Mumbai: FICCI FRAMES 2018, today saw a session on Screen Density in India attended by some eminent panelists consisting of Mr. William Feng, VP, Greater China, MPA, Kurt Rieder, Head-Theatrical Asia, 20th Century Fox, Kapil Agarwal, Joint MD, UFO, Kamal Gianchandani, Chief of Stratergy, PVR Ltd, Rajkumar Akella, Managing Director – Theatrical, India, ComScore and Mr. Kulmeet Makkar, Chief Executive Officer, The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd., Sushil Chaudhary, Founder and CEO, Picturetime Digiplex and it was moderated by Uday Singh, Managing Director, MPDA.
The Panellists discussed the existing scenario of screen density in India and how lessons from other countries can help india explore new business models to improve the screen count.
While addressing the problem of screen density faced in India, Kurt Rieder, Head – Theatrical, Asia, 20th Century Fox, said, “We would like to see more number of screens in tier 2 and tier 3. There are not enough screens per multiplex in tier 1 and 2 because once they build these things, nobody realizes that regional films are going to explode and suddenly the average multiplex probably requires twelve screens.”
William Feng, VP- Greater China, MPA, gave a presentation on screen density: China Market Development while Sushil Chaudhary, Founder and CEO, Picture time spoke about the new business module on screen density that aims at targeting audiences of rural areas.
The DigiPlex mobile theatre vans, run by Picture time, offer their audiences high-quality movie-viewing experience in the rural areas and are an economical option for the audiences in remote areas to catch up with newly released films.
Charging between Rs 30 from to Rs. 70 each viewer, the DigiPlex first pitches a collapsible all-weather canopy that can accommodate at least 120 viewers.
This can help put up more screens at very low cost as compared to building multiplexes in remote and even urban areas.
“With this module, we are also looking at helping regional cinema and campaigns issued in pubic interest.” concluded Chaudhary.
