The Tamil Film Exhibitors’ Association has appealed to State government to increase cinema ticket prices.
If the association manages to convince the government that hiking the ticket prices again after 2017 is the way forward and will be better for the financial health of the film industry, watching a movie in a theatre could become significantly expensive.
It has urged the government to increase the ticket prices in multiplexes to ₹250 and in non-AC theatres to ₹150, according to a release signed by R. Panner Selvam, general secretary, Tamil Film Exhibitors’ Association.
In air conditioned theatres located in town panchayats, municipalities, corporations, it has been proposed to increase the ticket prices to ₹200 and ₹120 non-AC theatres, according to the association. Meanwhile, tickets for IMAX screens, EPIQ screens and screens with recliner seat tickets are to be hiked to ₹450, ₹400 and ₹350.
Stakeholders in Tamil film industry are perplexed why such a demand has come at a time when footfall has decreased significantly and theatres are increasingly competing for audience with OTT platforms and other forms of entertainments.
The rise in electricity charges, property tax rates and inflation in recent times have reportedly increased maintenance costs substantially making such a drastic hike inevitable. Movie ticket prices were last hiked in 2017 by 25% because of which tickets that were earlier capped at ₹120 (in air conditioned theatres in the city) were increased to ₹150 without GST and convenience charges.
While movies such as Kamal Haasan’s Vikram and Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan have brought the audience back to the theatres in huge numbers, majority of smaller movies and even those featuring notable stars have sunk without a trace with very few exceptions.
This is probably why Tiruppur M. Subramaniam, president, Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners’ Association, said that he was totally opposed to the demand of the exhibitors’ association as it would further hurt the business.
“We oppose this demand and we don’t want this. We are already seeing a trend of people not coming to theatres as they used to. If ticket prices are further increased, there would be no scope for making smaller films. We will not see movies with new faces at all,” he said. “Instead, the theatre maintenance charge can be increased from ₹5 to ₹10. We want the government to remove Local Body Entertainment Taxes. This would reduce the price of the tickets and bring more people into the theatres. Any increase in ticket prices will keep people away,” he added.
A producer, who is a part of Tamil Film Active Producers Association, said that the move was an isolated attempt by just one exhibitors’ association and that the industry cannot afford to increase ticket prices when audience has become selective.
