Cinepolis to invest around Rs 1,600 cr over 7 years

Mexico-based international multiplex operator Cinepolis plans to invest around Rs 1,600 crore over the next seven years to set up 500 movie screens across India, reports Vivek Sinha.

Mexico-based international multiplex operator Cinepolis plans to invest around Rs 1,600 crore over the next seven years to set up 500 movie screens across India. The company aims to open 40 to 100 screens per year. The company incurs a cost of around $7,00,000 (Rs 3.2 crore) per screen.

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“We have already initiated talks with various real estate developers for renting out space in the under construction and proposed malls in metropolitan and tier-I cities of the country,” Milan Saini, country head Cinepolis India told Hindustan Times. Saini added that the entire corpus of funds would be sourced through internal accruals.

“We are looking at having large format multiplexes which have around ten screens in a place, as it offers a larger choice of movies,” he explained. The first multiplex by the company is set to open this month at Amritsar.

Branding and ticket pricing for each theater of the company would be quite local to make it inclusive for all.

The average size of a Cinepolis theatre is 6,000 sq ft. The company operates a total of 2100 screens in the world.

“The multiplex penetration is quite low in India and we are aggressively exploring all growth options, which includes buyout of existing cinema chains,” quipped Saini. He however ruled out buying land and building a multiplex threatre on it.

India has 600 multiplex screens per 1.2 billion people as compared to 120 screens per 1 million in the US and 40 screens per 1 million in Mexico.