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Business News/ Industry / Media/  Intermission for movies business as audience stays away amid coronavirus scare
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Intermission for movies business as audience stays away amid coronavirus scare

The virus scare has also led to the cancellation of all shoots for film, television and digital series productions

Contributing almost 15-18% of the Hindi box office, Delhi remains a crucial film business territory. Ramesh Pathania/MintPremium
Contributing almost 15-18% of the Hindi box office, Delhi remains a crucial film business territory. Ramesh Pathania/Mint

Threat to the entertainment business from the Covid-19 outbreak is getting serious with state governments of Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana, parts of Maharashtra and the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir shutting down cinema halls until the end of March, and both Hindi and Hollywood films postponing new releases indefinitely. Trade expert Atul Mohan said the loss could be 80-90 crore for every week that operations remain suspended. The virus scare has also led to the cancellation of all shoots for film, television and digital series productions. A statement issued by the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association, Western India Film Producers’ Association, Indian Film and Television Producers Council, Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association and Federation of Western India Cine Employees on Sunday said the organizations had decided to halt all productions from 19 to 31 March.

The release of Akshay Kumar-starrer Sooryavanshi has been deferred indefinitely from its planned 24 March date, while American action film Fast And Furious 9 has been moved to April 2021 from May 2020. Walt Disney is pulling three films—Mulan, The New Mutants and Antlers off its schedule while A Quiet Place Part II has also delayed its release next week. Two other Hindi language films—Sir starring Tillotama Shome, and Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra-starrer Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar—have been deferred from 20 March.

“This is going to be a huge blow to the Indian box office which was already lagging much behind 2019 numbers as far as the January to March quarter goes," film trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar said.

Given the spate of flops these past two months, including Chhapaak, Panga, Love Aaj Kal and others, Johar said March needed at least 500-550 crore to come on par with the same period last year. That obviously seems unlikely now given not just the delay in big-ticket films like Sooryavanshi but also the impact on films like Angrezi Medium (that released this Friday) and Baaghi 3, both of which will be most severely hit in metros and multiplexes where the virus scare is the highest, as of now. Trade website Box Office India reported that Angrezi Medium opened to poor occupancy rates of 8-10% on Friday morning.

Incidentally, the robust box office earnings of prequel Hindi Medium were driven by Delhi NCR. The absence of big-ticket Hollywood releases is estimated to take away another 10% from Indian film business.

Contributing almost 15-18% of the Hindi box office, Delhi remains a crucial film business territory and was majorly responsible for Sooryavanshi being pulled out last week. Almost 7.5% of PVR’s and 3% of INOX’s screens are in Delhi.

“All of us at PVR have utmost concern for the safety and wellbeing of each of our guests, and in the same context, we fully respect the decision of respective state governments and UT Administration," PVR cinemas said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Mumbai-based financial services company Edelweiss Securities Ltd had estimated a 7-8% dip in footfalls at multiplexes such as INOX Leisure Ltd and PVR Cinemas in FY21.

“If occupancy rates in cinemas fall below 17%, it is better for multiplexes to shut properties. We expect a spillover impact to follow for other large movies slated to release over the next three months,," Karan Taurani, research analyst at Elara Capital Ltd said.

The impact of the outbreak has gone beyond box office collections of movies to cover other aspects of the entertainment business. The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles has been postponed from April as have global events like the Prague Film Festival and the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia. An event with Salman Khan across the US and Canada—Up, Close and Personal with Salman Khan—has been cancelled, so have stand-up comic Vir Das’ shows in Chennai and the US. Disney has announced the closure of Disney World in Orlando through the end of this month. Disney’s theme parks represent the company’s largest business segment, with its US and international parks amassing a combined $21.6 billion in revenues in the fiscal year that ended in September.

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This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lata Jha
"Lata writes about the media and entertainment industry for Mint, focusing on everything from traditional film and TV to newer areas like video and audio streaming services. She loves movies and spends a lot of her free time watching them, which makes her job both fun and a bit of a challenge. Lata tries to find and write about things in the entertainment world that most people don't notice, even though a lot of people in her country are really into movies and entertainment news often just talks about the glamorous side of things. "
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Published: 16 Mar 2020, 08:14 AM IST
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