Kalki a hit in metros but smaller towns are missing the box office magic

India's small towns, particularly in the Hindi-speaking belt that have single-screen cinemas have yet to experience the box office success seen last year with hits like Pathaan, Jawan, Gadar 2, and Animal.

The latest big-ticket film Kalki may have earned over ₹260 crore from its Hindi version at last count, but has held up mostly in top metros with the overall business falling by 25% after the opening weekend, driven by a dip in tier-two and three markets.

Other hits such as Munjya ( ₹107.01 crore) and 12th Fail ( ₹56.75 crore) and Bad Newz (Rs. 38.17 crore), also benefited largely from big cities. 

Trade experts say it is common for films to target specific audience segments and it also makes commercial sense if the segment is large and meaningful enough to bring box office returns via high ticket pricing. However, this has meant little respite for small-town, single screen cinemas that are yet to see business flourish this year at all.

“For a lot of these big-ticket films, top multiplexes can bring 75% of the business, leaving no reason to cater to the lower segment of audiences,” Pranav Garg, managing director at Maya Palace, a two-screen cinema in Muzaffarnagar, said. The trick for single screen cinemas to lure clientele even for large-budget films like Kalki is to continually invest in upgrading and renovating the theatre and investing in formats like 3D, Garg said. However, most of them are arm-twisted into giving up higher chunks of the box office revenue to distributors, with unfavourable terms often forced upon them, leaving them with no funds to meet even daily expenses.

Better business for spectacle films like Kalki in bigger towns may also be attributed to the wide prevalence of premium format cinemas such as IMAX, ICE and 3D in these markets. 

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Trade experts emphasize that audiences commonly prefer watching tentpole films in these theatres instead of regular 2D screens. In fact, given their limited savings, many single screen theatres are even giving up their 2K projectors, a technology necessary to play Hollywood films.

Over the past few months, theatres have also seen small-time successes such as Mr & Mrs Mahi ( ₹35.81 crore) and Srikanth ( ₹50.05 crore). 

However, Bihar-based exhibitor Vishek Chauhan said at a time when Hindi films have begun to cross the ₹600 crore mark, box office of at least ₹100 crore should be seen as a benchmark. “Theatrical cinema doesn’t go anywhere if it doesn’t speak a universal language,” Chauhan said, adding that despite the impressive numbers, Kalki, with its science fiction plot, doesn’t fully follow the commercial film format.

Real success

While the success of word-of-mouth hits such as Munjya most recently is undeniable, it is pretty clear from the numbers of all-time hits such as Pathaan and Jawan last year that films need to be given wide showcasing and appeal to all demographics to be considered real successes. 

“In case of urban stories, 90% of the business comes from the top 10 cities. There is no doubt the films are profitable but to achieve the Rs. 200 crore kind of numbers, you need to target the entire geographical spread of the country. Multiplexes benefit from higher rates but any business can be built on the number of consumers,” independent distributor and exhibitor Akshaye Rathi said.

Movies really need to cast a wider net because only when there are footfalls, will that translate into box office, food and beverage and other sales, Rathi added.

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