MovieMax opens seven-screen property in Hyderabad

 

Cineline India Limited, owned by the Kanakia Group, which has interests in real estate including hotels, has re-entered the Indian film exhibition business by launching Movie Max.

Cineline India Limited, owned by the Kanakia Group, which has interests in real estate including hotels, has re-entered the Indian film exhibition business by launching Movie Max, a multiplex chain brand, and opened a seven-screen property in Hyderabad.

“At MovieMax, we aim to reach out to the audience with maximum potential and give them a wholesome travel experience. All our cinemas will be equipped with the best of technology to showcase movies and offer people the best of seats, F&B and a great stay experience in a premium property, said Ashish Kanakia, CEO, MovieMax Cinemas, in a statement.

MovieMax believes that there is a significant opportunity to grow the total number of screens in India and for new players to establish themselves, even as the PVR-INOX merger creates a stronger entity. Cineline intends to launch 75-100 new screens in a year with an investment of ₹2-2.5 crore per property and is targeting the budget cinema segment.

For starters, India's screen count plummeted during the pandemic and the country currently has 8,000 screens compared to China's nearly 80,000. Furthermore, language barriers have blurred in India's film industry and dubbed South Indian films have recently been making inroads into Hindi-speaking markets with films such as RRR and K.G.F: Chapter 2. Gujarati and Marathi films also have a hold on the audience.

In short, the popularity of regional language films is an added advantage for the exhibitors as they have more content to play with and are more likely to have some hits.


The Indian film exhibition space is substantially smaller and can operate with more players. As far as screen density is concerned, India is miles behind countries like US, Canada and China with six screens per million population. In comparison, China has 30 screens per million population while the US has 125 screens.