Four days after the state government of Goa allowed the movie theatres to re-run on 50% of their total capacity, Inox Leisure restarted movie screening on Friday.
However, self-supported theaters like Cine Samrat and Cine Ashok, which depend on Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, or Malayalam movies, are yet to resume.
With the Covid-19 pandemic delaying movies and most movies being released on OTT platforms, movie houses such as Hira Films Exhibitors have decided to take it slow.
“We wholeheartedly welcome the state government’s decision to allow cinemas to operate. We will evaluate our preparation and will look to start operations across all our four cinemas in Goa,” said regional director, west, INOX Leisure Ltd, Atul Bhandarkar.
Pravin Zantye, the managing partner of the chain of Z-Square theatres and the president of the All Goa Theatre Owners Association, said that smaller cinemas cannot afford to run at 50% capacity.
Zantye mentioned that even though the costs and salaries to operate a theater are the same, the revenue will not be the same.
In an attempt to raise revenue, INOX is providing private screening and food delivery services.
According to Bhandarkar, INOX will make food available on online ordering platforms with long multi-meal services which will deliver breakfast, lunch, high tea, and dinner orders.
