End Of Movie Theatres Near ?
Published On: 15 April 2019 | Bollywood | By: Ravi Mondeti
Why? As if Declining Single Screen and Soaring ticket prices of multiplexes weren't enough, Movie-Makers are now selling out one thing that always put butts in seats. It's not giant screens, or booming sound, or "the communal experience of a darkened movie theatre," all things that movie people love to romanticize.
(don't worry if you didn't get how Kattapa-Baaahubali is related to this article. you'll know by the end)
The magic of the movies has been, is, and always will be exclusive content. Something you can't see anywhere else at the moment. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Premium VOD, digital on-demand delivery of films to your TV and devices on a much shorter schedule than the traditional 90 days. The latest proposals bring movies to homes 10 or 45 days after they hit theatres; others have aspired to deliver them day-of. But these particulars are immaterial. They are coming, and they will prove fatal to the movie-theatre business.
Do you feel it? when you see the Amazon Prime logo in opening credits and regret coming for the show as the movie would be anyways available in a couple of weeks over the internet. In recent times many Super-hit movies couldn't even finish their run in Theatres But started streaming online. and when the movie flops, it gets available over internet even earlier.
So how long will it take for people to realize that flopping or not watching a movie in the theatre will make it available on the internet even earlier? Now you may find the kattapa-baahubali image makes sense, Movie-Makers are killing Movie Theatres with their own hands.
India works with 8,000 odd cinemas divided between single screens and multiplexes. The Indian film exhibition segment, in terms of number of screens, is less than 1/5th in size as compared to developed markets like China and US. The ratio is expected to further deteriorate, with India facing a constant decline in its screen count, largely due to the shutdown of single screens. Killing the exclusivity of content will make it even difficult for theatres to survive especially Single-screens.
Meet the author
Cinephile and an aspiring Storyteller. Sharing my views and experiences (before and after watching a Movie) in this Space. Believes in Alfred Hitchcoc's principle of three things that can make a Great Movie - The Script ,The Script and The Script.
