore people every year. Our average ticket price is about Rs 200. Because we operate in so many cities, our ticket prices vary from as low as Rs 50 to Rs 1500, the highest. This is reflective of the Indian audience in general and the categorisation we have that of A+, A, B etc. I don't think we are really that expensive. I think tickets are affordable in the kind of cities we serve across the country," said Jain, at the recent launch event of INOX's Megaplex in Mumbai.

Jain believes if content is bad, the audience will anyway turn their back to movie theatres. "If the film is bad, then nobody is going to come to watch it. We are fortunate that there is good quality content in the market and it is getting better every year. As we speak right now, there is a movie called 'War' which has done close to 300 crores at the box office."

He also claimed that footfalls have increased over the past few years at INOX theatres across the country. "Over the past three years, we have seen a steady rise in the number of films that do Rs 50-crore business at the box office. Three years ago I am just talking about Hindi content right now there were 22 films that did Rs 50-crore business. This year, I think we will cross 35. That tells you quality of the films is getting better and people are coming to the cinema more often. Movies that have done very good business this year include 'Avengers: Endgame', 'Uri: The Surgical Strike' and 'Kabir Singh'," he said, adding, "I think, all the platforms are growing. We are all consuming a lot more content overall."

( With inputs from IANS )