Everything is not good with the Cinema and Bollywood Ecosystem.
- The Movies are not clicking.
- The customer is not returning to the Cinema.
- The quality of content has really degraded.
- Bollywood is living in Ivory Towers.
We have heard all this and more.
Let’s understand what’s happening at the grassroots.
A Movie experience for a family of 4 in a good cinema in the top 10 metros is a hit of Rs.5000 plus to a household’s monthly budget.
Rs.400 per person ticket = Rs.2000
Rs.1500 for popcorn and cold drinks. Yeah, you heard it right. For something available in the mall outside the hall, at Rs.200 or Rs.300, you shell out 5 to 10 times more and then some more for Nachos, sandwiches, and hotdogs.
The exit Doors of the cinema in a mall by default open in a food court guess why??
Just to extract that Rs.1500 to Rs.2000 more for amazing food spread which will be wasted at least 50%.
All this for a mediocre movie, will be released on OTT in another 30 days to 45 days anyway.
The families became financially wiser as well as misers in PC/AC era (Post Covid/ After Covid)
They are happy to spend on needs rather than wants.
They can segregate the food, movie, and mall experience into different buckets.
2 of which are fulfilled at home by OTT and Swiggy/Zomato.
For 3rd (the mall experience) who wants to get stuck in perpetual Entry/exit mall jams on a weekend. Best avoided.
So the real problem is not just one. It’s an integrated problem.
It’s not just that OTT has killed Cinemas.
Maybe Cinemas once again need to delink themselves from malls and focus only on Movies.
The greed of making more money from heavily overpriced snacks and drinks needs to be curtailed. You might be making more money per customer but if there are blank shows or 10% occupancy you don’t make any money.
Movie makers will continue to thrive, they will sell Music, OTT, channels, merchandise, etc. The challenge is with Cinemas.
Here are some ideas and lessons from the past.
Run special offers and special days. Vodafone Tuesdays was a great idea. Monday to Thursday offer special discounts or inclusive packages. Nachos, popcorn, Cold drinks iced tea on the house.
These are the things that Cinema chains can do, to bring back the customers to movie theatres. Blunt the sting of heavy family cost.
Monthly Family pack, valid for weekdays only. Like Netflix accounts that people used to share.
Charge 5000 for Family Card. Watch as many movies as you can in a month. Max at 2 per movie, Only 4 movies in a month. Max outgo 16 Shows. Include Po Corns and Cold Drinks for members. PVR can do it easily, and lead the way.
Now on to Bollywood.
It’s time to bring back confidence in content. Stop being street-smart. Become real smart.
If you have confidence in content and concept.
Release a captivating 30-minute short film on OTT platforms a week before the movie’s release.
Generate excitement for the full cinematic experience.
Bollywood today is not able to create a 2-minute trailer for a 3-hour saga which means they lack in content.
Learn from Balki.
Collaborate with advertising agency guys. They are masters in telling a story within tight time constraints.
If the Two key Pillars, The Content & Delivery of the Bollywood, Movie Ecosystem comes out of its Greed and Ego. There is still Hope.