Noida: Two weeks into opening, movie halls yet to see encouraging footfalls

NOIDA: It has been two weeks since movie theatres in Noida district threw doors open to audiences, after a gap of almost seven months, but footfall is yet to pick

NOIDA: It has been two weeks since movie theatres in Noida district threw doors open to audiences, after a gap of almost seven months, but footfall is yet to pick up pace.

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Movie theatres and multiplexes were shut, along with most commercial and entertainment activities in the country from March 25 due to the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease. Now in the unlock mode, several activities have opened up but footfall has failed to regain its previous strength due to fears of contracting the Sars-Cov-2.

The Uttar Pradesh government had granted permission to theatres to screen movies from October 16.

An official of the Noida’s Great India Place mall, one of the largest commercial centres in the National Capital Region, said that taking serious note of the lukewarm response from audiences, movies are being screened in only two auditoriums out of the six. “Though footfall increased a bit last weekend, it was not more than 60 to 70 people per show. Despite regular sanitisation and maintaining social distancing, people are not very comfortable visiting theatres during this pandemic time. We hope that turnout will increase when new films are released, in the last week of this month,” the official said, requesting not to be named.

A drop in the number of movies being screened has been ordered so that there is sufficient time between movies to clean, sanitise and disinfect the theatres with Ultraviolet-C for the next batch of audience. It results in increasing the turnaround time from 10 minutes to 45 minutes. To avoid overcrowding, show timings have been planned in a systematic manner so that no two films start and end at the same time.

On an average, a medium sized theatre can seat up to 120 people, but since seating plans have been allowed in a chessboard fashion, so as to allow social distancing, such a theatre can accommodate only up to half the capacity, or say, 60 people. Large theatres, however, can seat about 500 people or more.

The initial response of patrons was very thin, with less than a total of 100 people going to movie halls in the first week after theatres had opened up in the district, against the capacity of over 3,000 permitted seats.

Angad Makan, a spokesperson of Logix mall, located in Noida’s Sector 38, said that despite running five auditoriums, the turnout is meagre. “Before the lockdown, at least 10,000 people used to visit the multiplex in a single day, which has now reduced to less than 500. We are waiting for new releases to come now,” he said.

JP Chandra, the Gautam Budh Nagar entertainment tax officer, concurred, stating: “While several theatres in Noida, Greater Noida, Dankaur and Jewar have not opened yet, footfall in those which have opened is less than about 10% as a whole. Many owners say they have not opened theatre yet as they are waiting for new releases to draw in customers,” he said.

He added that despite being granted permission, some multiplexes have not opened as the shops of the malls, in which the halls are located, are still closed. “According to our records, movie halls in Gautam Budh Nagar have so far incurred business of around 5% in the last 15 days, as compared to the same span of time last year,” he said.