Multiplex boom in Chennai

Multiplex boom in Chennai
The Economic Times, July 22, 2009

21 Jul 2009, 1909 hrs IST, Nandini Sivakumar, ET Bureau

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.

But there are some who are not so optimistic. "I don’t know if Chennai has the potential for so many new screens. I think players will end up eating into each other’s business," Inox, Chennai, general manager Vivek Vettah told ET. Inox has a four-screen multiplex at City Centre Mall that opened to the public in January 2007.

Home-grown multiplex Sathyam Cinemas too is on the expansion mode, with its eight-screen multiplex in Express Avenue expected to be ready early next year. "We are also talking to a couple of other upcoming malls," Sathyam Cinemas COO Tan Ngaronga told ET, refusing to mention the names they are considering.

Meanwhile, PVR and Sathyam have got necessary no-objection-certification and license from the authorities to run multiplexes. National Theatres’ papers are currently being processed for conversion to a five-screen unit from the existing single-screen. The other malls are in various stages of construction and are expected to apply for license soon.

To add to the multiplex experience, a number of single-screen theatres too converting to muti-screen units — Royal Theatre in Villivakkam (four screens), Murali Krishna in Mint (four-five screens) and National Theatre in Virugambakkam (five screens).

Royal Theatre has just completed conversion into a four-screen complex and is set to launch shortly, while work is underway at National Theatre, the no-objection-certificate for which is being processed by the Public Works Department.