Pakistani cinemas not to screen Indian Films indefinitely

[baqai]

In a way you are agreeing that movies like Avatar and Don 2 ran full houses and your cash machines went Ching Ching. My understanding is that people are drawn to multiplexes for the movies. Good movies are the life blood of multiplexes. Concession stalls and food courts are there to court the movie goes for an wholesome outing. Some malls are surviving just because they house multiplexes which draw huge crowds. Movies are the draw which other retailers are capitalizing to sell their wares.

Retail space in malls with multiplexes will fetch high premium and can go as high as Rs. 30,000/sft here. I know this because my cousins are building a five lakh sft mall which will house 12 screen multiplex here in Hyderabad.

I don't know how big is your Atrium multiplex and how many screens you have? I am sure it is a huge undertaking from the looks of it. With such stakes it is a losing proposition to ban bollywood altogether. If I were you I would be nervous about my job security.

In the follow up post which i guess you missed i gave the top 5 grossing movies at Cinemas, the top 3 slots were/are Pakistani movies, Sir you will have to take my word for it, the life line of a cinema is Concessions (in respect to revenue earned) not ticket sales. Different environment makes crowd react differently, here in our city Atrium was a breath of fresh air to people who were hungry for entertainment, yes i do agree that the Cinema was the reason mall itself ran in the first place. People regardless of the movies running WILL come and ask "kon si achi chal rahi hai" and will sit down and watch the movie, there is a small scale Cinema in Saddar which only caters to truck drivers, conductors, labor just because it is the only place showing Pashto movies, every night 9pm show is full with Rs 150 PKR a ticket.

Atrium is 3 screen multiplex, it was the first ever 3D digital cinema in Pakistan, it still is in top 3 cinemas in Pakistan as far as revenue generation is concerned. Hollywood movies often come in Packages i.e. when a distributor gets a big movie often they are forced to get a smaller movie which they may or may not run depending on the time slots available and amount of movies in hand, these smaller movies can easily be space fillers.

Just to give you an idea of margins involved, one small glass of cold drink which a Cinema can easily sell for Rs 100-150 PKR cost them no more than 15 Rs PKR ... on average in winters the consumption of small glass of cold drink can be anywhere between 1000-1500 glasses, in summers you can easily increase that figure, you do the maths of margins made on one small glass of cold drink in a day i still haven't talked about popcorns, coffee, tea, nachos and others.

Oh by the way next time you go to a theater or to any restaurant which serves drinks from a machine (not can or bottled) please do insist on getting a drink WITHOUT ice, we are always happy to give it without ice because it means it takes less of the drink to fill up the glass and that results in more cost savings for us.

Running a theater is not that simple, it's an art and science which people often find hard to believe, how to upsell a particular movie, how to fill a certain time slot, which time slot should go to which movie, when should we have more warm popcorns than regular, which time slot would need more nachos than popcorns, when to make theater more chill than usual, which seat selection is less desirable and need to be filled and how etc etc that all is just tip of the iceberg and everything involved results in making more $$$$$$'s

Thanks for the concerns about my job security but i am not directly employed by any Cinema, I am a certified level-1 Engineer from Kinoton/Barco for their digital projectors along with trained in Musion Eyeliner 3D Holograms system and Dataton Watchout system, current i offer freelance consultation to existing and upcoming cinemas along with being the Technical Director at the firm i work at. Since I was part of the management at the Cinema and was involved in decision making I got the learn the fascinating world of theater management and these long posts just are out of passion and to share some knowledge to clear misconceptions

Coming back to the point,
Will banning Bollywood movies result in reduction of revenue generation for cinemas here? Yes
Would banning Bollywood movies result in closing of Cinemas and people loosing their jobs? No

 

[my2cents]

In the follow up post which i guess you missed i gave the top 5 grossing movies at Cinemas, the top 3 slots were/are Pakistani movies, Sir you will have to take my word for it, the life line of a cinema is Concessions (in respect to revenue earned) not ticket sales. Different environment makes crowd react differently, here in our city Atrium was a breath of fresh air to people who were hungry for entertainment, yes i do agree that the Cinema was the reason mall itself ran in the first place. People regardless of the movies running WILL come and ask "kon si achi chal rahi hai" and will sit down and watch the movie, there is a small scale Cinema in Saddar which only caters to truck drivers, conductors, labor just because it is the only place showing Pashto movies, every night 9pm show is full with Rs 150 PKR a ticket.

Atrium is 3 screen multiplex, it was the first ever 3D digital cinema in Pakistan, it still is in top 3 cinemas in Pakistan as far as revenue generation is concerned. Hollywood movies often come in Packages i.e. when a distributor gets a big movie often they are forced to get a smaller movie which they may or may not run depending on the time slots available and amount of movies in hand, these smaller movies can easily be space fillers.

Just to give you an idea of margins involved, one small glass of cold drink which a Cinema can easily sell for Rs 100-150 PKR cost them no more than 15 Rs PKR ... on average in winters the consumption of small glass of cold drink can be anywhere between 1000-1500 glasses, in summers you can easily increase that figure, you do the maths of margins made on one small glass of cold drink in a day i still haven't talked about popcorns, coffee, tea, nachos and others.

