It's a mixed bag for film exhibitors who have reopened this year after many states allowed theatres to restart operations.
While some are seeing Indians making a strong comeback to theatres, others are still hovering around the five percent occupancy level, same as last year.
Many theatres restarted with the Hollywood film Mortal Kombat which had been released in many parts of the country before the shutdown due to the second wave of coronavirus this year.
"While occupancies remained the same as last year in the initial days of reopening, upcoming ventures including The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It will add some traction," said film producer and trade business analyst Girish Johar.
Even Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Joint Managing Director, PVR said that in the initial four days of reopening, occupancies were dismal. Yet, it was around 10 percent as compared to five percent last year in many national cinema chains.
Unlike last year, exhibitors this time have new content to show to their audience which is helping attract more moviegoers.
After Mortal Kombat, another new release Suicide Squad which hit Indian theatres on August 5 is helping theatres maintain occupancy levels higher than last year.
In addition, there are regional films that are faring well in theatres.
"Punjab is doing better than other territories thanks to the new release Tunka Tunka. Then in Hyderabad, there are Telugu films that are performing well. With these films, occupancy is in double digits," said Amit Sharma, MD, Miraj Cinemas.
Even multiplex operator INOX saw strong traction amid movie-going audiences. While discussing the Q1 FY22 results during an investor call, INOX Leisure, CEO, Alok Tandon said there were housefull shows for the Telugu movie Thimmarusu.
Another exhibitor Shashank Raizada who owns Delite and Delite Diamond theatres in Delhi said while Suicide Squad's performance on day one was disappointing, business started picking up later.
Out of the two theatres, Raizada has reopened the smaller auditorium called Delite Diamond which has a capacity of 150 seats.
Suicide Squad after its dismal opening in Delite Diamond saw occupancies in the range of 20-25 percent, said Raizada.
"The movie is not a great venture yet see the way it has performed. Last year for such a film the peak business I recorded was around Rs 20,000-Rs 25,000. This year I am expecting the English film (Suicide Squad) to do a business of Rs one lakh,” he said.
And with more movie releases, Raizada expects business to go back to pre-COVID level by around Diwali.
Talking about consumer sentiment, an official at a top multiplex chain said that along with new content, the first weekend after reopening was Friendship's Day which attracted the youth to theatres.
Shailesh Kapoor, CEO, Ormax Media, a media consultancy, noted that the audience sentiment towards revisiting cinemas is currently divided. "In Ormax's Sentiment Track we conduct every week, about 50 percent audience are ready to go back to theatres once a film of their choice comes, while the balance 50 percent are undecided and may wait for some more time," said Kapoor.
While the situation for cinemas is slightly better than last year, Maharashtra government's decision to not allow cinemas to reopen is acting as a hurdle.
"Unless Maharashtra reopens, big ticket Hindi films will not release and without these films single screen theatres in tier II, III markets won't reopen," said Akshaye Rathi, film exhibitor/ director, Saroj Screens PVT Ltd.
He said that the Maharashtra government is holding the single screen cinema sector across the country.
"While audience will turn up for Suicide Squad, another upcoming venture Conjuring had released in the international market and has been pirated aggressively."
Then there is F9 which is likely to do well as it is dubbed in regional languages, noted Rathi.
However, he said that it will be Akshay Kumar's Bell Bottom that will have to do the heavy lifting to bring back audiences in cinemas especially for independent cinemas in the tier II, III markets.