Return of the single screen

Salman Khan’s Wanted has made the not-so-swanky neighbourhood theatre feel wanted again.

One of Mumbai’s most famous single screens, the 1000-seater Galaxy theatre in Bandra, had the ‘Housefull’ board outside it, after many moons. And its thanks to a Salman Khan driven maar dhaad dhamaka. Theatre owner Manoj Desai attributes the recent success to the fact that Wanted is a mass entertainer, revolving around a clear-cut hero and heroine. “There was no confusion in the plot. Not surprisingly, it struck a chord,” he points out. Single screens contributed 65 per cent to the business of Wanted, as opposed to 35 per cent from multiplexes. Last year, with Ghajini, the ratio was 55:45 in favour of the single screens.

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Money matters
Rs 25 crore of Wanted’s Rs 31 crore earnings came from single screens as compared to a Love Aaj Kal, which grossed Rs 34 crore in its first week in India, and netted Rs 25 crore from the multiplexes alone. Wanted’s producer Boney Kapoor explains the divide by pointing out that at multiplexes, the producer-distributor’s share goes down with every passing week. But at single screens, rentals are fixed and if the going is good, a producer can earn up to an 80 per cent share even in the third or fourth week. There’s the business of economics as well. A 1,000-seater Galaxy, with tickets priced at Rs 50, brings in Rs 50,000 at full occupancy. In comparison, a packed 400-seater multiplex screen will net a minimum of Rs 80,000 for the same housefull show since its ticket prices could be as much as four times higher. Also, multiplexes can run 15 to 20 shows a day as compared to the four or five shows at single screens. On Sundays and national holidays, they can add extra shows and hike prices by up to 30 per cent with governmental sanction, bringing in even more revenue.

Big tickets
Desai admits that most single screen theatres in the city, with an eye to increasing their profit margins, have upped their admission rates to Rs 150 and even Rs 200 too. “But I would rather provide middle-income families with an evening’s entertainment that’s not too hard on the pocket with tickets ranging from Rs 55 to Rs 100,” he avers. For this single-screen audience, movie reviews are not really a criterion. More than four and five stars, recommendations from friends, work best here. “Comedy and romance work equally well in both kind of theatres but action has a definite edge at single screens,” informs trade analyst Amod Mehra. Devang Sampat, Vice President Marketing, Cinemax India, Ltd., offers another insight: “The location of a theatre could be a determining factor too. Wanted was a big hit even in Cinemax, Mira Road, while Hollywood movies like 2012 found favour at our theatre in Andheri (East), and the multiplex in Goregaon drew a full house for Wake Up Sid.” Desai, who insists that he’s not going to convert any of his six theatres—Gaeity, Galaxy, Gemini, Gem, Gossip, as well as Maratha Mandir — into a multiplex, has the last word. “Multi-screens may well be the buzzword today but it’s certainly not the end of the road for single screens. The two will have to co-exist and contribute equally to the box office to give the industry real blockbusters.”