‘Cinema advertising is back to pre-Covid levels’

The recent success of Dhurandhar: The Revenge has boosted box office revenues and has taken theatre occupancy above the 40% mark on some week days, well above the average of 28-29%.

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Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, executive director, PVR INOX, tells Christina Moniz what the movie's success means for the company and the industry at large, and details the multiplex chain’s expansion plans. Edited excerpts.The box office performance of Dhurandhar: The Revenge has been nothing short of spectacular. How are you planning to sustain the momentum till the Diwali season of big releases?

The movie surpassed our expectations and has crossed ₹1,400 crore in box office collections. This was a blockbuster the industry needed and it is a welcome success for PVR INOX as well. Border 2 did fairly well but it wasn't a blockbuster, so Dhurandhar 2 has changed the outlook for this quarter significantly.

Looking ahead to the summer months and beyond, we have a slew of upcoming movie releases such as Bhoot Bangla, Raja Shivaji, the Sunny Deol-starrer Gabru, and Pati Patni aur Woh 2. Several big Hollywood releases are also slated June onwards such as Disclosure Day, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and The Devil Wears Prada 2. So things are looking good well beyond the April-May window.

While footfalls have been improving year-on-year, occupancy hasn’t reached pre-pandemic levels. What steps are you taking to boost occupancy?