Drop in single-screen cinemas, uneven multiplex growth shrink scope for movie-goers

Single-screen cinemas, which dominated the country’s theatrical landscape a decade ago, have shrunk to about 6,500 properties in 2025 from 9,500, hit by rising real estate prices and the availability of content on streaming platforms, according to experts.

The bigger concern, they said, is that multiplex growth, with only 3,700 such screens currently, is still limited to the top metro markets, alienating large segments of the population from the movie-going experience.

Simply put, India’s theatrical infrastructure isn’t growing evenly or fast enough as films aim for higher box office collections with ancillary revenue streams like the sale of satellite television and OTT rights dwindling.

In Punjab, where 55 single-screen cinemas operated in 2002, there are only two now. In Uttar Pradesh, the number has fallen to 500 from 1,250 theatres.

According to a report by The Multiplex Association of India (MAI), prepared by EY, out of 19,000 postal zones in the country, 16,350 have no cinema screens. The number of screens has fallen from 7.6 per million population in 2018 to 6.8 in 2024.

Of India’s population of 1.4 billion, less than 150 million (10%) are estimated to attend a movie in theatres in a year. This reflects in box office figures – while the number of films released in theatres in 2024 was similar to the figure in 2019, the number of movies grossing ₹100 crore or more fell 10 from 17.

“Multiplexes, even when they expand and add more screens, operate at higher ATPs (average ticket prices) and therefore end up shrinking and segregating the market because people cannot always afford elevated pricing," said Rahul Puri, managing director of Mukta Arts and Mukta A2 Cinemas.

Need for rationalization

The closure of single screens has essentially meant that a lot of people who earlier had access to movie theatres, don’t anymore, Puri added. According to the MAI report, 54% of theatre-going customers would like to see a rationalization in ticket prices and 38% want lower food and beverage prices.

“This isn’t good for the cinema industry because you’re just not able to cater to those who’re losing access, instead there is simply more and more for markets that are already saturated," Puri explained.

Cinema operators across the country agree that real estate prices have skyrocketed even in India’s smallest towns and are the biggest hindrance in building malls, which is where most major multiplexes would like to house their properties.

According to film producer and distributor Yusuf Shaikh, also founder and chief executive of low-cost theatre chain Janta Cinema, piracy has further compromised the business with far more people today watching films via illegal means than in cinemas or even on OTT. According to the MAI report, 51% of media consumers access content from pirated sources, and 76% of them were in the 19-to-34 age group.

“It is essential that we focus on interiors now," Shaikh said, adding that his company is targeting underserved markets across the country with tickets priced as low as ₹100.

However, there isn’t enough content that speaks to small-town audiences for cinemas to expand in such places. A handful of star-driven vehicles and mass-market commercial entertainers per year isn’t sufficient to meet the expenses of running theatres in tier-two or tier-three towns.

“The biggest challenge today is consistency. When strong content releases, audiences turn up in large numbers—that hasn’t changed. But cinemas now have to manage periods of uneven content flow more carefully," said Bhuvanesh Mendiratta, managing director of multiplex chain Miraj Entertainment Ltd. “At the same time, operating costs have risen, making experience-led cinemas even more important. Properties that invest in better technology, comfort and food can create value beyond just the ticket price. The gap is widening between cinemas that have upgraded and those that haven’t."