PVR Inox sees a strong Q4 on big-ticket movie releases
PVR Inox expects a strong fiscal fourth quarter for cinema exhibitors, driven by a strong lineup of movie releases, following a lacklustre third quarter marred by disappointing Hindi film performances and the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.
«Q4 will be better than Q3, which is very skewed towards Animal, Salaar, and Dunki. In Q4, we will have films coming out every two weeks, and they're nicely spread out,» PVR Inox executive director Sanjeev Bijli told ET.
A slew of films is set to be released between January and March, including Hrithik Roshan's Fighter, Vijay Sethupathi's Merry Christmas, and Kareena Kapoor Khan's The Buckingham Murders.
While Q3 failed to meet the company's expectations, it expects an improved performance in December due to Ranbir Kapoor's Animal, Shah Rukh Khan's Dunki, Prabhas' Salaar, and Vickey Kaushal's Sam Bahadur.
«Q3 was somewhat muted as October and November did get impacted by the World Cup.
However, I am confident of December since the World Cup is over and there is good buzz around Animal, Dunki, Salaar, and Sam Bahadur,» he added.
While the cricket World Cup did impact the footfalls at multiplexes, Bijli said Akshay Kumar's Mission Raniganj and Tiger Shroff's Ganapath were underwhelming at the box office, while Salman Khan's Tiger 3 could mop up only ₹250-275 crore against an expectation of ₹450-500 crore.
Bijli noted that the screening of World Cup matches and singer Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour did well for the company, with the latter grossing ₹6 crore in a month.
While PVR Inox plans to open 130-140 screens in FY24, it will open more luxury-format properties in cities like Mumbai, Pune, and Bengaluru.
Around 5% of its more than 1,700 screens are in luxury formats.
