The new-age cinema theatres in the country going by the nomenclature multiplexes, are now demanding that they may be exempted from paying the rentals and other maintenance charges they pay to owners of the malls etc. where the multiplexes are located, as per a report in the LiveMint.
The trade body, the Multiplex Association of India, has now addressed one common letter to the malls and other land developers across the country on this issue.
The stand taken by the association is that whereas many businesses had to contend with reduced income during the lockdown, in their case, the revenue has been zero from day 1 since their entire income depends on the ticket sales. With state governments deciding to shut down cinema halls even before the lockdown started, the multiplexes are staring at larger loss in revenues.
The multiplexes have recalled how they had played a critical role in being the anchor tenants in the malls and complexes drawing large crowds to watch movies which resulted in the other shops and restaurants gaining business in the complexes. They said that they had never defaulted in payment of rent or the common area maintenance charges. This is a huge component in large malls and has to be borne by all tenants.
The multiplexes fear that even if the lockdown were to be lifted from April 15, cinemas may not be permitted to be opened immediately. Already, there have been talks of calibrated lifting or relaxation of the lockdown post the 21-day period. In terms of the risk of social distance norms being not maintained, cinema halls fare the worst and when viewed from the perspective of essential service, they may be coming last. It is therefore likely that the permission to resume screening of movies may take longer to materialise.
There are as many as 600 multiplexes operational in the country overall and they run 2,900 screens among them. These include the national and regional ones as well, the prominent ones being PVR Cinemas, INOX and Cinepolis.
Films awaiting release include Sooryavanshi featuring Akshay Kumar, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, and ’83, the movie based on the Cricket World Cup won by Kapil Dev’s team in 1983.