Cinemas re-opened on October 22 in their key market of Maharashtra. This after a long hiatus on account of COVID-19 restrictions. “The response has been quite positive,” said Nitin Sood, CFO of PVR, in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

Share Market Live

NSE

“Hopefully, as soon as the festive season starts, with new releases from Diwali, things should look brighter for the cinema industry,” he said.

It is difficult to predict the occupancy levels now, as the theaters are operating with some amount of capacity restrictions. “Demand may take time to pick up and it may happen gradually but we are reasonably confident that over the next few months - in Q4FY22 or early part of Q1FY23 - we will definitely get back to pre-COVID occupancy levels,” he added.

Also Read:

Cinema stocks still glamorous; market gurus see more legs to rally in PVR, INOX Leisure

Even before Maharashtra, PVR had the opportunity to open screens in rest of the country. “We had seen recovery almost to 80-90 percent level in some of the south-Indian states where you are not dependent on the Hindi movie content,” he added.

Punjabi film industry also is doing well. During few weeks, the footfalls have crossed even pre-COVID levels in that market. It is all pointing out to very strong customer demand, he noted.

Almost all south Indian states including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu have permitted 100 percent capacity. Punjab and Gujarat are the states which have relaxed theater capacity to 66 percent. Rajasthan has moved up to 100 percent capacity as well.

Also Read: Cinemas have to become experiential for consumers after pandemic: PVR's Ajay Bijli

“It is a matter of time and general confidence that the governments will gain over the next few weeks, which will allow cinemas to go back to full capacity levels. As soon as that happens we should hopefully get back to pre-COVID levels,” he said.

He believes, recovery will be gradual as the season will take off from November 5.

“In some of the markets which have had the opportunity to open for a couple of months, we are seeing the bounce back is already there and with Hindi film industry, the bounce back will be faster,” he said.

Also Read: As Maharashtra theatres reopen in October, these 10 big movies are set to release soon

While discussing the Q2FY22 earnings fineprint, Sood said, “We expect that at the EBITDA level, the cash burn will stop. October has been trending quite well and November film releases coming up, the cash burn will definitely stop this quarter.”

For the full interview, watch the accompanying video.

Catch all market updates here.