Oh by the way next time you go to a theater or to any restaurant which serves drinks from a machine (not can or bottled) please do insist on getting a drink WITHOUT ice, we are always happy to give it without ice because it means it takes less of the drink to fill up the glass and that results in more cost savings for us.

Running a theater is not that simple, it's an art and science which people often find hard to believe, how to upsell a particular movie, how to fill a certain time slot, which time slot should go to which movie, when should we have more warm popcorns than regular, which time slot would need more nachos than popcorns, when to make theater more chill than usual, which seat selection is less desirable and need to be filled and how etc etc that all is just tip of the iceberg and everything involved results in making more $$$$$$'s

Thanks for the concerns about my job security but i am not directly employed by any Cinema, I am a certified level-1 Engineer from Kinoton/Barco for their digital projectors along with trained in Musion Eyeliner 3D Holograms system and Dataton Watchout system, current i offer freelance consultation to existing and upcoming cinemas along with being the Technical Director at the firm i work at. Since I was part of the management at the Cinema and was involved in decision making I got the learn the fascinating world of theater management and these long posts just are out of passion and to share some knowledge to clear misconceptions

Coming back to the point,
Will banning Bollywood movies result in reduction of revenue generation for cinemas here? Yes
Would banning Bollywood movies result in closing of Cinemas and people loosing their jobs? No

I am glad you are a freelancer and not affected directly by bollywood ban. But if you are a mall/multiplex owner who has invested in millions into this operation then you will feel differently. I just hope for ihe best for you guys. I have read about how your cinema industry got decimated by the previous ban on bollywood and your cinema only got some revival recently coinciding with ban being lifted and new and posh multiplexes opening. So, is it the multiplexes that did the trick or the bollywood? Only time will tell.

 

[Zibago]

Cinemas will be at a loss of 30-40% but Film Makers will be very happy

 

[baqai]

I am glad you are a freelancer and not affected directly by bollywood ban. But if you are a mall/multiplex owner who has invested in millions into this operation then you will feel differently. I just hope for ihe best for you guys. I have read about how your cinema industry got decimated by the previous ban on bollywood and your cinema only got some revival recently coinciding with ban being lifted and new and posh multiplexes opening. So, is it the multiplexes that did the trick or the bollywood? Only time will tell.

previous ban and its resulting effects were not only due to the ban, there were multiple factors the most important being law and order and the kind of cinemas we had, honestly before Atrium started Cinema was not a place where a person would want to take his/her family, Atrium was the first of it's kind cinema of international standards which swept away that perception and encourage families to come, now we have multiple multiplexes around the country where families and even laddies come alone or with their friends without any fear. Our team (Atrium, Mandviwalla Entertainment and most importantly Mr Nadeem Mandviwalla) is credited for revival of the Cinema industry in Pakistan because he wanted to bring international level theater here, in a place where people said nobody would come, Now it's a different ball game

The ROI for theater might differ from place to place, we managed our's in a year's time if i am not wrong

 

[my2cents]

previous ban and its resulting effects were not only due to the ban, there were multiple factors the most important being law and order and the kind of cinemas we had, honestly before Atrium started Cinema was not a place where a person would want to take his/her family, Atrium was the first of it's kind cinema of international standards which swept away that perception and encourage families to come, now we have multiple multiplexes around the country where families and even laddies come alone or with their friends without any fear. Our team (Atrium, Mandviwalla Entertainment and most importantly Mr Nadeem Mandviwalla) is credited for revival of the Cinema industry in Pakistan because he wanted to bring international level theater here, in a place where people said nobody would come, Now it's a different ball game

The ROI for theater might differ from place to place, we managed our's in a year's time if i am not wrong

Are you saying that you recouped your investment in a years time?

That is amazing and the credit should go to your owners Mandviwalla Ent. for bringing world class entertainment to your masses. Families are finally returning back to theaters and it is a good sign for revival. I just hope you make enough numbers to sustain 52 weeks in a year.

Before the advent of multiplexes we all went to stand alone theaters to watch movies. I am sure it was not any different in Pakistan. In the case of Pakistan, the kind of shows they were playing in those theaters were crass and B grade movies because good films were not available and even if they were available they were making few in number. Now you have less than 400 single screen theaters compared to 12000 in case of India. Indian cinema surpassed Hollywood in terms of viewership. Now bollywood sells more tickets than hollywood. This did not happen overnight because of concerted effort from industry and the government and the movie industry survived and prospered. I hope you can learn a thing or two as you guys move forward

 

[baqai]

things are slowly and gradually changing here, if we were having this very discussion say three years or so back when Atrium was recently launched it would be different, i would have told you that yes the ban would make things very hard, but now we have rapid revival of Pakistani cinema, more and more people are turning up to watch Pakistani movies, you will be surprised that Bol currently holds the record for being the longest running movie on Cinema here, more interestingly that even after the movie was removed we still had demand for it.

