Multiplex boom in Chennai

At 120 screens and 60,000 seats, Chennai’s voracious appetite for movies has seemingly not been satiated. A number of upcoming mutiplexes is set to change the average Chennai movie-goer’s cinematic experience. As many as six multiplexes are set to be operational in the next year and a half, with 40 screens and 8,000 seats in all. After Inox, it is now the turn of other national players like PVR Cinemas and Fame India to turn their attention to Kollywood capital Chennai. PVR Cinemas, which will make its debut in the Chennai market with seven screens at Ampa Skywalk on Nelson Manickam Road this October, will be the first in a string of multiplexes. PVR operates more than 100 screens across the country.

Mumbai-based Fame Cinemas too has signed up with Spectrum Mall that’s coming up in Perumbur. "We are planning a five-screen multiplex with a total seating capacity of 1,400 seats. Fame Cinemas will run the multiplex," said Mr Senthilkumar of Ganga Foundations, which is executing the project. While PVR Cinemas operates multiplexes in both Bangalore and Hyderabad, Fame operates one multiplex and one single-screen cinema hall in Bangalore. They are also said to be in talks with the two-decade-old National Theatres, which is currently being reconstructed to house five screens. Chennai-based Gemini Studios is also said to be in the fray for the same.

Chennai currently has under ten multiplexes, Sathyam Cinemas, Inox Chennai, Mayajaal and Abirami Mega Mall being some prominent ones. So, how will the city, whose average theatre occupancy stands at a dismal 45%, react once all these mutiplxes are up and running? People who did not travel long distances to catch movies at the handful of existing multiplexes will now have the opportunity to do so in their neighbourhood, thus, increasing occupancy rates, feels Chennai Theatre Owners Association president and Abirami Mega Mall managing director Ramanathan. Citing the example of Maharashtra that has hundreds of multi-screen theatres, he said that the emergence of the multiplex culture will also lead to filmmakers making smaller films targeted at this urban crowd, the way it is in Bollywood. "The kind of movies being made will also change. There will be lesser unnecessarily lavish ones. It is a healthy trend," he opined.

-Economic Times