- A survey by Local Circles shows that the percentage of citizens going to multiplex is likely to fall by half compared to March.
- Nearly 51% of respondents said they have no plans to watch a movie in theaters in the next 60 days.
- This report comes as Laal Singh Chaddha of Aamir Khan, Raksha Bandhan of Akshay Kumar and Brahmastra of Ranbir Kapoor are preparing for release.
While the Indian film industry is gearing up for a long lineup of major releases, audiences don’t seem too thrilled. According to a survey by Local Circles, only one in five respondents (22%) plan to watch a movie in the cinema or multiplex in the next 60 days.
This is only half of what it was in the month of March 2022. “Likewise, 14% of citizens planned to visit a cinema hall according to the LocalCircles survey in December 2021. This percentage rose to 41% in the March survey, and now stands at 22% in August 2022,” the report noted, adding that visitor numbers are likely to fall by half.
The recent survey – based on the answers of 11,707 people in 302 districts of India – showed that 51% of respondents said they have no plans to watch a movie in the cinema or multiplex in the next 60 days. Meanwhile, 19% noted that they don’t watch movies in the cinema anyway.
The report shows customer sentiment around the big blockbuster movies like Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha, Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan and Ranbir Kapoor’s Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, which are lining up in August and September.
The first three months had actually turned out quite well for the Indian film industry, with films like RRR, KGF Chapter 2, Bhool Bhulaiya 2, Kashmir Files and others making a mark on the theaters.
However, the momentum seemed to have slowed down with Shamshera, Prithviraj Chauhan, Ek Villain Returns and Jayeshbhai Jordaar going in and out of theaters in the span of a few weeks.
The performance of movies in the past month has also made the business world concerned about the traction that cinema companies would gain despite several major releases with big budgets. This was also one of the key questions asked of PVR and INOX during their June quarter earnings analyst calls.
| Movie | Release |
| bullet train | August 5, 2022 |
| Laal Singh Chaddha | August 11, 2022 |
| Raksha Bandhan | August 11, 2022 |
| Intermediary | August 12, 2022 |
| Thiruchitrambalam | August 18, 2022 |
| no | August 19, 2022 |
| liger | August 25, 2022 |
| Beast | September 2, 2022 |
| Yaar Mera Titliyaan Warga | September 2, 2022 |
| Brahmastra part one: Shiva | September 9, 2022 |
| the queen of women | September 16, 2022 |
| Dhokha Round D Corner | September 23, 2022 |
| Vikram Vedha | September 30, 2022 |
| Ponniyin Selvan | September 30, 2022 |
You can check out the full list of big budget movies for this year right here.
The Local Circles survey also asked people if they’ve seen a movie in the cinema in the past 60 days. 29% responded positively to this. Meanwhile, 49% answered no and the remaining 29% said they did not visit cinemas. This question in the survey received 11,226 responses.
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