Indian Cinema industry is far more matured and more hands in hands with their local film industry than ours, here are moving in that direction but still we are not there. Once your cousins are running the business do cross check my points with them

 

[X-2.]

Bravo!

http://tribune.com.pk/story/1191061/pakistani-cinemas-not-screen-indian-films-indefinitely/



Pakistani cinemas not to screen Indian films indefinitely
By Rafay Mahmood / Rahul Aijaz
Published: September 30, 2016
1094 SHARES

Exhibitors take decision in response to Indian producers’ move to ban Pakistanis from working in Indian films. PHOTO: AFP

KARACHI: Cinema owners in Pakistan have decided not to screen any Indian movies until tensions between two countries recede. They took the decision on Thursday after the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) banned all Pakistani artists from working in film projects in India.

“We will suspend the exhibition of Indian films till normalcy,” said Nadeem Mandviwalla, owner of Mandviwalla Entertainment which runs Atrium Cinemas in Karachi and Centaurus in Islamabad. “No Indian movies will play in my cinemas from Friday onwards for sure,” he told The Express Tribune.

Can Pakistani cinema survive without Bollywood?

Super Cinemas owner Khorem Gultasab echoed Mandviwalla’s sentiments, saying he has already stopped screening any Indian films at his facilities. “We didn’t wait for an official declaration by exhibitors. From Friday onwards, no Bollywood film will be screened at Super Cinemas for at least two weeks to show solidarity with our actors and our military,” he said.

Although Cinepax – Pakistan’s largest network of cinemas – had not yet banned any Indian movies, a senior official of cinema chain said it would follow suit if film exhibitors take a mutual decision in this regard. “I have not heard anything confirmed as yet, but if exhibitors do ban Indian films, then of course we will go ahead with it,” said Cinepax General Manager Marketing Mohsin Yaseen.

Regarding a mutual decision, Nadeem Mandviwalla said: “Since this ban is an initiative taken by cinema owners and not the government, it is taking us some time to bring everyone on the same page.”

Indian cinema’s changing infrastructure

“We were taking things lightly initially, since the so-called ban [on Pakistani artists in India] was just a few mischief-mongers hurling anti-Pakistan slogans,” he said. “But things have gotten serious after the official [IMPPA] declaration.”

Mandviwalla added that an official announcement of the ban on Indian films will be made soon.

Meanwhile, Gultasab said he is also urging other exhibitors to ban Indian films so that the industry stands united. “A ban won’t be effective if confined to just cinemas. Going to a cinema is a choice, but television channels air content from India all the time,” he said. “We must completely black out Indian content. Remove it from TV channels and from DVD shops. Otherwise, there’s no point.”

The cinema owner added that this ban should continue until the Indian government offers Pakistani films a level playing field and Pakistani artists complete protection.

Cinepax opens its doors in Hyderabad

Renowned Pakistani filmmaker Jami agreed with Gultasab, saying: “There are Indian drama serials playing on TV all the time and you have DVD shops selling Indian films. Why just target cinema? If you want a ban, just ban all Indian content.”

Pakistanis banned from working in Indian films

Earlier on Thursday, Indian film producers passed a resolution banning anyone from Pakistan from working in films being made in India. The move was announced by IMPPA President T P Aggarwal.

“We’ve passed this resolution in the AGM today on the demand of all the producers. Henceforth, till the situation is ok between the Pakistani and Indian governments, we will not hire any Pakistani artist, technician or singer,” Aggarwal said.

“If there is any ongoing project from which they cannot be removed now, on which everything has been done, they can come for that. We will maintain this till the relations between Pakistan and India are ok,” he added.

Good ! Our local industry is good enough and they are making good films
If there is financial problem then bring up D-company for investment!burnol

 

[Pakistan First]

Good ! Our local industry is good enough and they are making good films
If there is financial problem then bring up D-company for investment!burnol

To add salt to indian injury, it was D-money which helped revive Lollywood, with much better production quality now being seen.

 

[ito]

Banning Indian films in Pakistan will only bolster piracy, say local cinema owners

http://images.dawn.com/news/1176359...l-only-bolster-piracy-say-local-cinema-owners

 

[Khurram Aslam]

Indian Channels should be BAN too..

 

[Zibago]

Banning Indian films in Pakistan will only bolster piracy, say local cinema owners

http://images.dawn.com/news/1176359...l-only-bolster-piracy-say-local-cinema-owners

Yes it will BUT it will also result in increased revenue of Pakistani films when they will have zero competition

I wasnt such a big fan of complete ban a few months ago(i was for certain restrictions only) but after the treatment they gave to some of our artists and how they banned our dramas i am now in favour of a complete ban

 

[jha]

Hope this ban continues. There is no need for Hindi films to release in Pakistan.

 

[rockstarIN]

Any CD producing companies listed in Pak Stock exchanges?

Invest in those shares, will be multibaggers...lol

 

[Jackdaws]

Their country, their call. Their market is too small to make a dent in the market anyway.

 

[X-2.]

To add salt to indian injury, it was D-money which helped revive Lollywood, with much better production quality now being seen.

We can use right now as well ..we have talent and finance as well we just need to approach,